2025 03 07 Journey to the centre of Music - March
A series of interactive concerts which seeks to shed light on everything that connects contemporary audiences with symphonic music, making its timeless repertoire more approachable to everyone, whether they are newcomers to the form or music lovers who are already fans. Video, Talks and Music are combined to provide a dramatized portrait of a different symphonic genre each time. Historical facts both well-known and unfamiliar, personal stories, hidden symbolism and motifs, and the structural magic of the works are presented in an entertaining way.
2025 02 27 Vadim Repin back with the Athens State Orchestra
2025 marks half a century since the death of Dmitri Shostakovitch, the greatest symphonist of the 20th century and a composer who imbued the modernism of his era with pure emotion and classical purity. These—and other—aspects of his music will be foregrounded to perfection by Vadim Repin, whom the great Yehudi Menuhin once declared "the most perfect violinist I have ever heard"! For his part, Michał Nesterowicz, the Polish conductor much loved by Athenian audiences, will be focusing his customary care and attention on achieving an aesthetically flawless performance of Rachmaninoff's boldly exuberant Second Symphony—a work which delivers a resounding riposte to those who believe that the Russian composer begins and ends with his piano concertos.
Gala concert with Jonas Kaufmann
Gavrylyuk performs the Grieg Piano Concerto
Born in Ukraine, Alexander Gavrylyuk is an Australian pianist with an eclectic repertoire who knows how to get to the heart of a piece and perform it with fresh insights and--above all--an uncompromising daring. For those of you who have not yet heard him in action, prepare to hear Grieg's celebrated Concerto with its revelatory power revealed anew! The rapidly up-and-coming conductor and composer Ektoras Tartanis, who is participating in this concert as both maestro and composer, is gifted with comparable talents which have earned him universal acclaim in both roles. The work is performed by Dimitris Tiliakos, the Greek baritone with an international career, and the ASO's principal harpist, Gogo Xagara.
Journey to the centre of Music - Intermezzo
A series of interactive concerts which seeks to shed light on everything that connects contemporary audiences with symphonic music, making its timeless repertoire more approachable to everyone, whether they are newcomers to the form or music lovers who are already fans. Video, Talks and Music are combined to provide a dramatized portrait of a different symphonic genre each time. Historical facts both well-known and unfamiliar, personal stories, hidden symbolism and motifs, and the structural magic of the works are presented in an entertaining way.
Journey to the centre of Music - Intermezzo
A series of interactive concerts which seeks to shed light on everything that connects contemporary audiences with symphonic music, making its timeless repertoire more approachable to everyone, whether they are newcomers to the form or music lovers who are already fans. Video, Talks and Music are combined to provide a dramatized portrait of a different symphonic genre each time. Historical facts both well-known and unfamiliar, personal stories, hidden symbolism and motifs, and the structural magic of the works are presented in an entertaining way.
Cyprien Katsaris 100 years of Mikis Theodorakis
This year marks the centenary of the birth of the great Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, an artist who was marked by the turbulent times in which he lived, but left in turn his own mark on the era, expressing his vision for a better world through his compositions in both serious and popular genres, and through his political action. The great virtuoso Cyprien Katsaris, who was a close collaborator of Theodorakis, performs the composer's exhilarating First Suite, along with Liszt's electrifying Hungarian Fantasy. The distinguished maestro Zoi Tsokanou will also be conducting an elegant work by Lili Boulanger, the French composer who died very young, and the magnificent symphonic centrepiece of French impressionism, Claude Debussy's The Sea.
"...after Shostakovitch..." 90 years from the birth of Schnittke - 50 years since the death of Shostakovitch
All the works in tonight’s programme were written in the Soviet Union between 1973 and 1983, a decade that served as a prelude to what could well be the most significant political sea change in modern history: perestroika. In this turbulent and uncertain period, a new generation of artists who had absorbed a diverse range of modernist trends along with the teachings of the past found their voice. The most outstanding among them was Alfred Schnittke, the most performed and recorded composer of the latter half of the 20th century. Two of his masterpieces are included in tonight’s programme, along with a stirring set of songs by Shostakovitch, On the podium, the ever-imaginative Nikos Vasileiou is joined by two distinguished artists: Ilias Sdoukos and Maria Katsoura.
Gala celebration
The New Year’s Eve gala could not but be dedicated to Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). This year, we have the pleasure of collaborating with the renowned Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, the city where he lived for more than thirty years and where he composed his masterpieces. In co-production with the CTO and with the valuable assistance of the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens, we welcome to the stage of Megaron the Athens Concert Hall three exceptional performers: Claudia Pavone (Valeria Sepe, the soprano who was initially to sing, couldn't participate due to health issue) the ideal Butterfly in the festive season of the 2024 Puccini Festival; Angelo Villari, a tenor born almost specifically for the great roles of the composer; and Valerio Galli, a great conductor of the younger generation and winner of the famous Puccini Prize. At the heart of the programme are the three great love scenes for soprano and tenor from the famous “atypical trilogy”: La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The duets of Mimi and Rodolfo, Tosca and Cavaradossi, Pinkerton and Cho-Cho-Cho-San are the epitome of Puccini’s lyrical style, with its source of melodic inspiration, orchestral mastery and unsurpassed vocal writing. However, there is also a lesser-known side of the composer, which we will discover in the orchestral excerpts from the – rather unknown – first two operas Le Villi and Edgar, as well as youthful works for orchestra, such as the Symphonic Prelude or the Symphonic Caprice (where the Bohemians already make their appearance, a full thirteen years before the opera was composed). A unique opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the “maestro” from Lucca and to bow, once again, to his genius.
he Polar Express in Concert
Get up, get on, and get ready for the ride of your life! It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re about to roller-coaster up and down mountains, slip-slide over ice fields, teeter across mile-high bridges, and be served hot chocolate by singing waiters more astonishing than any you can imagine. You’re on The Polar Express!
Tom Hanks stars in and Robert Zemeckis directs this instant holiday classic filmed in dazzling performance-capture animation that makes every moment magical. “Seeing is believing,” says a mysterious hobo who rides the rails with you. You’ll see wonders. And you’ll believe. All aboooooard!
THE POLAR EXPRESS and all related characters and elements © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s24)
Alan Silvestri (b. 1950)
The Polar Express in Concert
audio in English
subtitled in Greek