Natalia Kotsani and Tasos Kofodimos, two of the most active and acclaimed performers and creators of the modern Greek music scene, join their forces once again by setting and performing Bergadis’ poem Apokopos, in an original musical production. With their compositions, voices and musical instruments as a vehicle, they present a pioneering setting that is inextricably linked with the roots of the Greek musical tradition and elements from traditional idioms of the Mediterranean. They propose a modern performative approach of the vocal idioms of the Greek tradition, through original and special orchestrations. Visual artist Natalia Manta illustrates the narration in real time through live visuals that are screened on the stage. Alongside them, three acclaimed musicians and collaborators, at times experimenting and at times improvising, enhance this synergy with their own temperament and artistry.
BEartH is a multi-art performance of original mixed music for contra tenor and bass voices, clarinet, bass clarinet, violoncello and piano, pre-recorded parts of electroacoustic music, and dancing. As is obvious from its title, the work revolves around four axes: Genesis, Existence, Earth, Creation. Τhe tetradic character of Tetractys is innate in almost all of the structural parts of this work, which is the fruit of the study of Hesiod’s Theogony, John’s Revelation, the Orphic Hymns, William Blake, John Milton and Dante Alighieri’s poetry and Nikos Kazantzakis’ Askitiki. Its connective links are the power of creation, the necessity of harmonizing man with his natural environment, existential concerns, and the contrast of opposite-complementary notions. Excerpts from the original texts will also be heard through set poetry and narration.
International performer Erini, accompanied on the piano and the Cretan lyre by Giannis Papadopoulos and Giorgos Kontogiannis respectively, joins forces with visual artist Vassilis Galanis and dancer Sophia Filippou on an interactive and improvisatory performance aimed at awakening audiences to the climate crisis. Prose and poetic texts by the awarded emerging poet Evá Papadakis accompany the performance. The performers sing adaptations of traditional Greek songs on stage, recall the past of the archaeological site, and using improvisation as a tool, imagine the present and the future awaiting us in terms of images and choreographies.
Through the performance, emphasis will be given on man’s relationship with nature, which has historically been an object of worship and an inspiration for creation. Besides, it is no coincidence that the numerous references made to nature in traditional folk songs aim at bringing out man’s love for it, love as a natural phenomenon, as well as the motif of man’s struggle for survival. The work explores the crushing effects of the changes brought about by climate crisis, starting with the displacement of populations and energy crises as a result of wars, and moving on to the tangible or intangible cultural heritage.
The Thessaloniki Chamber Orchestra presents Antonio Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons, a timeless masterpiece praising the alternations of nature and circularity of time, in a concert that combines music with dancing. The goal is to reconnect audiences with the different sensation that each season of the year should have, through the filter of Vivaldi’s widely-known and emblematic music work.
This production has brought together twelve leading professional orchestra musicians and four music and dance soloists. The work includes what is known as “descriptive” or “program” music. In each concerto, the groundbreaking composer describes one season. The production combines two art forms, music and dance, with the goal of raising awareness on the destruction of the environment that results in the disruption of the natural balance between the four season. Audience members as observers listen to sounds of nature, such as birds chirping or the sound of a storm, and are able to visualize this sensation by watching its artistic manifestation through modern dance.
The Alcedo folk band, a company of acclaimed musicians founded in 2018 by Kostas Konstantatos (founding member of Encardia), presents an original audiovisual musical performance titled The Curse of the Pine Tree, based on Zacharias Papantoniou’s poem of the same title. It is a musical fairy tale that converses with inspired images and videos that will be accompanying the band’s original music and songs. Folk and sophisticated music with stories about nature and the environment from the Renaissance and the Middle Ages in the East and West to the technological world of today. The Alcedo folk band often appears unexpectedly in the videos too. The performance consists of twenty one images, just like Zacharias Papantoniou’s poem.
Giannis is a farmer working his land. He has identified his life with the life of a pine tree, planted there by his grandfather, and has been enjoying its rich gifts for years. However, at some point, he starts cutting the tree for its resin and then completely truncates it and sells the logs. After that, the tree takes revenge on him through its secret power…
Rare military camp exhibits are presented in the historical site of Kodra, in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki. With the help of an experienced guide, audiences will be guided through the different “room cemeteries”. Audience members will be requested to remain silent – the rooms reveal their secrets and desires only upon the condition of absolute silence.
The tour will be followed by the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is the moment when the “Unknown” Soldier will confess the unexpected end of his path to the unknown visitors. Next comes a short stop in front of Johann Sebastian Bach. The only exhibit in the camp that is allowed to talk to birds and barbed wire fences. The end of the trail signals the beginning of a new one. Our hope and wish is that art can cast away the negative energy of what’s dead and peacefully warm up human togetherness in those old military camps in the city that have been patiently waiting for it for years. The former military camps profess resurrection in the everyday eulogy of our cities.
The twenty-member ensemble Violione Orchestra, in collaboration with the popular musical duo of Vassilis Skoutas and Dimitris Mitarakis, approaches for the first time in its artistic career the burning issue of climate crisis and its political, social, cultural and economic effects, in its own alternative performing style, adapting typical pieces of Greek traditional music and rebetiko songs of the gramophone period (1900-1960). The production brings out a romantic and at the same time communicative and outward-looking mood, with elements of both the old and the new styles.
In the concert titled Crises from the Historical Past to This Day under the artistic direction of Giannis Zarias, assistant violin professor at the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia, the Violione Orchestra will take audiences on a unique musical journey from the past to the future, with a lot of improvisation and creating a dynamic continuation from the old to the modern style of performing bowed-string instruments.
The only piano ensemble in the world Piandaemonium presents for the first time the work Voices at the End, a multimedia composition for six pianos by the New Zealand composer of Greek descent John Psathas, accompanied by pre-recorded sound parts and the documentary-film Planetary by activist Joanna Macy. The work will be presented in combination with Dimitris Economou’s Antiphenomena, a Piandaemonium commission, which will be given its world premiere. The two works treat climate change and its effect on human activity and everyday life.
Piandaemonium was founded in 1998 in Thessaloniki on the initiative of Domna Evnouchidou and initially consisted of herself and eleven former students of hers. Since then, the ensemble has evolved, has changed its composition many times – although its core has remained unaltered –, and has appeared in many concerts. A company of musicians fights against the pianist loneliness, creates a piano orchestra and attempts to redefine the traditional piano sound in a new context.
Sokratis Sinopoulos and Vasilis Kostas, two highly regarded Greek musicians with international acclaim, collaborate to create a dynamic and original musical performance called Swirling in the Aegean. The performance explores the potential of combining two musical instruments that bear a historical significance in Greek music, the lyre and the lute. Inspired by Mediterranean traditions and using original compositions and interactive improvisations, they create modern musical landscapes in real time, offering a unique listening experience.
The duo is accompanied by impressive live drawing by Soloύp, who captures and complements the stories and places that inspired the musical compositions. With his sketches he creates and destroys a story of images in real time, in front of the eyes of the audience, portraying it simultaneously with the music and in contrast to it.
The final result captures the fertile clash of the new with the old, as well as the creative contrast, interaction, and eventually blend of different musical traditions and styles into a harmonized ensemble.
Vincenzo Cornaro’s romance Erotokritos takes on a fresh, more liberated form in a musical performance that incorporates story-telling and visual elements, allowing the audience to fully grasp its plot. More specifically, the music of the performance emphasizes modern, original musical compositions and a diverse arrangement. These are the outcomes of collaboration, teamwork, and intercultural interaction among the artists – a lasting feature of the Labyrinth Musical Workshop’s work.