Finding Freedom Through Music: A Conversation with George Perris

New episode of Behind the Curtain featuring international vocalist George Perris. 

George is one of the rare artists who moves fluidly between classical technique, contemporary crossover, and global pop traditions. His multilingual albums have reached wide international audiences, and his concert work spans major stages around the world. Known for his expressive range and refined musicianship, he brings a distinctive presence to the modern touring landscape and continues to broaden what multifaceted vocal performance can achieve.

Production
Wardrobe: Daphne Valente
Makeup: Roula Lianou
Hair: Konstantinos Koliousis

Shot on location at the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to George
• 3:35 Merging Musical Genres
• 8:16 Childhood Dreams and First Performances
• 15:59 Mentors and Musical Influences
• 22:41 Classical Inspirations and Future Plans
• 24:06 UNICEF Work and Children's Rights
• 25:34 Songwriting Process and Artistic Authenticity

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

I'm Sula Parasitis, and this is Behind the Curtain, and today I'm absolutely thrilled to invite a wonderful artist, but I also say a friend.

Speaker 2: 0:11

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 0:12

George is a leading artist. He has been breaking records, winning awards and thrilling audiences for, dare I say, decades at this point I'm old.

Speaker 1: 0:23

And I'm really honored that you're here, because you've literally just flown in from New York and you're about to go record. Right after this, I would love to start asking about your stamina and how you manage all of that. But actually, what I really wanted to get into is how you have bridged so many different kinds of genres. I mean, you're half Greek, half French. You live part of the time in New York. You're here in Athens, where we happen to be right now at the moment. What is the inspiration behind merging genres? Is that an identity thing? Is that something you fell into? Was it planned or is it just how things emerged?

Speaker 2: 0:57

I think it's my love for music. Okay, it's as simple as that. I mean, ever since I was a kid, you know, I always wanted to sing and I started learning the piano when I was very young, so I got in touch with classical music. But at the same time, I loved pop music, and especially when I was a teenager.

Speaker 2: 1:16

That's when, you know, like every sort of normal teenager, I wanted to listen to some of the pop divas of the time, who listened to some of the pop divas of the time, and later on, as I became a professional in music, I always thought that, you know, music is endless. It's like a big ocean. So no one can stop you from going left or right, or a little bit further, or a little bit to your left or wherever you want to go and try and experiment. As long as it's done with integrity and sincerity and as long as it's done with your need to expand your horizons, then no one can tell you that you did it right or wrong, because it comes from a very honest place and I think that the audience gets it. I think the audience reacts to that because they know when it's been done from respect.

Speaker 1: 2:09

But you started as a young child. Where did you grow up?

Speaker 2: 2:13

Here in Athens.

Speaker 1: 2:14

What were your parents' reaction then? As Greek parents, I also have a Greek dad, you know. I mean, what was their reaction? You said you know I'm really interested in music and I guess you're dabbling in it in a sense as a as a young boy were they supportive in the beginning well, it's not that they were not supporting, but they dismissed it kind of.

Speaker 2: 2:32

You know, the first reaction was okay, go and fix your room because it's a mess and we'll see okay okay, yep, not anymore, though, of course well, no, because I'm a Virgo, so you know everything has to be very neat.

Speaker 2: 2:44

Oh, there you go, there you go, amazing, amazing. But I think that over the years they realized that music was a one-way street for me. There was nothing else I could do, there was nothing else that interested me and there was no way that they could stop me because I was so determined. You know, when I was four years old, I went to my mom and said you know, one day I'm going to be singing around the world, whether you like it or not. You get goosebumps it was just a weird child.

Speaker 1: 3:12

No, no, it's amazing. You know, I believe in that. I believe that there's something in us as children we're drawn to things and it's amazing when you have parents that don't completely you know, veer you off. I think it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 3:24

They can sometimes be the first line to redirect, but if the child is strong-willed and says, no, this is what I want. What was the tipping point? When you know how old were you approximately? When you're like? Firstly, I am going to do this. I mean, I know you said it, but when there was the point of no return, and what was their reaction?

Speaker 2: 3:39

That's a very good question. I was 12 years old and I was the odd kid that you know always sang at these national holidays and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 3:52

The yortes, as we call them in Greece. And when I was 12 years old, they asked me to do a song and that was the first time I stepped on a stage and there were I don't know 200 or 300 kids, but that was the moment that I knew that Because you know, you have to understand. I was a very shy kid because my parents had divorced and I was very frightened, I was bullied, I was why were you bullied?

Speaker 2: 4:18

There were many circumstances. You know from my parents' divorce, which was very, very violent and brutal, and part of the reason why I needed music was because of that. So when I stepped on stage that first time, it was the first time that I felt strong, I felt empowered, I felt like, for the first time, I was a lion, I was a king and this was my kingdom time. I was a lion, I was a king and this was my kingdom. And as soon as I stepped out, I went back to being a very shy and terrified kid. So I knew, I knew that day on that music was going to dominate my life, if you will, and I'm very, and the truth is that now dominate my life, if you will, and I'm very, and the truth is that now, some 30 years later, almost 29 years later, I'm very grateful to music, because music gave me freedom.

Speaker 2: 5:17

Music allowed me to be who I wanted to be. Music traveled me around the world. Music also, um, also, um made me be very independent and be very um how would you call it Be an adult. I turned into an adult, an adult because of music.

Speaker 1: 5:34

But what I'm really curious about and this is what keeps like bubbling in me okay, when I'm listening to you talk, I'm thinking okay, you're 12, you have your first experience on stage, you feel that power. You want to, you know self-empowerment, you want to seek it again, but then there's always a tipping point where it's the point of no return. You're a professional artist. This is what I'm going to do. I want to know two things I want to know when that was and I want to know how it came about, because that is always so mysterious for people. When I tell the story about my own life, I just talk about many circumstances, but one day I gave this concert in a living room in Berlin. Somebody heard me and that was it.

Speaker 1: 6:10

That was really the turning point, and every artist has that one where they're like well, things really changed after that.

Speaker 2: 6:16

I just want to know for you. My beginning was actually. It's very funny that you mentioned, because it was kind of the same.

Speaker 1: 6:21

I feel like we have a lot of similarities. We need to get into a different conversation off camera. Okay, go on.

Speaker 2: 6:26

So what happened was I was 17 and 10 months old I was not even 18 when a friend of mine said hey, I want to introduce you to this great composer, mimis Plesas. Now, mimis Plesas at the time was I think he was, I want to say, 78 years old, and he's one of the greatest composers in Greece. He's the one who discovered my idol, nana Mouskouri, back in the early 50s.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Wow.

Speaker 2: 6:55

So I said sure, please call him. So he called him up, said Mimi, I have this young kid that I would really love for you to listen to his voice. I think he's very good, that I would really love for you to listen to his voice, I think he's very good. And he said tell that young man that he's very lucky. Today is the last day that I'm hosting an audition for young singers. No way, Bring him over to my house now.

Speaker 2: 7:16

So we got into a car. We went straight to his house. I sang a song for him. I'll never forget. He was a very sweet man. There were a lot of young singers waiting outside and as soon as I sang for him, he said to me hold on, stay right where you are, Don't move. He went out. He thanked everyone and asked them to leave, said I found what I'm looking for. Oh my gosh. And he came back. He told me a few things that I have never told them to anyone else. I've kept them to myself. And he gave me three CDs. And he told me you have one week to learn all of these songs. We're going on tour, what Yep? So my first show was literally 10 days later in Athens, and I was baptized a professional singer.

Speaker 1: 8:04

That day baptized by a flyer yeah my god, so it was really your destiny yeah, in a sense. I mean, I wanted to ask, as you mentioned, nana Muscuri and you have this close relationship with her. When did that relationship start to form and how has it shaped your artistic identity?

Speaker 2: 8:19

way later on. It's very funny because it we actually met here for the first time, right?

Speaker 1: 8:24

in In this hotel? Yes, no way.

Speaker 2: 8:25

Yeah, oh my gosh. They were shooting a documentary about her life for French TV and the journalist, who was a friend of mine, called me up and said hey, I know how much you love Nana, I'm going to be with her. Do you want to come and meet her? So of course, I flew over and I met her and that was the beginning of a beautiful, beautiful friendship. And it's been 10 years now. Wow. We've met many times over the years and you know the most precious thing to me, apart from the fact that you know, I have learned so much from her before I met her- because she was such a strong influence.

Speaker 2: 9:08

You know her and Maria Carlos were the two biggest influences in my life. But afterwards, all our phone calls because we have very regular phone calls that last for a long time she has so much advice for me and beautiful stories to tell me and she's really set an example for me and she set the bar very high and you know it's. What's important to me is because you know, many times when you meet some of the people that you've admired, sometimes you lose the myth.

