This summer the Eptapyrgio Fortress comes alive again, which will be flooded with people, artists, sounds and music, songs and performances. This year’s Eptapyrgio Festival will take place from June 21 to July 19, during which it will host six productions in twelve performances, all of which bear the stamp of the Culture Center of the Central Macedonia Region (PKM).

A concert with the Thessaloniki composer and creator Dimitris Zerboudakis, Maria Farandouri who will celebrate her 60 years of singing on stage, a guitar recital by Kostas Matsigos with eight voices such as those of Pantelis Thalassinos and Vassilis Lekkas, as well as evenings of poetry and music dedicated to in Odysseus Elytis, is just one part of this year’s program, in which a total of 250 artists participate.

“In this historic space, with its long and interesting history, the human stories and myths it carries, this summer we will also welcome favorite artists, established as well as up-and-coming creators and we will share unique moments with them,” said the Regional Governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas.

In a press conference held today, Mr. Tzitzikostas characterized the Eptapyrgio Festival as the new modern institution, which gives life, fills with images and notes and integrates into our daily life another great and historical monument of our country. “In a few words, it connects history with culture and art and ultimately showcases Greece and the charming part of its cultural and touristic wealth to the whole world,” he said characteristically.

The organizers emphasized the need for the world to get to know the Heptapyrgio monument and to create memories within it.

So again this year, in its inner courtyard, bleachers with numbered seats will be placed to enable the public to watch the multi-collective program. The stage and the sound and lighting coverage for a month are expected to be of high quality, in order to highlight the monument and preserve its unique aesthetics.

Opening of the Heptapyrgio Festival to children and young people

It is characteristic that this year for the first time an opening is made to a special category of audience. “What differentiates this year’s artistic programming compared to the previous ones, is that it was all “built” with the thought of making an opening to our children and young people. Let them also go up to Eptapyrgio – with their parents the younger ones and let’s invite them to create memories and get to know this wonderful place”, said the President of the Cultural Center of the Greek Orthodox Church Anna Mykoniou for her part.

So the youngest viewers will be only five years old and are invited to watch the great production of the Cultural Center of PKK, the “small opera for children and adults” entitled “Silence the King Listens”, by Nikos Kypourgos, in an updated version.

Accordingly, the performance “Tonight… Let’s JAZZ” is aimed at teenagers and young adults, with Thodoris Marantini, Eurydikis and Myron Stratis, who will …JAZZ with the Thermi Youth Saxophone Orchestra. Contemporary music students from three conservatories in the region also participate in the performance.

“We stand firmly by the people of culture, we listen to their ideas, we work closely together, we implement their proposals, we give them a platform to express their artistic concerns and together we ultimately create a vibrant and dynamic innovative cultural environment, supporting all forms of art with absolutely no exclusion”, emphasized Mr. Tzitzikostas and repeated his commitment, that “each year we will continue to raise the bar of the event even higher”.

“By choice, we do not host performances that are staged elsewhere because firstly we have to strengthen domestic creation and secondly to have a strong control over the artistic result”, pointed out Mrs. Mykoniou.

The Eptapyrgio Festival is under the auspices of UNESCO, is held in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Thessaloniki and has the support of the Ministry of Culture. Its artistic director is Athanasios Kolalas. It was also emphasized that the price of the tickets will be affordable, because “culture must be