Basic HTML Version
The Greek National Opera will be kicking off pro-
ceedings at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus with
Verdi’s ever-popular “Il Trovatore [The Troubadour]”,
a work which last featured in the Athens Festival pro-
gramme exactly thirty years ago.
Following on from the success in 2011 of “The
daughter of the storm”, the Athens Festival will be
staging another operetta by Theophrastos
Sakellaridis, the popular “The Godson”, this year.
Giorgos Petrou will be conducting the Camerata.
Kharalambos Goyos returns with his already cel-
ebrated “Yasou Aida”. The successful Neukollner
Oper / Thessaloniki Concert Hall co-production
was part-funded by the Hellenic Ministry of
Culture and Tourism and premiered in Berlin on
January 21, 2012 to rapturous reviews in the
German Press. A reworking of Verdi’s “Aida” into
a political parable for our times, the work merci-
lessly satirizes the current state of play between
Greece, Germany and the EU.
Markellos Chrysikopoulos and the Venice
Baroque Orchestra will be stopping off in Athens
as part of their European tour to tell the tale of
Olympia as penned by Metastasio and set to
music by six different composers. “L’Olimpiade” is
a tale of forbidden love set against the backdrop
of ancient Greece and the Olympic Games.
Orchestras
The state orchestras of Athens and Thessaloniki
will be playing an especially important role in the
Festival this year. The Athens State Orchestra will
be giving two concerts conducted by the ensem-
ble’s artistic director, Vassilis Christopoulos. The
Thessaloniki State Orchestra will be performing
one concert.
The Russian ensemble Musica Aeterna will be
performing an all-Russian programme under the
baton of Theodoros Kourentzis, as well as
accompanying the Perm Opera and Ballet
Theatre live in two celebrated and musically
demanding ballets by Stravinsky: “Les Noces”
(choreographed by Jiřν Kyliαn) and “Petrushka”.
Invitations
In the context of its dedication to presenting
Greek musicians who have risen to prominence
abroad to the public in Greece, the Athens
Festival will be featuring another Greek conductor
with a successful European career, Stefanos
Tsialis, and has invited two exceptional pianists
–Stefanos
Thomopoulos
and
Vassilis
Varvaresos– to appear, along with the award-win-
ning young clarinettist, Dionysis Grammenos.
Contemporary music
The Athens Festival will also be continuing its
exciting encounters with contemporary music.
This year features a cycle dedicated to the cente-
nary of the birth of the American composer John
Cage (1912-1992): musical events and video
screenings will present the parallel intellectual
and artistic paths, followed by the patriarch of the
post-war avant-garde and Merce Cunningham,
the American choreographer who was his life-
long companion.
Trade with Greece
118