Nikolaos Lavdas

Nikolaos Lavdas (Νικόλαος Λάβδας; 1879 – 30 March 1940) was a Greek conductor, composer and educator. He was the founder and director of the "Athenian Mandolinata", one of the oldest music associations and music schools in Greece. Born in Pitrofos, Andros, Greece, in 1879. Levdas pursued his higher education in Athens, Greece, where he studied and obtained a PhD in physics from the University of Athens, and he studied at the Athens Conservatory, where he took private classes with Dionyssios Lavrangas. While still a student, he started working towards the formation of a musical ensemble, and in 1896 he formed a mandolin quartet (2 mandolins, mandola, guitar) with his brother Konstantinos Lavdas and Vassileios Mitsou. The name "Athenian Mandolinata" made its first appearance that year. Four years later, he formed an ensemble made up of 20 musicians and gave his first concert in the "Parnassus" hall in Athens on May 26, 1900. The success of this appearance led to the formal establishment of the "Athenian Mandolinata". By 1901 the Mandolinata had its own conservatory, teaching various instruments (mandolin, guitar, violin, cello, flute), vocal music and music theory. As the director of the "Athenian Mandolinata" orchestra, he conducted the orchestra in the interim Olympic Games of Athens (1906), for the king of Italy Vittorio Emmanuele (1907) and for Kaiser Wilhelm in Corfu's "Achilleion" (1910). The orchestra started performing abroad, too, with appearances in Cairo and Alexandria (1907), Smyrna (1908), New York (1912). One of the most important moments for the orchestra and its conductor was in 1910, when they received the first prize in Cremona, competing among 32 ensembles from all over Europe, and Nikolaos Lavdas received the first prize for conducting. Nikolaos Lavdas held the post of director of the Orchestra and Conservatory, while Zakharias Papantoniou was its first president, and Prince Nikolaos of Greece its honorary president.