In September, the municipality of Athens holds its own cultural “date” on the green hill of Hippios.

The meeting point is the Kolonou Theatre, where it will host from 8 to 28/9 a rich program of events with special quality theatrical performances and concerts with free admission, curated by the Organization for Culture, Sports and Youth of the Municipality of Athens (OPANDA).

The program

This year, the Cologne Festival is the ultimate proposal for both theater and music lovers, with a diverse program of high-quality theatrical and musical performances by acclaimed creators.

The public will enjoy the great theatrical productions of the summer, but also concerts with folk, rebetiko and modern Greek repertoire.

The curtain of the Festival opens on Friday, September 8 with the theatrical performance “Medea” by Euripides, with Maria Kitsou and Fanis Mouratidis in the leading roles.

The DI.PE.THE. Roumelis comes to the theater of Kolonou with the comedy “Tangled” by Nikolaos Laskaris with Nikos Orfanos, while Argyris Angelou and Ioanna Pelichou with the thriller “The collector» by John Fowles.

Also, the “Oedipus Tyrannus” by Sophocles with Yiannis Stankoglou and Marilita Lampropoulou, but also “Electra” by Sophocles with Lena Papaligoura in the title role and Elisavet Moutafi, Ioannis Papazisi and others. THE “Glass world” by Tennessee Williams with Katia Dandoulakis in the iconic role of Amanda and Ioanna Pappas, Constantinos Bibi, Reno Rota, but also the comedy “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare directed by Giorgos Kimoulis, who holds the lead role together with Sofia Vogiatzakis, Anna Monogiou, Lili Tsesmatzoglou, etc.

The theatrical performances of the Festival conclude with Elena Mavridou directing “Alcestis» by Euripides with co-star Dimitris Lalos and the musical theater tribute to Tassos Livaditis, where Alexandra Palaiologou and a group of actors meet Gerasimos Andreatos.

Concerts for all tastes

The Kolonou Festival is the established autumn meeting of the public with favorite artists of the Greek music scene and the Music Ensembles of the municipality of Athens. Manolis Mitsias, Peggy Zina, Iota Nega, Dimos Anastasiadis, Christos Papadopoulos, Giorgos Sarris and Gerasimos Andreatos, will take to the stage of the Kolonos Theater to excite the audience with their performing talent and arouse them with songs by leading composers and creators.

This year’s event will feature unique musical tributes to great Greek composers and artists, to Mikis Theodorakis with the “Mikis Theodorakis” Independent Folk Orchestra and Kostas Makedonas, Panagiotis Petrakis and Angelos Theodorakis, to Yiannis Markopoulos with the Athens Municipality Choir, in Stratos Dionysiou with Angelos, Stelios and Diamantis Dionysiou, as well as a music-dance tribute to the Greek tango with the Municipal Athenian Choir and Mandolinata of Exarcheion-Neapoleos “Dionysios Lavragas”, the Municipal Athenian Studio and Anna Matsoukas, Babis Tsertos, Konstantinos Tzemos , Christos Ambrazi and Katerina Melitis, under the musical direction of Apollos Kouskoumvekakis.

Finally, the Music Ensembles of the Municipality of Athens will give their “presence” to the Festival with excellent concerts and collaborate with renowned artists and musicians, such as Kitrina Podilata, Betty Charlautis, Spyros Kleissas, Thanos Olympios, Alexandros Affolter, Antonis Mitzelos, Yiannis Belonis and Anastasios Symeonidis.

Parallel to the events of the Cologne Festival, in the context of the effort of the municipality of Athens through OPANDA, to bring culture to every corner of the city, strengthening the residents’ daily contact with the arts and entertainment, will take place from 13 to 26 September at the Grava theater, theatrical performances, concerts and musical tributes with renowned artists.

“The Colonus Festival of the Municipality of Athens, the Festival of culture and entertainment, which the Athenian public embraced and established, this year stands out for its quality and diversity and once again becomes a pole of culture for all of Athens, offering 21 excellent performances, with free admission “, said the mayor Kostas Bakoyannis and added: “We invite you to enjoy cool evenings, with favorite artists, with theater and music of all genres, in one of the most emblematic theaters of Athens. At the same time, the favorite theater of Grava operates in addition, with a special ten days of events. In September we return to the Athens of Art and Culture. I thank the OPANDA team for organizing this year’s Festival with creativity and inspiration. So we are giving an appointment to Colonos and Grava”.

For her part, the president of OPANDA, Niki Arambatzi, pointed out: “The favorite cultural institution of Athens, the Colonus Festival, returns in September to the historic hill of Ippius Colonus to offer autumnal coolness, inviting to the Colonus Theater residents, but also visitors to our city, to enjoy high-standard performances by favorite theater and music artists, who will give us unforgettable atmospheric evenings. At the same time, at OPANDA we continue to bring culture to the neighborhoods, so for ten days the Gravas theater will host unique performances and musical tributes for young and old. So we are waiting for you to welcome autumn together and have fun through a great cultural celebration and 29 parallel events with free entry to the two theaters of our city”.

Events start at 20:30 and children’s shows start at 20:00. Entrance to the events of the Cologne Festival is free exclusively and only with tickets (there will be an announcement about the start of the distribution of tickets). All parallel events at the Gravas Theater are free of charge. The theaters of Kolonou and Gravas are accessible to people with disabilities.