Christos Hatzis

About

The artist

Christos Hatzis is a Toronto composer and University of Toronto professor whose work spans orchestral, chamber, choral, electroacoustic, theatrical, and multimedia forms. Born in Greece and active as a composer since the 1970s, he developed a musical language that places acoustic instruments beside recorded sound, electronic processing, Byzantine and other spiritual traditions, and musical practices from several cultures. Works such as Constantinople, From the Song of Songs, String Quartet No. 1, and Orbiting Garden show that range across chamber music, voice, percussion, and playback media. Hatzis has written for performers and ensembles including Hilary Hahn, Evelyn Glennie, the Gryphon Trio, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Going Home Star: Truth and Reconciliation, created for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet with Tanya Tagaq, Steve Wood, and the Northern Cree Singers, became one of his most prominent collaborative projects and its recording received a 2017 JUNO Award. His own compositions have received two earlier JUNO Awards, along with further national and international recognition. Recent work remains active and wide-ranging. Vanishing Point joined jazz and classical improvisers in 2024, Orbiting Garden received a new album treatment in 2025, and the string-orchestra collection Anthropomorphosis was released by Da Vinci Classics in June 2026. His official calendar lists Canadian and international performances through late 2026. Hatzis continues to work from the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, which independently lists him as a current professor.