Our top ten New Zealanders: John Psathas

John Psathas

* John Psathas, Composer

While our athletes competed, another New Zealander starred at the Athens Olympics, rousing millions, if not billions, of people worldwide. Leading composer John Psathas, 38, wrote much of the music for the opening ceremony, including the moment when the Olympic flame was lit.

Initially, the Wellingtonian, born to Greek parents, had to keep his commission quiet because of his contract with the organisers. He was selected from hundreds of composers and wrote and arranged 13 pieces for the ceremony. The organisers liked a fanfare he had composed for the opening of Te Papa in 1997.

He told the Herald that hardly anyone had heard it at the time but the piece was then recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the recording fell into the right hands. The Athens organisers were not easy to please and kept changing their minds, so he had to keep rewriting. They eventually used 25 minutes of his work for the opening ceremony and seven minutes for the closing ceremony.

But Athens was only the highlight of a remarkable year. In September Psathas was awarded Best Classical Album for his CD Fragments at the New Zealand Music Awards and in November he won the SOUNZ Contemporary APRA Silver Scroll award for his piano concerto.