Riadis (real name, Khu), Emilios

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Riadis (real name, Khu), Emilios

Riadis (real name, Khu), Emilios , Greek composer; b. Salonica, May 13, 1885; d. there, July 17, 1935. He studied piano and harmony with Dimitrios Lalas in Salonica, then took courses with Walbrunn, Mayer-Gschrey, Becht, and Stich at the Munich Academy of Music (1908–10). He later studied with Charpentier and Ravel in Paris (1910–15), where he appeared as a composer under the name Riadis, formed from the ending of his mother’s maiden name, Elefteriadis (his father’s real name was Khu). In 1915 he became a piano teacher at the Salonica Cons. He wrote a number of songs, distinguished by an expressive melodic line, somewhat oriental in its intervallic pattern; his harmonizations are in the French manner. Most of his works for stage, orch., and chamber ensembles were left unfinished.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire