Wednesday, 25 November 2026
Frank Martin Foundation
Sandy Tzagkaraki
musician – music archivist,
project archivist for the processing of the Frank Martin Archive in Almere, the Netherlands
The personal archive of the Swiss composer Frank Martin
Frank Martin (Geneva, 1890 – Naarden, 1974) was one of the most important Swiss composers of the 20th century. His decision to devote himself to music took shape at the age of twelve, when he heard Bach’s St Matthew Passion. His only teacher was Joseph Lauber, while his personal style, influenced by twelve-tone technique, combined chromaticism with expanded tonality. Largely self-taught, he taught at the Émile Jaques-Dalcroze Institute and the Geneva Conservatory, and later became Stockhausen’s composition professor in Cologne.
In 1946, he settled in the Netherlands because of his wife’s, and flautist, Maria Boeke-Martin, Dutch origins. There he devoted himself exclusively to composition. His music is characterised by intense lyricism, rhythmic inventiveness and a distinctive harmonic language. Rooted in Calvinist traditions but free from religious dogmatism, he remained independent of the musical «schools» of his time, drawing inspiration from medieval music, jazz and a variety of musical traditions.
Frank Martin maintained a close relationship with Paul Sacher, who commissioned and premièred a number of his works. Today, the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, houses an extensive portion of the Frank Martin archive, including manuscripts, sketches, correspondence, photographs, and other documents, which provide valuable insight into the composer’s creative process and artistic development.
Part of Frank Martin’s personal and musical archive, as well as some of his personal belongings, is also held at the Frank Martin Foundation in the Netherlands. This archival material, together with the challenges that arise during its processing and study, will be the subject of this presentation.
Moderation: Myrto Economides, Music Library of Greece “Lilian Voudouri” – Friends of Music Society | President of the Board, IAML Greek Branch
🌐 Language of the presentation: English
The presentations will be followed by a discussion.
- Duration: 60 minutes
- The event on Facebook (in Greek)
No prior specialist knowledge is required to attend
Sandy Tzagkaraki is a musician and archivist specialising in music archives. Her professional and research activities span the Netherlands and Greece.
She holds a degree in Modern History (University of Crete) and a postgraduate degree in Archival Studies (Leiden University). She has also completed professional development programmes in digital archives organised by the International Council on Archives and the Digital Preservation Coalition. Alongside her archival work, she studies classical singing with Liana Kokosi (Panos Dimas Voice Studies, Athens) and music theory with Nikos Kokolakis (AR Conservatory, Heraklion, Crete). In 2023, she completed the postgraduate seminar programme for singing teachers at the National Conservatory of Athens, under the guidance of Panos Dimas.
As an archivist, she has worked at the Netherlands Music Institute (Nederlands Muziek Instituut) in The Hague, where she has been responsible for the archival processing and description of, among others, the collections of Jurriaan Andriessen, Willem Noske, Marjo Tal, Jan van Gilse and Elise Menagé-Challa. She has also worked at the Historical Museum of Crete (Maurice Born Archive) and at the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam (Persmuseum collections). She currently works on the archive of the Swiss composer Frank Martin in Almere.
Based in the Netherlands, she is actively involved as a musician in promoting Greek musical heritage, with particular emphasis on singing not only as a form of entertainment but also as a powerful means of historical storytelling and preservation of the collective memory. As part of this work, she has organised and presented the narrated concerts Stories of People in Greek Music and Songs Against Fascism: Greece, 1940–Today.