Speaker 1: 9:38

If you want, it's like a rude awakening.

Speaker 2: 9:40

Exactly, it was not the case with Nana, and I'm there and I feel very, um, very proud to say that that my childhood, um idol, um, really stood up to um what I thought she would be I don't want to pry, but since you mentioned advice that she's given you, would you be willing to share some tidbits?

Speaker 1: 10:39

any just stuff that we could all use in our artistic lives or generally.

Speaker 2: 10:42

Well, I'll tell you one thing that's really stuck to me and she actually signed it to me on one of her autographs that she gave to me and I have it right in front in my piano room she said what do you do doesn't really matter. What matters is how you do it and why you do it. How you do it, why you do it, which I think is one of the most important things I've ever been told, because, you know, the truth is, as artists, we have the right to expand and to explore and to do so many things, and what is important is why we do it, the reason behind it and the way you do it, meaning the sincerity, the respect towards music or the art, the integrity, the work behind it, and I've really I've tried to follow that as much as I can.

Speaker 1: 11:38

Yeah, no, I would say that's clear. Who is Maria Callas for you? Because I know you have a great love for opera and opera singers.

Speaker 2: 11:50

So I'll tell you how I met Maria Callas. When my grandmother died my French grandmother died I asked my mom. I said, hey, I want you to please bring me her CDs. And as I was going through the box of the CDs, I came up on one of Kalash's CDs and, funnily enough, I had never heard her voice until then, until I was 12. So I put the CD in and the first thing that I heard was Ruchia de la Mermur. Oh wow, the mad scene.

Speaker 1: 12:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:25

And as soon as I heard that you know when you get on a plane and it takes off like you get stuck in your seat, in the back of your seat, I felt the same thing. I was like what is happening here? And that's when I went into a rabbit hole a good one. I started buying all of her albums, all of the operas. I started listening to them like crazy, and there was a time where I wanted to be a classical singer.

Speaker 1: 12:53

I was about to ask. So then why not pursue opera?

Speaker 2: 12:56

Because a few years later, when I was I don't know 15, 16, I realized that, even though the repertoire is huge, there was a freedom, a part of a freedom that I wanted, that I could never have in classical music, because I wanted to write my own songs. I wanted to do other things. I wanted to create concerts in my own universe, the way that I envisioned them. So opera as much as I adore it and I have a tremendous respect for it and I've studied it a lot, I never became an opera singer, even though in recent years in my concerts I've added some little bits of classical music. And this summer I had the huge honor to sing with Placido Domingo, the great Placido Domingo.

Speaker 1: 13:48

Amazing, amazing. What was that experience like?

Speaker 2: 13:52

It was incredible. First of all, I don't think I've ever been so terrified in my life before.

Speaker 1: 13:56

Why.

Speaker 2: 13:57

Why? Because I thought, you know, I thought there's something wrong here. I don't think he knows who I am, you know, but he was very sweet because he was like no, no, no, he told me great things about my voice and how he liked it and all that stuff, but he was a huge lesson in humility, which is very important.

Speaker 2: 14:19

It's important to see how someone who's I believe he's 80 years old, if I'm not wrong how humble he still is and how much love and passion he still has for what he does after I don't know 60 years in the business. Honestly, it's very inspiring.

Speaker 1: 14:39

I mean indeed, and it just sounds like you've had this incredible, I would guess, given the difficult childhood you had. It's like there has been this providential through line guiding you to the right mentors at the right time.

Speaker 2: 14:56

I can't complain.

Speaker 1: 14:57

I mean, now that you've had this contact with Placida, I wonder what we can expect in the future. I would just put it out there. Who knows? I'm just curious.

Speaker 2: 15:06

I do dream of one day doing let's call it a classical album, but that would be in my own way. I want to be inspired by classical music and bring it over to my voice, and I've done a couple of songs like that. I did a cover of Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Targa and my version of Ave Maria. Schubert's Ave Maria for my Christmas album. I've always, you know, toyed a little bit with classical music and I hope that one day I will do a whole album.

Speaker 1: 15:43

Okay, we're gonna wait. You're gonna come back and talk about it All right, I want to know a little bit about how you create and your songwriting process. And if you hear the music, if it's somehow, you set the piano and start to play. How exactly do you bring something forth into the world?

