Breaths, strings and heroes of the ancient legend
When the Muses—daughters of Zeus and patrons of the arts—bestow their inspiration on a composer, no matter the era or the place, the recipient will return to the inexhaustible wellspring of ancient Greek myth almost as a matter of course. The use of harp and flute, two instruments as archaic as they are enchanting which seem almost mystically linked to mythology, would appear to be just as automatic.
Cellibitum
After many years working together within the Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra’s cellists have decided to express themselves collectively around their favourite instrument. The works in the concert (Villa-Lobos, Samuel Barber, Prokofiev, Julius Klengel at al.), some of them written for cello ensemble and others transcriptions, spur them on to explore the limitless potential of the cello and to treat the audience to an evening dedicated to the unique timbre of the cello ten times over!
Giannis Tsitselikis
Asterios Pouftis
Marina Kislitsina
Nikos Kotzias
Christina Koutrou
Vania Papadimitriou
Ivi Papathanasiou
Isidoros Sideris
Olga Stratigopoulou
Dimitris Travlos
19:30
Free Museum tour
Mahler Cycle IV
The Athens State Orchestra’s ambitious plan to perform all of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies under the baton of Stefanos Tsialis kicked off last year and continues this season with the Sixth Symphony. No, the Sixth is not just another symphony by the Austrian composer; the breadth of its meanings, its free-flowing narrativity, immersive expressive power, conflicting sensitivity and hardness are just some of the elements that make Mahler's Sixth an irresistible journey along the innermost paths of the human soul.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
Carnival
In the midst of Carnival, the Athens State Orchestra and the Athens Megaron Concert Hall invite music-lovers young and old to a carnival of animals and other fantastic creatures! The musical heroes of Saint-Saëns and Dukas take over the stage of the Christos Lambrakis Hall and invite the audience to enter a world of fantasy and revel in a series of musical disguises.
Music for viola and piano
Three of the most important composers of German Romanticism, Schumann, Schubert and Brahms, bring viola and piano together on an equal footing in works universally acknowledged as central to the repertoire of both instruments.
Novel
Following in the wake of the successful staging of the Murderess, the opera by the great Greek composer George Koumentakis, the première of the Murderess Suite is sure to be an important musical event. The adventures of another archetypal fictional hero, Taras Bulba, provided the inspiration for Janácek’s exciting rhapsody. Both works are conducted by the eminent maestro, Loukas Karytinos, under whose baton Christina Pantelidou will grant us a rare opportunity to enjoy the cor anglais in a solo role.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
Music with temperament
The internationally-fêted maestro Frank Beermann at the helm of the Athens State Orchestra in a fascinatingly imaginative symphonic programme. We rarely have the opportunity to enjoy the Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Second Symphony, a work whose tempestuous mood changes and relentless intensity are further accentuated here by being paired with Respighi’s famous symphonic poem describing the pines in various locations around the Eternal City. The programme is rounded off with a performance of Ravel’s refined Piano Concerto by Alexia Mouza, the fiery up-and-coming soloist.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
Prague
Although the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana went deaf towards the end of his life, he continued to compose with a passion. In an era in which Europe’s national consciousnesses were awakening, Smetana looked to his roots, drawing on personal experiences to compose the My Fatherland cycle, a work which transcends its deep local roots to address the whole of Mankind. The Athens State Orchestra performs the work in its entirety for the first time in its history under the baton of Charles Olivieri-Munroe.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
Brahms and Elgar
For its first symphonic concert of the New Year, the Athens State Orchestra welcomes two experienced artists with long and distinguished careers on the international music scene. The pianist Dimitris Toufexis performs Brahms’ colossal First Piano Concerto. He is followed by the Israeli conductor, Yoav Talmi, who unravels the threads of the symphonic variations which cloak Elgar’s mysterious ‘enigma’ to this day...
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
Black Earth
Two instruments set out on a journey somewhere in southern Europe. Wandering the length of the Mediterranean, they press on until they are in the very heart of Jewish music. In each new country they visit, they encounter sounds, melodies, traditions and a unique history which inspires its composers to create works with the aroma and colour of their homeland—from flamenco and the lullabies of Andalucía to the Balkan rhythms of Romanian dances, and from the fire in the gypsy soul to Turkey’s “black earth” laments.
Free tour of the museum