The Garden of the Athens Concert Hall hosts a rich program of events and invites us to meet again sitting on the grass on mats or pillows, with a cocktail in hand, accompanied by Greek pieces but also classic melodies that we loved, black and white figures that travel us to our childhood and with nostalgic images from silent film wrote history…
The Megaron embraces Greek song again this year, welcoming to the Garden stage four performers from different generations, but with a common point of their direct and honest communication with their large audience through music. So, in June and July, we will see and hear live, in familiar but also new songs, Alkisti Protopsalti (8/6), Manolis Mitsias (14/6), Doros Demosthenous (28/6) and Marina Satti (1/7).
For the first time this summer (9, 23, 30/6 and 7/7), we will enjoy concert screenings that made history in classical music, watching on the screen of the Garden recorded concerts of UNITEL, one of the largest production and distribution companies cultural content, with great orchestras, great conductors and performers (free admission). The Palace selects four shiny diamonds from the rich collection of UNITEL, which includes the extremely successful mystical concert of Theodoros Kourentzis and MusicAeterna in Delphi, last June. The four videos were filmed in festivals and concert halls of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, starring distinguished conductors (Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Ratl, Andris Nelsons), famous soloists (Anne-Zofio Gutier-Mutter, Gutio Muther). Gefim Bronfmann) and symphony ensembles of international renown, such as, among others, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concerthebau Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic
Manos Kitsikopoulos, a soloist who invests classical masterpieces of silent cinema with live piano music, either playing well-known pieces or improvising, is also participating in the program of events this summer. After the success of “Battleship Potemkin” and “Sunrise” (“Dawn”), the beloved pianist turns his attention to the legendary “Nosferatou” of Mournau (17/6). A “horror deal”, as the film’s subtitle says, a landmark film in the history of world cinema, which was released 100 years ago.
A few days later (21/6, free entrance), we make an appointment in the Garden for the Music Festival, where we will meet the Athens State Orchestra, the percussion band Typana and young artists who distinguished themselves in the Open Platforms, the auditions of the Megaron.
Another debut, in July, in the Garden of the Megaron, with the favorite shadow player Elias Karellas and his troupe setting up their bar in the Garden, where they will stage the classic show “Alexander the Great and the Dragon”, with black and white giant figures and live music (4, 5, 11, 12/7). The events of the Garden are sponsored by MOTOROIL.
The program in detail
Greek song in the Garden
Alkistis Protopsalti, with three new songs (“Winners-lost”, “Light”, “We remained people”) but also with new orchestrations of her favorite songs that have left a strong mark on the Greek discography, comes to the Garden on 8/6 to illuminate our evenings with the bright sound of her voice. She is accompanied by musicians Thomas Kontogeorgis (piano, orchestrations), Pantelis Ntzialas (guitars), Petros Varthakouris (bass), Takis Vassileiou (drums, percussion) and Sofia Euclidou (cello). Zacharias Stamoulos in sound recording and Dimitris Laios in lighting.
“Fifty years of gold” is the title of the concert of Manolis Mitsias (14/6), who will share with us great successes of his fifty-year artistic career, accompanied by the musicians of his orchestra. An ark of songs, a magical journey in the music of Mikis Theodorakis, Stavros Xarchakos, Dimos Moutsis, Manos Loizos, Loukianos Kilaidonis, Thanos Mikroutsikos and many other important composers, but also in the lyrics and poetry of Nikos G Odysseas Elytis, George Seferis, Manolis Anagnostakis, Giannis Ritsos, Lefteris Papadopoulos, Manos Eleftherios, Lina Nikolakopoulou and others.
On 28/6 Doros Demosthenous will travel love through time and the world, through the concert “L.O.VE”. The repertoire of the night runs through the seasons, the musical genres, the rhythms, the places, passing from the melodies of Giannidis, Mouzakis, Hatzidaki and Theodorakis to songs with a dance mood of Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Simon & Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield, Queen but also of Lucianos Kilaidonis, Mimi Plessa, Giannis Spanou.
