Archives Events

2025 07 13 Athens Festival

An undisputable masterpiece of contemporary Greek culture, Axion Esti is both an unassailable poetic composition and a majestic musical creation, written as an “oratorio populaire” for a folk singer, cantor, narrator, mixed chorus, popular orchestra, and symphonic orchestra. Published in 1959, Odysseas Elytis’ Axion Esti is at once a personal testimony and a sacred Liturgy of Hellenism in three parts: “The Genesis,” “The Passion,” and “The Gloria”—a poetic fresco of grand dimensions that reshaped Greek literature with its bold narrative architecture. At the time of its conception, the idea of adapting the work into music had not yet crossed the poet’s mind. However, two years later, Elytis sent a copy of the poem to Mikis Theodorakis. In the press conference at the work’s premiere in 1964, Mikis recalled: “I received it in Paris in the spring of 1961—a generous gift from the poet. That very evening, I had already outlined the first two parts: ‘Genesis’ and ‘The Passion’. The poem already contained the music…”. The premiere took place at the Rex Theatre-Marika Kotopouli, despite the creators’ initial wish to see it staged at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus—a request denied at the time, as Grigoris Bithikotsis’ status as a folk singer was not deemed compatible with the venue and, consequently, the stature of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. Since then, however, the work has been presented countless times at the Roman theatre, always evoking the same sacred awe—from the first awakening notes of the woodwinds in “The Genesis” to the final triumphant cry “Forever the world, the small, the great!” This year’s performance holds a particular significance as it marks the seventieth anniversary of the Festival and the centennial of the composer’s birth, in a year officially declared as the Year of Mikis Theodorakis by the Ministry of Culture. The work features George Dalaras as the folk singer, Dimitris Platanias as the cantor, and Dimitris Katalifos as the narrator, who will deliver the ecstatic and visionary recitations of “The Passion.” They will be joined by the Athens Mixed Municipal Choir, the ERT Choir, and the Athens State Orchestra.

The programme opens with the Symphonic Concerto by Manolis Kalomiris, the towering work of the frontrunner of the Greek National School of Music. Composed in the mid-1930s, it combines the composer’s lifelong quest for a genuinely “Greek” symphonic music with the solid technique he has mastered in his mature years. He christened the work “symphonic” to preemptively dispel any notion of the soloist’s predominance—an ironic choice, considering the fiendishly demanding and virtuosic piano writing. Only a handful of pianists can rise to the occasion of such a work’s performance, and Titos Gouvelis is definitely one of them. Myron Michailidis, one of Greece’s leading conductors, will accompany him on this journey.

Divided by the historical wounds of the Occupation and the Civil War, yet bound together by a shared pursuit of a deeply lived Greekness, these two emblematic works expand into previously unseen dimensions under the shadow of the Acropolis Hill. To quote Mikis once more: “We never listen only with our ears; we listen with our imagination.”

The Athens State Orchestra is conducted by Myron Michailidis.

by kostas_know

2025 06 28 Athens Festival

The display of virtuosity always elicits admiration and awe, but it is the profound spirituality and expressiveness of a performance that has the power to spark thoughts and emotions that transform us. The soloists who possess both of these virtues in their highest form have always been just a handful—and American pianist Emanuel Ax surely ranks among them.

This year, we have the rare fortune to applaud the talents of the exceptional performer for the second time, following last year’s concert alongside Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Υo Ma in front of an ecstatic audience. For this performance, Ax will join forces with the country’s leading symphonic ensemble, the Athens State Orchestra, in Beethoven’s imposing and dramatic Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, a work that steadfastly remains among the most celebrated concerts of the repertoire. Under the baton of its artistic director and acclaimed conductor Lukas Karytinos, the Athens State Orchestra additionally presents the majestic incidental music by Felix Mendelssohn on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The German composer’s power to convey the dreamlike, whimsical, and unpredictable world of Shakespeare’s comedy is considered—and remains!—unsurpassable. Fairies and elves, love adventures and passion, magic and mischief, are all uniquely amalgamated into vibrant musical phrases, ethereal timbres, dynamic rhythms, and eloquent lyricism, conjuring a sonic universe fully on par with Shakespeare’s boundless dramatic imagination!

by kostas_know

2025 07 08 Athens Festival

A charismatic and kaleidoscopic composer, the Oscar-winning Nicola Piovani has lent his singular touch to more than two hundred soundtracks for films by directors such as Federico Fellini, Marco Bellocchio, Mario Monicelli, the Taviani brothers, Nanni Moretti, and Roberto Benigni, among others. Born in Rome into a family of musicians, he was immersed in the world of spectacle from a tender age. As a young man, Nicola discovered the grand art of cinema through Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and Federico Fellini’s 8 ½. At just 23 years old, he met Manos Hadjidakis in Rome through the liaison of Irene Pappas and worked as his assistant on John Crowther’s The Martlet’s Tale, starring Katina Paxinou. Their partnership, in his own words, taught him the importance of intellectual freedom, which profoundly affected his subsequent musical path.

Balancing nostalgia and hope, Piovani’s music is timeless and self-luminous, yet it remains inseparable from the story it accompanies. At times light-hearted and dance-like, at others romantic and sombre, his music uniquely encapsulates the impressions and imagery of the narratives it supports, giving them a second life beyond the silver screen. For the composer, emotion is paramount, taking precedence over a director’s aesthetic. His inspiration often comes from the unspoken feelings reflected in an actor’s expressions.
Drawing material from his prolific body of work, the programme’s orchestral suites take us on a journey through the worlds of three giants of Italian cinema.

The Taviani Suite includes music from the films Fiorile (1993), Il sole anche di notte, (1990)—for which Piovani won the Nastro d’argento in 1991, the oldest film award in Europe— La Notte di San Lorenzo (1982), his first collaboration with the Taviani brothers; and Good Morning Babilonia (1987), which features a jazz-inflected score.

From the Benigni Suite, the Athens State Orchestra performs music from La Vita è Bella (1997), an ode to the triumph of love in the face of unimaginable horror through the heart-wrenching story of an Italian Jew in a concentration camp. In the film score that earned Piovani an Oscar award, the musical themes convey a sense of tragedy but also humour inherent in Benigni’s universe, endowing it with melodies of unspeakable beauty.

Finally, his collaboration with the maestro of Italian cinema, Federico Fellini, is captured in the titular suite, consisting of three sections. In the film Interview (1987), a magical game of mirrors unfolds as a Japanese TV crew tries to film Fellini at work, only futilely. In La voce della luna (1990), Fellini’s swansong, an elderly musician plays his oboe for the very last time before burying it in the ground, believing that by doing so, he is silencing music itself. Only no one can lock music away. The trilogy concludes with the musical themes of Ginger and Fred (1986), which follows two once-popular dancers of the interwar period who are reunited twenty years later for a TV show. The film serves as an allegory for the cynicism in the modern-day entertainment industry, with Piovani’s music paying homage to composer Nino Rota.

by kostas_know