May 8, 1959
ARMAND MARSICK:Armand Marsick, a musician who played a major part in the development of the classical music scene in Athens, has died in Brussels at the age of 81. He came from a family of musicians that included his uncle Martin Marsick, a famous violinist. Armand Marsick came to Athens in 1908 to direct the Athens Conservatory Orchestra. Born and educated in Liege, Belgium, he later moved to Paris. The Athens Conservatory Orchestra had been formed in 1894, but it was only after the arrival of Marsick that symphonic concerts were held that made the Greek capital a true center of classical music. One year after Marsick’s arrival in Greece, the concerts that had initially been held in a small hall on Pireos Street moved to the Royal Theater and then to the acoustically improved Municipal Theater. Demand for tickets at the performance was so great that it would have been possible to fill an even larger theater. Marsick remained in Athens until early 1922, when he assumed the post of concert director in Bilbao, Spain. In Greece, his pupils included Dimitris Mitropoulos, Georgios Sklavos and Philoctetes Economides. A distinguished composer, he wrote two operas and several works inspired by Greece.
