The Koufonisi Classical Music Festival returns for the eighth consecutive year with a diverse program of events, under the artistic direction of its founder, conductor and pianist, Cornelios Michaelides.

The 8th edition of the Festival hosts five unique concerts with seventeen great artists from Greece and abroad, including Liya Petrova (violin), David Lively (piano), Jess Gillam (saxophone), Avi Avital (mandolin), Simos Papanas (violin), Antonis Sousamoglou (violin), Nefeli Mousoura (piano), Timos Petrin (cello), Tasos Pappas (piano), Christos Papageorgiou (piano), and other prominent artistic personalities, distinguished for their musicality.

This year’s programming seeks to embrace even more worlds, flirting with jazz, rock and other types of music, expanding the repertoire from the Baroque era to the present day and including unusual musical ensembles, in the harmonious and welcoming environment of Koufonisia.

The festival ends again this year, for the 4th consecutive year, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sportswhile at the same time it is constantly enjoying greater support, both from charitable institutions and non-profit organizations, such as the Ioannou F. Kostopoulos Foundation and the AMKE Cultural and Charitable Project AEGEAS, as well as from businesses and individuals nationwide.

True to its musical educational character, the Festival continues the musical education program on the island, after a year of continuous activity in the field of musical education for the children of the island, through the pilot program of learning musical instruments that it organized during the school year, with the courtesy of the Qualco and Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundations.

Thus, this year, for the first time, the children gained access to live and distance learning of a musical instrument with a scholarship, while they were provided with free musical instruments and equipment, thus laying the necessary foundations for a systematic musical education.

Program of events:

TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2023

“A path into Romanticism”

Lauded by the international press for her “effortless virtuosity” (The Strad), “extraordinary tonal variety” (Gramophone) and a “beautiful sound – mature and melodic” phrasing with majestic range” (The Times), the winner of the first prize at the Carls Nielsen International Violin Competition of Denmark (2016), Bulgarian violinist Liya Petrova collaborates on stage with French-American pianist David Lively, a great artist deeply intertwined with the artistic heritage of France and the United States, which make him an elite performer for the music of both countries.

The two leading performers will take us on a journey through the paths of German romanticism through its different aspects and manifestations, starting from the beginning of the path drawn by Mozart and reaching the absolute peak of the romantic expression highlighted by Richard Strauss.

Violin: Liya Petrova | Piano: David Lively

FRIDAY JULY 21, 2023

“The Versatile Saxophone”

A unique concert with the multi-award winning British saxophonist, BBC radio producer and TV presenter Jess Gillam, who promises with her contagious enthusiasm and passion for classical and non-classical music to overwhelm the audience with enthusiasm, as she does with each of her performances. Jess Gillam and her two in-demand and enthusiastic collaborators, bassist Sam Becker and pianist Leif Kaner-Lidström, will perform a wide-ranging program of baroque to rock music, inspired by song and dance, aimed at bring out the flexibility and dynamism of the saxophone. Saxophone: Jess Gillam |Piano: Leif Kaner-Lidström | Double bass: Sam Becker

TUESDAY 25 JULY 2023

“4 Centuries of Mandolin”

The first Grammy-nominated mandolinist, Israeli superstar Avi Avital joins the Festival stage with a string quartet made up of leading virtuoso musicians of the domestic classical scene in an exciting program, making the mandolin through Avital’s hands as a timeless star and solo instrument, capable of everything!

Mandolin: Avi Avital

Violin I: Simos Papanas | Violin II: Antonis Sousamoglou | Viola: David Bogorad | Cello: Municipality of Goundaroulis

SATURDAY JULY 29, 2023

“Expressions of Love”

Three accomplished musicians of the new generation, Nefeli Mousoura on the piano, Timotheus Gavrielidis-Petrin on the cello and Alexandros Gavrielidis-Petrin on the violin, join in an evening dedicated to the composers Robert and Clara Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, love, collaboration and the admiration between them led to some of the greatest masterpieces of chamber music literature.

Piano: Nefeli Mousoura | Violin: Alexandros Gavrielidis-Petrin | Cello: Timotheus Gavrielidis-Petrin

THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2023

“Blue(s) Moon”

Two distinct pianist personalities in a crossover program that combines different genres of music. The program includes works and arrangements that combine artistic classical style with improvisation and with the most popular musical genres such as jazz, musicals, rock, pop, and more!

Piano: Anastasios Pappas, Christos Papageorgiou | Double bass: Vilen Karapetyan | Drums: Panos Thoidis

TICKETS: €15 (general admission), €8 (student / under 18*)

Free for children under 12

TICKETS PRE-SALE

TICKET SERVICES

– publishing house: Panepistimo 39, Athens, and at the festival site before the start of the events

– by phone: 2107234567

– online: http://www.ticketservices.gr/event/8o-festival-klasikis-mousikis-koufonision