Maria Farandouri was born in Athens. She is well known all over the world as the ideal interpreter of the works of Mikis Theodorakis. Maria has played an important role in the movement for the revival of Greek music. She is considered the most authentic interpreter of the songs of the Greek composer. Her rich contralto voice with its broad range and melodic quality, combined with a fine instinct, are the main features of her art.
In the year 1967 she left Greece and joined the struggle against the military junta, giving thousands of concerts all over the world in the largest concert halls. Critics everywhere were enthusiastic. The Guardian wrote: "She is unique; her voice is a gift from the gods of Olympus". The music critic of the «Monde» described her as «The Joan Baez of the Mediterranean" and the President of the French Republic, Francois Mitterand, wrote in his book entitled «The Bee and the architects: «For me Greece is Maria Farandouri. This is how I imagined Godess Hera to be: strong, pure and vigilant. I've never encountered any other artist able to give us such a strong sense of the divine».
Her international repertory includes the cds Songs of Protest, Maria Farandouri sings Brecht, and MF sings George Gershwin songs by the Turkish composer Zülfü Livaneli, 17 Songs (arranged by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer), collaboration with Vangelis and Lucio Dalla. She has also helped many New Greek composers and poets singing their first works.
Some of her major interpretations of Mikis Theodorakis are Canto General set to poetry by Pablo Neruda; Romancero Gitano F.G. Lorca, on which she collaborated with the famous British guitarist John Williams, and The Ballad of Mauthausen which she performed together with Israel Philarmonic Orchestra conducted by the great maestro Zubin Mehta at the Herodus Atticus Theatre in August 1991. Maria also interpreted songs by the major Greek composer Manos Hadzidakis: The Irrationals, The Era of Melissanthi, Dark Mother etc. During the last decade she has done a lot of work on rembetiko.
Last summer she gave a concert in Herod’s Atticus Theatre with the great jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and much of their repertory was on Greek traditional songs. The concert was recorded by ECM Records and is going to be released in September.
Apart from her artistic activities, Maria Farandouri has been a member of Greek Parliament during the years 1989-1993 representing the Panhellenic Socialist Movement. She has been awarded the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of Greek Democracy.