100 years Pierre Boulez
The figure of the French composer, Pierre Boulez is emblematic to the vanguard of the 20th century: as a creator but also as a conductor he served the modern tendencies to a unique depth, with works and performances that serve as a reference for an entire era. Honouring the one- hundred year anniversary from his birth, the Athens State Orchestra presents the peak of his symphonic work, the excellent Notations, together with important symphonic works of top representatives of the Second Viennese School, Anton Berg and Anton Webern. It's with great pleasure to receive again as a soloist the internationally renowned violinist Jonian Ilias Kadesha who, taming any skill-related difficulty, always penetrates with insuperable expressiveness to the works he chooses to perform.
Beethoven - Prokofiev: From Prometheus to Romeo and Juliet
Born in Venezuela and actually residing in Berlin, Rodolfo Barráez has proven his gifted musical personality not only by winning prizes in contests in Mexico, Manchester and Hong Kong, but also by his successful permanent collaboration with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the renowned "Simon Bolivar" orchestra of Venezuela. In his debut in Athens, he shall lead the Athens State Orchestra, promising an exciting performance of the dramatic music composed by Sergei Prokofiev for the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" The beloved pianist, Elisavet Kounalaki, the concert's soloist, performing the youthful and sparkling Beethoven's Concerto No.2, sets her long experience and fine aesthetics to the service of such a great score.
Pictures of Rome: Nino Rota and Ottorino Respighi
No objection, opera dominated within the Italian music for centuries and many (if not most) of the top opera composers of all times were Italians. However, Italian music also includes instrumental music works of exceptional beauty! If you still doubt, it's worth to discover along with the Athens State Orchestra, the Italian conductor and guest of the former, Massimo Zanetti, one of the top lead musicians of his generation at a European level; Giuseppe Martucci's (also called the Italian "Brahms") romantic music; Ottorino Respighi's seducing impressionism and the light, intensely narrative music of Nino Rota who, apart from composing film scores, he also wrote several high quality symphonic works.
200 years of Johann Strauss
Certainly, Johann Strauss (son) is one of the main responsible for the immense popularity that the waltz dance acquired in the 19th century and for this he rightfully earned the designation "king of the waltz"; yet even more impressive is the fact that his vast oeuvre remains fascinating to this day, capable of touching the heart of a wide audience around the world, always pleasant, welcomed and, of course, very harmonious with the smile of optimism for the advent of a New Year... It is with such a "smile" that the Athens State Orchestra honours the great Austrian composer and welcomes the New Year with his music, under the baton of the multi-award-winning and rising Georgian conductor, Mirian Khuhunaishvili.
200 years of Johann Strauss
Certainly, Johann Strauss (son) is one of the main responsible for the immense popularity that the waltz dance acquired in the 19th century and for this he rightfully earned the designation "king of the waltz"; yet even more impressive is the fact that his vast oeuvre remains fascinating to this day, capable of touching the heart of a wide audience around the world, always pleasant, welcomed and, of course, very harmonious with the smile of optimism for the advent of a New Year... It is with such a "smile" that the Athens State Orchestra honours the great Austrian composer and welcomes the New Year with his music, under the baton of the multi-award-winning and rising Georgian conductor, Mirian Khuhunaishvili.
Around the world in 80 (plus) minutes
The new year gala is a well-established and expected concert that for many years has been adding sparkle to New Year celebrations. As always, also this year the Athens State Orchestra and the Athens Megaron collaborate and propose to the musicophile audience of Athens an inspired programme, focused on music of our times, distinguished for its melodic charm and its direct, broad impact. Under the baton of the reputed conductor Alexandre Myrat, well-known Greek soloists offer small but impressive samples of their talent, under the same umbrella of brilliant mastery and ... a highly celebrating spirit!
Richard Strauss: Salome
The passion of the sensual princess Salome for John the Baptist, one of the most famous biblical stories combining religion with unrequited love and flagrant crime was turned into a theatrical work by Oscar Wilde and this was the basis for Richard Strauss's opera Salome. At the peak of his maturity and success, the great German Romanticist created a diachronically shocking musical score due to its arousing harmonic plot, its very plethoric instrumentation and its brilliant phonetic expression. Two of the most in demand voices of the international operatic spectrum, the Russian soprano Elena Stikhina and the Austrian tenor Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke are coming to Greece to perform the leading roles of Salome and Herode correspondingly, under the baton of Greece's top opera conductor, Lukas Karytinos.
Golden Sponsor
From the Notre Dame to the Athens State Orchestra
The organ's world has its own stars- and one of them indisputably is the French virtuoso, Vincent Dubois. Nowadays also known as the famous Paris Notre- Dame titular organist, Dubois, after receiving his first awards in 2002 in the demanding international organ competitions of Calgary and Toulouse, he has evolved into a world- range rare phenomenon. As a worthy successor of the great French tradition in organ, Dubois promises a dynamic performance of Jongen's glorious Symphonie concertante, which is for many people the most impressive and plethoric symphonic organ-led work of the first half of the 20th century!
Beethoven's Triple Concerto: Vengerov, Isserlis, Dokou
No matter to which artist a listener may focus their expectations, this concert is a guarantee to their satisfaction: its repertoire includes one classical masterpiece (Beethoven's Triple Concert) and two equally brilliant (but completely different in terms of aesthetics) symphonic works of the beginning of the 20th century, of the Czech Leoš Janáček and the French Maurice Ravel, correspondingly. However, if interest is focused on a concert's performers, nothing could be more impressive than the great names of Maxim Vegerov and Steven Isserlis, next to whom feature those of younger but promising and dynamic peers, such as Theodosia Dokou and the talented conductor Finnegan Downie Dear.
Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 - Denis Matsuev
Vasilis Christopoulos is one of the few conductors that are able to decode Sergei Rachmnaninoff's music's essence and to reveal all dimensions of its narrative and emotional richness without falling into superficial, passionate explosions. Denis Matsuev, one of the most competent representatives of the great Russian piano School of our days, demonstrates equal virtue in combination with a titanic domination to the piano. The concert programme complements a jewel of the literary Greek production, the Eight miniatures by Yorgos Sicilianos, a composer who followed the imperatives of music modernism, always with a highly eclectic spirit.