page_title: Vangelis
section_title: 2001–present: Latest albums
hierarchical_section_title: Vangelis / Career / 2001–present: Latest albums
caption_attribution_description: English: Vangelis Papathanassiou, Horonary Doctor of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. This picture at the same time shows the affection, and the affecting impact on Vangelis.
context_page_description: Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, known professionally as Vangelis, is a Greek musician and composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, and orchestral music. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire, as well as for composing scores to the films Blade Runner, Missing, Antarctica, The Bounty, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, and Alexander, and for the use of his music in the 1980 PBS documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.
  Vangelis began his career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as The Forminx and Aphrodite's Child, with the latter's album 666 going on to be recognized as a progressive-psychedelic rock classic. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.
context_section_description: In 2001 Vangelis performed live, and subsequently released, the choral symphony Mythodea, which was used by NASA as the theme for the Mars Odyssey mission. This is a predominantly orchestral rather than electronic piece that was originally written in 1993. In 2004, Vangelis released the score for Oliver Stone's Alexander, continuing his involvement with projects related to Greece.
  Vangelis released two albums in 2007; the first was a 3-CD set for the 25th anniversary of Blade Runner, titled Blade Runner Trilogy and second was the soundtrack for the Greek movie, El Greco directed by Yannis Smaragdis, titled El Greco Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
  On 11 December 2011, Vangelis was invited by Katara's Cultural Village in the state of Qatar to conceive, design, direct, and compose music for the opening of its world-class outdoor amphitheater. The event was witnessed by a number of world leaders and dignitaries participating in the 4th Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations held in the city of Doha. British actor Jeremy Irons performed in the role of master of ceremonies, and the event featured a light show by German artist Gert Hof. It was filmed for a future video release by Oscar-winning British filmmaker Hugh Hudson.
  In 2012, Vangelis re-tooled and added new pieces to his iconic Chariots of Fire soundtrack, for use in the same-titled stage adaptation. He composed the soundtrack of the environmental documentary film Trashed (2012) directed by Candida Brady, which starred Jeremy Irons. A documentary film called Vangelis And The Journey to Ithaka was released in 2013. He also scored the music for the film Twilight of Shadows (2014) directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina.
  For the 12 November 2014 landing of the Philae lander on Comet 67P (part of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission), Vangelis composed three short pieces titled "Arrival", "Rosetta's Waltz", and "Philae's Journey". The pieces were released online as videos accompanied by images and animations from the Rosetta mission. He was quoted by ESA as saying, "Mythology, science and space exploration are subjects that have fascinated me since my early childhood. And they were always connected somehow with the music I write". In September 2016, the works were released as part of the new studio album Rosetta. In 2018, Vangelis composed an original score for Stephen Hawking's memorial. While Hawking's ashes were interred at Westminster Abbey, the music which backed Hawking's words were beamed by ESA to the nearest black hole to Earth. It was a personal tribute by Vangelis, and a limited CD titled "The Stephen Hawking Tribute" was shared with the family and over 1,000 guests.
  On 25 January 2019, a new studio album, Nocturne: The Piano Album, was released, which includes both new and old compositions played on a grand piano, "inspired by night time, and by Vangelis' long-held passion for space".
caption: Vangelis receiving his Honorary Doctor of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2008
exif: {}