Treasures known and unknown IV
Every new appearance of the multifaceted Christoph Poppen on the Athens State Orchestra podium is much-anticipated, and with good reason. We are grateful to the maestro for all he has done for the Orchestra. This year, he will be pouring his vast knowledge and impressive abilities into performing three 19th-century works which reveal different, but equally attractive, aspects of Romanticism. The young rising star of the violin Ryu Goto will be joining the Orchestra for the performance of Paganini’s extremely demanding Concerto.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
At the threshold of the 20th century II - We and the world VII
Both Debussy’s atmospheric Nocturnes and Strauss’s ambitious tone poem Don Quixote are typical works of the late 19th century, a period of anxious searching in the arts which opened up new modes of expression. In keeping with the spirit of Easter, the Athens State Orchestra will also be ‘chanting’ an alternative ‘Christos Anesti’ [Christ has risen] as it was re-imagined in the fertile imagination of the fine composer, Petros Petridis.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
Easter concert 2016
While the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi is most closely associated with the opera, his Requiem is a truly awe-inspiring work. Drawn from the very depths of his being, it is a cry of existential grief but also of hope. Leading opera singers and choirs under the baton of the distinguished German conductor Marcus Bosch leave their unique mark of musical devotion on Holy Week.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
Once upon a time
Implementing an idea it presented for the first time in 2012, the HELLENIC PROJECT has set out to develop a repertoire which draws on Greek tradition for its inspiration and which seeks to educate as well as entertain. This year, two composer have undertaken to create a pair of musical fairy tales for narrator and symphony orchestra which will bring two traditional Greek folk tales to life. The works are to be performed by the Athens State Orchestra under the baton of a rising star, George Balatsinos.
Kostas Fasoulas, fairy tale text
Elias Karellas, narrator
Kostas Rosopoulos, composition
George Koropoulis, fairy tale text
Manolis Mavromatakis, narrator
Rallou Vogiatzi, concept
Dimitris Papadimitriou, artistic oversight
Rallou Vogiatzi, THE HELLENIC PROJECT
We and the world VI
The celebrated Slovenian maestro Uroš Lajovic returns to Athens once again to append his distinguished musical signature to a performance of a mystic work by the avant-garde composer Maurice Ohana, and to one of the most riveting symphonies of all times: Dvorák’s Ninth. Joining him will be the prominent violinist and leader of the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Antonis Sousamoglou, who will be performing the Concerto by the innovative and ever-searching composer, Simos Papanas, his cousin.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
An American fan
An outstanding representative of the new generation of pianists and a distinguished conductor join forces with the Athens State Orchestra in a musical tour of the Americas. Together, they offer up an impressive programme of charming works by 20th-century composers from the US, Argentina and Mexico—music typified by intense dance rhythms, jazz harmonies and sensual melodies.
Free introductory talk for ticket holders
A century since the birth of Henri Dutilleux
The fine French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand appears with the Athens State Orchestra once again, performing the Concerto by Henri Dutilleux, a French composer who left an indelible mark on the music of the last century. Of course, Tchaikovsky marked the Romantic music of his century just as powerfully through charming, passionate works like his Fifth Symphony which have remained impervious to the passage of time.
Pre-concert talk, free for ticket holders
Bruckner’s Seventh
Bruckner’ Seventh Symphony was an instant triumph. The greatest success of the composer’s life, it remains his most popular symphonic work. Vassilis Christopoulos returns to the Athens State Orchestra podium once again to conduct the Italian virtuoso pianist Francesco Nicolosi in Mozart’s Twentieth—and, for many, his best—Piano Concerto.
Pre-concert talk, free for ticket holders
Dimitris Papadimitriou “Chronicle of an early autumn”
In an effort to create a repertoire of symphonic works, THE HELLENIC PROJECT and the well-known composer Dimitris Papadimitriou present a new work which will be performed by the Athens State Orchestra under the baton of the award-winning George Petrou.
Hymne à la Beauté, Charles Baudelaire
You who never arrived, Rainer Maria Rilke
Roses by the Window, Andreas Embirikos
Beethoven lives upstairs
Little Christoph meets the great Beethoven, and while he may not know what to make of the composer’s habits and general eccentricity, he gradually comes to understand and accept the greatness both of Beethoven the Man and of his music. An imaginative and humorous dramatization as well as a moving initiation for young music-lovers into the exciting world of the great German classicist!