Event Category: Music Theater

HECUBA STRINGS / Bygone Troys

Troy. Smyrna. The face. The mother. The land. The motherland. The Queen. Hecuba. She crosses time. Like a curved arrow.

Ruins. Corpses. A city. Troy. Smyrna. Lost motherlands. Lost lives. Whose walls are ruined. Burnt down. By the fire of war. Thousands of people. Becoming refugees. They saw their port turning into a river of blood. They buried there a piece of their soul. Their heart hasn’t forgotten. The body was tortured, to put down roots elsewhere.

The story of a city. The destruction of the “cradle of civilisation”. Troy is still on fire.

KOUTALIANI or The Weight of History

The Music Theatre Company Rafi collaborates with the Oros Ensemble, composer Apostolis Koutsogiannis, poet Marios Hadjiprokopiou and visual artist Petros Touloudis to create a musico-visual cantata that illuminates moments from the life of Koutaliani, as strongmen from Asia Minor used to be called, over different historical periods: from the late 19th century to the postwar era.

The legendary life of these persons also serves as an allegory for the transition from the late-19th-century world to the successive displacements of the early 20th century, the Asia Minor Catastrophe, and the suffocating borders of the modern Greek state.

The work features the legendary Panagis Koutalianos and his descendant Dimitris, Charis Karpozilos and Giannis Keskelidis or Sampson, the giant of the Greek catch known as “Attilio” or “the Asian” (sic).

Exodus

A musical performance that engages in a dialogue with the digital painting of George Kordis, who digitally creates a series of murals depicting refugee processions titled “Anestii” (Hearthless). Fenia Papadodima converses with the works, following George Seferis’ journey to Cappadocia, testimonies of refugees, and poems.

With her voice she travels across hymnody, singing, improvisation, speech. She leads audiences to an inner approach of the tragedy of the hearthless people of all eras.

From the person to the loss of the person.

NYKLIANI

In the Fortified Troupakis-Mourtzinos complex in the Old Town of Kardamyli, a monument that serves as a testament to the story of the last members of the Palaiologos family, Fenia Papadodima takes us on a tour across the land of the Nykliani. A land and a world that is at once cruel and fascinating. A place where death is constantly present.

Through her original music, the portraits painted by Giorgos Kordis on stones hanging on the walls of the tower, and the texts – Mani by Patrick Leigh Fermor, Homer’s Nekyia, as well as folkloristic and philosophical studies, and oral traditions –, the performance explores a woman’s position within a harsh, patriarchal family. Her weakness and strength. Her cry and lullaby. The boundary between life and death. In this misty, hovering “in-between” realm of Mani. Alongside her performing – an ensemble of renowned musicians. 

Ulysses’ Tarot

Odysseus, this mythical yet modern and complex figure, is above all, the symbol of enduring resilience. The one who constantly engages in conflicts, both internal and external, and consistently faces challenges that surpass their abilities.

In Odysseus’ Tarot we revisit Odyssey through the Marseille Tarot Cards. These cards explore the human condition, much like Myths, Poetry, and Music: by delving into the innermost layers of the self, the aspects shielded from time, place, logic, and certainties. Every “picking” of a Tarot Card gives the heroes of the Odyssey ambiguous “oracles”, hovering between morality and desire, logic and emotion. A cross-temporal dialogue between two cultures opens. On the one hand there is the Renaissance and Humanism with the Tarot Cards, and on the other, ancient Greek thought with the Odyssey – in their most playful, poetic, and archetypal form.

*The performance will open with the Experimental Stage of Milos. It will be based on an Odyssey-inspired original libretto by Pavlina Pamboudi, taught by Kalliroi Myriagou.  

The backward-dance charmer

Inspired by a folk legend of Epirus, director Konstantinos Markellos (author of the works The Abduction of Tasoula, Dancing Plague, and Two Oranges for Christmas) created a folk-style text following the Paraloges (a type of Greek folk narrative songs) model, written in verse and in the local Epirus dialect.

A group of actors-musicians perform sometimes as Narrators and other times as Acting Characters. They also sing original compositions inspired by  polyphonic songs from Epirus, under the guidance of Vasoula Delli and Natalia Lambadaki, who are members of the vocal ensemble “Pleiades”.

The old woman Itsa played a special role in the community of the village Aetomilitsa in Konitsa. She had the traits of a good witch, spreading around her relief mixed with fear. In July 1974, when general conscription was declared, she gathered the girls at St Nicholas church to perform a primeval, apotropaic dance. A reverse dance, counterclockwise, with the dancers’ faces not towards the center of the circle but outward. As they danced, they rhythmically repeated the words: “It’s nothing, dear, it’s nothing. The enemies are in the sea and children at home”.

Aristos and Fanis

This summer, the IONIA Orchestra and Choir of Nea Ionia, Volos will present a dynamic and diverse music theatre performance titled Aristos and Fanis. The 13-member orchestra of traditional instruments, the 160-member mixed choir, singer Thodoris Kotonias, and two actors will take audiences on a colourful journey, where tradition intersects with the present day.

In a simple and immediate manner, the two heroes, Aristos and Fanis, find courage in the power of Aristophanes’ comedy, which has taught us how to address the most challenging matters through the redemptive, sarcastic, and critical power of laughter. Especially in our time and in societies where that which is “different”, whether related to countries, religions, genders, or any other groups, constantly leads to dangerous and escalating tensions. The performance conveys the message that humans need to coexist and that life acquires true value only through collaboration, acceptance of the “other”, and harmony.