The Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Greece. The orchestra’s extensive repertoire includes works from the Baroque to the avant-garde periods of music. The TSSO was founded in 1959 by the Greek composer Solon Michaelides and became a state orchestra in 1969. Many important Greek musicians have served as directors of the TSSO, the founder followed by Georgios Thymis, Alkis Baltas, Karolos Trikolidis, Kosmas Galileas, Konstantinos Patsalides, Leonidas Kavakos and Mikis Michaelides. Today the TSSO numbers approximately one hundred and twenty musicians, with Myron Michailidis as its Artistic Director. Aside from scheduled symphonic concerts in the major Greek concert venues and international festivals, the TSSO covers a wide range of artistic activities, performing opera, ballet, music for silent films, and education concerts for children and young people, as well as doing much to promote Greek music. The orchestra has worked with a host of famous soloists and conductors, among them Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, June Anderson, Shlomo Mintz, Gil Shaham, Aram Khatchaturian, Jascha Horenstein, Aldo Ciccolini, Yuri Simonov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Natalia Gutman, Misha Maisky, Dimitris Sgouros, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Paul Badura-Skoda, Nikita Magaloff, Shura Cherkassky, Leonid Kogan, Ruggiero Ricci, Salvatore Accardo, Leonidas Kavakos, Victor Tretyakov, Vladimir Spivakov, Cyprien Katsaris, Lazar Berman, Pierre Fournier, Bruno-Leonardo Gelber, Kostas Paskalis and Martino Tirimo. Recordings include the