Peramatisma is a cultural proposal inspired by the timeless ritual of weaving on a traditional loom, known as “peramatisma” – the process of interlacing threads according to each weft’s pattern and style through the loom’s instruments. As a concept, peramatisma becomes a tool for understanding the intertwining of the local with the global, tradition with innovation, time with space, and humanity with matter and technology. Presented on Mount Psiloritis, at the Idaean Cave—a place of special significance and strong symbolism in Crete—this work aims to blend cultural memory with contemporary creation, focusing on the role of the human creator. Through Peramatisma, the dynamic of weaving emerges as a gesture, a symbol, and a cultural code; as an intersection of traditional arts with new technologies and digital forms of expression; as an interlacing of different musical idioms that lead to a new listening experience.
The Castle of Mytilene: Building on the Past is a diverse show that combines music and theatre, highlighting the events that have shaped the castle’s current form. The audience is virtually taken through seven milestone stops, each featuring a different performance. Each mudbrick of the Castle of Mytilene has been based on an earlier one. Different nations have built upon one another, in a continuous blend of civilizations, using many and diverse materials. How have people shaped the castle over the centuries, and how has the castle influenced those who have lived within its walls? Each different era, connected to the previous one, takes the baton, offering its own stone and contribution for the following era to consider. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow; the past as a guide; the East and the West; the evolution of the structure; always centered on the fusion of the new with the old, as manifested in the castle itself, the people, and art.
A cantata for soprano, wind instruments, and accordion
The cantata for soprano, wind instruments, and accordion Vrykolax in Kabeirio is a musical fairy tale for both the defeated and invincible vampires of our era, seen through the eyes of composer Apostolis Koutsogiannis in collaboration with poets Marlene Nika and Seme Selami.
It is a lyrical performance beneath the August moonlight at the archaeological site of Kabeirio on Lemnos, featuring the international soprano Afroditi Patoulidou and the distinguished instrumental ensemble Ventus Ensemble. The sculptures created by visual artist Filippos Vasileiou draw inspiration from Gregorio Dati’s Renaissance pictures, unveiling the myth’s diverse textures. Iakovos Polylas’ Forgiveness and Achilleas Paraschos’ The Vampire’s Son, two dark vampire novellas from the 19th century, serve as a reminder of an irrational universe, engaging with the original libretto of the creators and delivering a powerful message against the disenchantment of the world.
In the musical performance titled Father & Son: A Dialogue Through Jazz – The Weight of Legacy, internationally acclaimed saxophonist and composer Dimitris Vassilakis, along with Nestor Vassilakis, a representative of the new generation of musicians, converse through music, exploring the relationship between tradition and innovation. The concert programme features a selection of jazz standards and original compositions from both father and son, engaging in a constant poetic dialogue that also allows for the use of artificial intelligence as a real-time oracle to bridge the generations.
Between 1898 and 1899, French wanderer and linguist Hubert Pernot met the self-taught intellectual N. Kanellakis and recorded 114 traditional melodies from the island of Chios. A fortunate encounter! This was not the first time that composers explored this rich musical and cultural material: a prominent position among them is held by Maurice Ravel with his Cinq mélodies populaires grecques [Five Greek Folk Melodies, 1904-1906] and Michalis Adamis with his Folk Songs from Chios (1989).
Lefteris Veniadis selects twelve of these recorded folk songs from Chios to recreate and reintroduce them to the public. In this performance, he proposes an alternative, unified narrative of the local collective experience on stage, serving as a contrasting foil to a contemporary chorus. This dramaturgical venture aims to bring the past into the present while also looking to the future.
The music theatre performance In-Between / Εν-Διαμέσως weaves Cretan music together with modern, diverse sounds and free dance. Primeval sounds of Crete are brought to life today, blending with sounds of contemporary Western European music and special effects soundscapes. Traditional musical instruments such as the souravli, mandoura, bagpipe, lyre, and lute are creatively combined with effects pedals and flutes, including the soprano, alto, Indian bansuri, and Chinese bawu. At the same time, in a space of free improvisation and experimentation, dance succeeds in harmonizing contrasts, bridging the past with the present.
This music and dance performance will highlight the coexistence of the old and the new, the traditional, the modern, and the groundbreaking. In an imposing space closely associated with our cultural heritage, the audience will engage with nature, history, tradition, and contemporary artistic creation.
Mother Goose: A Modern Musical Fairytale is a musical performance by the Oros Ensemble based on an original text by Dimitra Kationi, featuring a score by Ismini Bek, and narrated by Maria Tsikara. It aims at creating a new form of musical fairy tale, drawing inspiration from Maurice Ravel’s classical work, Ma mère l’Oye (My Mother the Goose). By combining elements of tradition and Greek folk fairy tales, this performance aspires to revitalize the genre and place it in a contemporary context. The Oros Ensemble adapts Ravel’s original piece for a small ensemble, engaging in a dialogue with poetess Dimitra Kationi’s original musical fairy tale Without. The goal is to harmoniously blend the past, present, and future of fairy tales into a musical performance for all audiences.
Byzantium After Byzantium explores the enduring influence of Byzantine tradition on the lives and cultural works of the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean peoples after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. It features original musical compositions and songs created by Kyriakos Kalaitzidis, the artistic director of the musical ensemble En Chordais, with lyrics by Vasiliki Nevrokopli and texts by notable Greek literary figures that highlight the impact of the Byzantine legacy on modern Greek intellectual creativity.
Kyriakos Kalaitzidis’ approach is the ripe fruit of his extensive experience with Byzantine music as a cantor, as well as his profound knowledge as a researcher, with a strong scientific background. His pieces have been presented at some of the world’s top music venues and released by record labels in Greece and abroad. Byzantium After Byzantium is a musical performance that creatively engages with the Byzantine past as both a historical heritage and a source of inspiration for contemporary art, offering an artistic answer to the question: “Why Byzantium?”.
Drawing inspiration from Sakis Serefas’ multi-awarded book A Dinosaur On My Balcony, the music and visual performance How Many People Fit on My Balcony invites children and teenagers on a dreamlike wandering adventure through Thessaloniki across space and time: As little Giannis, who has climbed onto the head of a rare friend, the dinosaur Saurus, wanders through the city, he discovers “how old, continuous, and diverse Thessaloniki’s history is and how the things one experiences as the present will become a valuable testimony for future generations”.
Live onstage music, presented as both an original composition and a creative reimagining of Thessaloniki’s diverse musical tradition, interacts with visual art (video) and storytelling, offering the audience the chance to gain an experiential insight into Thessaloniki as a vibrant blend of cultures and also realize the importance of preserving and respecting cultural polyphony in our daily lives.
*The performance will be preceded by a music and visual workshop for children aged 6 to 12.
In the enduring dance of existence, the concepts of Beginning, Space, and Time intertwine, creating a grid that connects life to death. LOGOS 132 revolves around the performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132, a composition that explores mortality and the human condition. At the same time, John Cage’s piece Atlas Eclipticalis will illuminate the concepts of non-space and the atemporal, through a sound conversation between music and sculptures, inviting visitors to reflect on their relationship with time.
At the heart of the installation is a series of sculptures specifically created for this performance by Cypriot visual artist Stella N. Christou. These sculptures will transmit natural microsounds, recorded by members of the Ergon Ensemble and inspired by modern techniques employed by pioneering composers, which will simulate the sensation of being in an anechoic chamber and create a sonic atmosphere complemented by the recitation of poems from T. S. Eliot’s collection, Four Quartets.