Speaker 2: 16:05

Well, first of all, I'm not really a songwriter. I only do it if I have something specific that I want to say. That being said, for my previous English album, my record label locked me in a studio with two great people and we were working every day together. So, as a part of a team, I love doing it, because I may have two words and half a melody that someone is going to complete, and that is very intriguing to me. It's very exciting. But now, as far as inspiration, it comes in many, many forms. Even yesterday I was on the plane from New York to Paris, from New York to Paris, and somewhere up above the clouds, this one song came to my brain. I thought that's the one that was missing, because I'm working on a program. I was like, oh, I have to do that. So inspiration can come in any shape or form, you just have to be open to it.

Speaker 1: 17:08

No, absolutely. That's fascinating. I mean, I've wondered a lot about how I mean, because I don't write music either. Sometimes you have to fit inside the framework of someone else's imagination, which can be quite tough. It doesn't seem to be a problem for you.

Speaker 2: 17:24

I mean, that's the luxury of a pop singer, if you will, that you can create your own vision of how you want your concert to be, or your album to be.

Speaker 1: 17:35

But see, this is really the crux of what I want to get at we, as classical artists, how can we do that? Because I actually think we need to have an element of that in what we do, and sometimes it's missing from what we do. So how would you advise, like, let's say, you're, you're coaching me and we're trying. Right now I'm I'm learning um, I'm learning tosca okay, oh, you are, yeah, yeah, oh wonderful so we're gonna sit down and we're gonna do visita arte.

Speaker 1: 18:00

What would you? How would you draw something new out of someone and out of an aria that's been recorded a billion times by the greatest artists of all time? How do do we approach that as a team?

Speaker 2: 18:10

I would start in a completely different way. See, I already knew it. That's why I'm so happy and the first thing I will tell you is go to therapy.

Speaker 1: 18:19

Oh my God, all right, we're about to get into it. Tell me, tell me what you mean.

Speaker 2: 18:23

Go to therapy and start digging into who you are, because we all have a garden inside of us and this garden cannot be just roses, sometimes it'll be thorns, sometimes it'll be tomatoes and cucumbers, and then it will be some tulips, but you have to be able to see all that, because if you don't see your entire garden, what's in front of you, you do not know who you are, and that means that you cannot sing what you want to sing, because you'll be closed Exactly.

Speaker 2: 18:55

Yeah, Because you'll be completely ignoring a raw part of yourself that you know. We may call it ugly or bad, but it's not. It's just the depth of it. It's the source of your trauma, maybe, and that will definitely make you a better singer.

Speaker 1: 19:12

Okay, but I'm going to press you on this. So I go to therapy, I work through some stuff and I'm ready.

Speaker 2: 19:19

Then it'll come to you in a way that you don't expect it. I'll tell you an example. For example, now I'm recording a new Greek album. It's my first album of original songs in Greece in four years.

Speaker 1: 19:30

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 19:32

So there was a lot of pressure that I had to do an album, because I hadn't done anything and I had no idea what I wanted to do. And it started just by listening to a French song. I said, oh, I want to do that in Greek. So I did that one first song and then, little by little, a phone call from a friend and then something I heard in the studio by another artist, and all of a sudden I had 10 songs in front of me and I knew. I knew in the middle of the process that even though in the beginning there was no concept, there was nothing, in reality, there was me, who I am right now, in this moment. So it's the same for you, because if you, let's say, you do Tosca this year and you go back in 10 years from now and you do it again, it cannot be the same.

Speaker 1: 20:27

Tosca.

Speaker 2: 20:29

But that's why it's so important to know where you are right now. So you're saying that basically, we're the vessel and as we grow and change everything we do, I mean, it's clear, that's fascinating, and you know also it's the personality of the artist, because, especially in classical music, the arrangement is exactly the same, their repertoire is the same, yet every single time, the personality of the conductor, of the musicians and, of course, of the soloists is what makes it completely different.

Speaker 1: 20:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:59

You know I've heard operas by some of the greatest um singers let's not say names but that I thought were pretty boring.

Speaker 1: 21:08

And then I heard them with other singers I was like, oh wow yeah, that is incredible because iron sharpens, iron yep and we and we need that friction sometimes so just to move ourselves forward. Yeah, no, no, that's, that's, that's quite true. And I mean, this past year I have only been singing operas by gluck oh wow it's been fascinating and every iteration has been difficult. Yes right, every iteration has been different and I think you're absolutely right okay, and the other thing?

