Makis Solomos (born 1962) is a Franco-Greek musicologist who specializes in contemporary music, particularly the work of Iannis Xenakis. He is also one of the specialists in Theodor W. Adorno's thought. His work focuses on the issue of sound ecology and decay. He has published articles and books and participates in meetings and symposia. In 2005, he participated in the creation of the magazine "Filigranes," which aimed to broaden the field of musicology.
In his writings, Solomos attempts to combine analytical, historical, and hermeneutical approaches. In addition to his writings on the work of Xenakis, his research focuses on aspects of recent music, such as Webern, Varèse, Boulez, Criton, Vaggione, Di Scipio, spectral music, electronic music, popular music, and in particular aesthetic questions inspired by the philosophical thought of Adorno.
He defends a radical modernist aesthetic approach to contemporary music and criticises aesthetics that he considers conservative, particularly neoclassicism and postmodernism.[2] He remains distant from the aesthetics known as "moderate modernists."
He opposes historicism, a linear reading of the history of music in which the evolution of aesthetics is considered only in a uniform sense with reference only to great names. He defends the idea that musical evolution is a complex and multifaceted movement of different conceptions and aesthetics.
His recent work has focused on themes such as the emergence of sound, sound ecology and decay. From these recent works he has produced books, articles, and papers to symposiums.
Le devenir du matériau musical au XXe siècle, in SOULEZ Antonia, SCHMITZ François, SEBESTIK Jan (ed)., Musique, rationalité, langage : L'harmonie, du monde au matériau, Cahiers de philosophie du langage (No 3), Paris, L’Harmattan, 1998; (pp. 137–151)
Notes sur la spatialisation de la musique et l'émergence du son, in GENEVOIS Hugues, ORLAREY Yann (ed)., Le son et l'espace, Lyon, Aléas, 1998; (pp. 105–125). (Musique et Sciences).
Schaeffer phénoménologue, in Ouïr, entendre, écouter, comprendre après Schaeffer, Paris, Buchet-Chastel / INA, 1999, (pp. 53–68) (Bibliothèque de Recherche Musicale).
Le ‘Savant’ et le ‘Populaire‘, le postmodernisme et la mondialisation, in Musurgia, vol. IX/1, Le Savant et le Populaire, 2002.
Analyse et idéologie chez Xenakis, in BARDEZ Jean-Michel (ed). Analyse et création musicales, Colloque (1995, Montpellier), Paris, L’Harmattan, 2001, (pp. 87–100) (Musique et Musicologie).
Du projet bartokien au son : L’évolution du jeune Xenakis, in SOLOMOS, Makis (ed.), Présences de Iannis Xenakis, colloque (1998, Paris), Paris, CDMC, 2001.
De la musique contemporaine à la société, in Filigrane, No 1, Musicologies ?, 2005, (pp. 49–61)
Notes pour une comparaison des paradigmes technologiques des musiques électroniques savantes et populaires, in BARBANTI Roberto, LYNCH Enrique, PARDO Carmen, SOLOMOS Makis (ed.), Musiques, arts et technologies : Pour une approche critique, symposium (2000, Montpellier, Barcelone), Paris, L’Harmattan, 2004, (pp. 281–290) (Musique Philosophie).
Iannis Xenakis, Mercues, PO Editions, 1996; (updated in 2004)
Formel / Informel in SOLOMOS, Makis, SOULEZ, Antonia, VAGGIONE, Horacio, Formel Informel : Musique – Philosophie, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2003. His article De l'apollinien et du dionysiaque dans les écrits de Xenakis can be found in SOLOMOS, Makis, SOULEZ, Antonia, VAGGIONE, Horacio, Formel Informel : Musique – Philosophie, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2003, (pp. 49–90) (Musique Philosophie).
La métaphore lumineuse. Xenakis-Grisey (Paris, l’Harmattan, 2003)
Musiques, arts, technologies. Pour une approche critique / Music, arts and technologies. Towards a critical approach / Musicas, artes y tecnologías. Por una aproximacion critica (avec Roberto Barbanti et Carmen Pardo: Paris, l’Harmattan, 2004)
Horacio Vaggione: Composition theory (Contemporary Music Review vol 24 part 4+5)
Makis Solomos(éd), Espaces composables : essais sur la musique et la pensée musicale d'Horacio Vaggione, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2007, ISBN978-2-296-02832-6 (ouvrage reprenant en grande partie en version française les textes de "Horacio Vaggione: Composition theory)
Rythme, temps et émergence in Rythmes de l'homme, rythmes du monde, Séminaire de l'École normale supérieure de la rue d'Ulm 2006-2008, under the direction of Christian Doumet and Aliocha Wald Lasowski, Éditions Hermann, 2010