Notes on the wave: Classical music festival in island Greece

Every beach and mansion… This is how the Greek islands look from mid-July to the end of August

As soon as July reaches its middle and the holiday season begins for good, every beach turns into a Concert Hall… The Cycladic islands, mainly, but also other island destinations have been hosting, for years, festival events that focus on concerts word music, classical and other.

Many of these festivals are already one or two decades old and their events are attended by established and younger musicians, Greek artists and performers from all over the world. After all, music is the par excellence common universal language, which knows no borders – like, of course, the sea too…

Bearing in mind that most of these musical events are not only for islanders and temporary visitors but also for people who use them as a criterion for planning their travels, we have created a rough map of the most important classical festivals music that can be enjoyed in the Greek islands.

9th Koufonisi Classical Music Festival, July 19 – August 10

With six concerts by eleven prominent artists from Greece and abroad, the Koufonisia Classical Music Festival continues for the ninth year, under the artistic direction of its founder, conductor and pianist Cornelios Michaelidis. More information can be found at https://koufonisiaclassical.com.

Mytilini Music Festival, July 25 – August 4

Without being dedicated exclusively to classical music, the Music Festival organized by the Municipality of Mytilini focuses on lyrical, choral and other singing, with concerts organized in iconic venues in the city of Mytilini and other towns in the Municipality. Among the events it hosts, the concert with the poetry of Odysseus Elytis set to music by George Kouroupos (Artemis Bogris, singing, Thanasis Apostolopoulos, piano, Ioulita Iliopoulou, recitation) stands out at the Castle of Mytilene, a lyrical dialogue between two voices (Vivi Sykiotis, soprano, Yiannis Filias, tenor) and a piano (Veniamin Hatzikoumbaroglou), through popular lyrical works, in the courtyard of the Teriand Museum, in Varia.

Also, the musical theater recital dedicated to the poet Kostas Karyotakis, starring the lyrical singer Yiannis Christopoulos and the actor Nikolas Papagiannis, with music by Thodoris Lebesi, performed by a chamber orchestra, at the Castle Theater of Mytilene. A Greek-Turkish musical meeting, between the violinists Apollona Grammatikopoulos (KOA) and Mehmet Yasemin, as well as between the Athens Quartet and the Turkish master of the Kemenje Derya Türkan is hosted in the city’s Carsi Hamam and, finally, vocal and instrumental compositions from its urban environment Constantinople is performed by the excellent singer Dilek Türkan, accompanied by Derya Türkan (citizen lyre) and Nikos Andrikos (citizen lute and song), in the courtyard of Agios Therapondas, on the waterfront of Mytilene.