Speaker 2: 21:34

sorry to finish your question yeah, please which to me is very important is narcissism. All of us artists are narcissists in a way, and it's not necessarily a bad thing, but you know the fact that we do want to sing in front of people and we want to be a part of it. It's a little weird, it's not your everyday job and I think that what's very important, especially when you come to a certain level, it's exactly to put your narcissism on the side and remember why you do this. Remember that back a long time ago, there was this kid that wanted to sing and that kid wanted to express itself. So go back to those roots and forget what you've achieved or who you've become. It doesn't really matter. When you're in the process of the work, you have to let go of all these things, and letting go of narcissism is not an easy thing.

Speaker 1: 22:34

Talk about therapy.

Speaker 2: 22:35

Yep.

Speaker 1: 22:35

Oh my God, no, but I mean you were sort of speaking forth your destiny as a child. It's come full circle, but you do a lot of work to help children now as well, and I wanted to make sure we talked about that, because I feel like we could just go on and on Same here.

Speaker 1: 22:51

I'm like I'm like, oh my God, tell me more. And what about this? And what about? It's fascinating, and I, I really, really, really love the opportunity to speak to artists who do something adjacent to opera, and I mean anyway, I could go on and on, but I really really want to talk about your work with UNICEF and just as an ambassador, and the things that are close to your heart, because I think people really need to know about that, because it's something that I truly believe in as well with my anti-trafficking work. We have to do this kind of stuff as well, because we have to give back and we have to remember that we are so fortunate to ever have the opportunity to sing for people, and so please, please, tell us a bit about what's close to your heart in that project right now and everything that you're doing and your dreams about it.

Speaker 2: 23:35

Okay, sorry, that's a brilliant thing, just tell me everything about it. I love your enthusiasm.

Speaker 1: 23:39

I really admire it and it's really important.

Speaker 2: 23:41

So this started for me 10 years ago, I think, in America. Actually, I became the ambassador of an association called the Horatio Alger Association for Distinguished Americans, which is an association that grants scholarships to young students who come from adversity, and I worked a lot with them. I did a few shows for them and you know, being an ambassador for them, I also came in touch with the students and that's where I realized me to be a part of their team and I became a goodwill ambassador. So we work tirelessly for children's rights because UNICEF that's the main goal that UNICEF has. It's to make changes in the legislation, it's to make changes to prevent what's going on. Of course, we also take care of some very difficult situations, but the actual work happens when you can prevent all these crimes against children.

Speaker 1: 25:02

Yes.

Speaker 2: 25:10

On a personal level. It was a huge honor because Nana. Muscuri, who is the longest standing UNICEF ambassador in the world. She was the one who appointed me an ambassador, so it was a huge honor for me.

Speaker 2: 25:16

And working for children, I can tell you, is. You know, I've done many things in my life and I've traveled a lot and I've sung a lot, but working because it's an actual job, with a contract and zero fee, um is one of the greatest honors in in my life and it's something that I take very seriously yeah, no, it's.

Speaker 1: 25:37

It's beautiful work, extremely important work it is we're gonna link it and so people can learn more. Of course it is because you know, if we don, so people can learn more of course it is because, you know, if we don't take care of children, well then what's the point?

Speaker 1: 25:47

yeah, exactly no, no, I relate to that what do we have? It's close to my heart. No, it's, it's beautiful. George, I'm so thrilled that you came here, I know you have to run the recording studio and I'm mindful of that, but we can't wait to see what's next for you Thank you.

Speaker 2: 26:03

I'll tell you next time, I know.

Speaker 1: 26:05

I'm just like I cannot wait. But no, we're really thrilled and for all the good work that you do and thank you for sharing a bit of your story here.

Speaker 2: 26:11

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 26:12

We could have literally had you for like four hours, but anyway, go to the studio.

Speaker 2: 26:25

And congratulations doing such an interesting, interesting job. Because, you know, artists of our generation have to think completely differently than what the artists behind us. They paved the way, but now it's up to us to go a different route.

Speaker 1: 26:34

Now we just open up a whole other three hours of conversation. No, but we'll talk about that in the future. Seriously, George, thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 26:40

And thank you for everything you do I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 26:43

And just before we end, I do have to say thank you to the Grand Bretagne for hosting us, and I would love to say a special thank you to Daphne Valente for the beautiful dress. I feel like a princess. You are I feel like a princess.

Speaker 2: 26:55

You're gorgeous.

Speaker 1: 26:56

Thank you so much. Thank you so much, and we'll see you next time.