“Yenna” is the title of Marina Satti’s album, with which she makes her record debut, but also the night that the multifaceted singer has prepared, together with her band, to welcome the summer in the Garden of the Megaron (1/7) . In this modern music “festival”, Marina Satti will combine her new songs with other, well-known, that have been loved all over the world. Music without borders that unites people of every nationality and every generation from an artist, which can be both pop and ethnic and mainstream, but also urban and lyrical and traditional.
Megaron and Unitel Present
Impressive start for UNITEL broadcasts (9/6), with one music summit which took place in 2019 in Germany, and specifically in the Philharmonie Hall in Berlin, between three great musicians of our time, the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. With them, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra founded by Barenboim and the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said in 1999. This particular concert, in fact, took place on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Ensemble. In the Garden of the Palace we will enjoy Barenboim, Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma in the “Triple Concerto” for piano, violin, cello and orchestra by Ludwig van Beethoven. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra will also perform Anton Bruckner’s imposing Ninth Symphony.
The journey to the major European art events continues with a stop (23/6) in Austria, specifically at the Mozartheum in Salzburg and at “Mozart Week”. Invited by the Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, the Vienna Philharmonic offers us a program dedicated exclusively to the great Austrian. The top mezzo-soprano will sing well-known concert arias as well as an aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni”, while Daniel Barenboim, as pianist, will play the Piano Concerto no. 24 in do Mozart’s minor. The Vienna Philharmonic will also present the “Prague” Agreement (no. 38 in major).
Third stop, Switzerland and the Lucerne Festival. The British chief musician Sir Simon Rattle, one of the most acclaimed of our time, conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in Igor Stravinsky’s fascinating “Bird of Fire” and in the charming Symphony Dances, work 45 by Sergei Rachmaninov (30/6).
A week later (7/7), the same festival will screen the recorded concert of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam under Andris Nelsons, with musical selections in classical, romantic and dance styles. Participating is pianist Yefim Bronfman, who will perform Beethoven’s most popular “Imperial” Concerto and Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Study. From the program of the evening, the Introduction “The ruins of Athens”, also by Beethoven, is of particular interest to the Greek public. The musical landscape of the evening is complemented by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sehrazad and an excerpt from AntonÃn Dvořák’s Slavonic dances.
Musical appointment with “Nosferatou”
Manos Kitsikopoulos, the multi-dimensional pianist who, in his concerts in the Garden, gives us his own musical look at classic silent films, this summer, turns his attention to the legendary “Nosferatou” by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, the first film adaptation of “Count Dracula” by Bram Stoker. The masterpiece of the seventh art, which is considered the most important achievement of European expressionism and celebrates a century of life this year, is presented at the Megaron Live piano music (17/6), original compositions and improvisations by Kitsikopoulos on works by great composers. Admission to all screenings is free.
Music Festival
It is a favorite summer institution, with music becoming the occasion to meet again with well-known ensembles and artists, but also with up-and-coming musicians. Thus, on 21/6, in this year’s Music Festival, the Athens State Orchestra participates, which will present the First Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven under the rising chief musician Katia Molfesi, and the Typana Percussion Ensemble (Dimitris Desylarmas, Andreas , Marios Mouzakitis, Babis Taliadouros, Dimitris Argyropoulos), who has chosen for his program the emblematic work “Drumming” by Steve Reich. Three of the bands that stood out from the “Open Platforms”, the auditions of the “Bridges” cycle, will also perform on the Garden stage. Admission to the Music Festival is open to the public.
“Karagiozis in the Garden of the Mansion”
For the first time, the Garden is transformed into an open-air shadow theater with black and white giants and live music, to welcome the Troupe of Elias Karellas in the play “Alexander the Great and the Dragon” (4, 5/7 and 11,12 / 7). This is a revival of the eponymous legendary work of the first Greek karaoke player Mimaros, which was first uploaded 150 years ago and has its roots in mythology and folklore. “Alexander the Great and the Dragon” is perhaps the most famous work of the classical repertoire in the Greek shadow theater, combining the legend of St. George and the tradition of Alexander the Great, with a strong and special artistic character.
Pre-sale starts for all events: Friday 20 May
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