Point of No Return

The musical ensemble Oros Ensemble presents a new programme for the 2^nd Sacred Music Festival featuring contemporary works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Apostolis Koutsogiannis, and Giorgos Koumendakis. The concert’s main theme is lamentation, both as an experience of loss and as the ultimate pursuit of solace and healing through the expression of pain. Lamentation comes forth as a point of no return that inescapably gives rise to rebirth.

Within this context, the programme includes parts from the work Silenzio, a composition showcasing Sofia Gubaidulina’s profound religiousness through a compelling exploration of new soundscapes using the bayan, violin, and cello.

Apostolis Koutsogiannis explores the concept of the “eternal stranger” in a new piece inspired by the poetry of the Holy Week: Give me this stranger, the one who’s been a stranger among strangers since he was an infant”. His exploration journey spans from the Stranger-Messiah to the lost “Strangers” of the Aegean Sea and the feeling of alienation we experience in our everyday lives.

Finally, in Giorgos Koumendakis’ piece Point of No Return, we see a creative reinterpretation of elements from the Smyrnaean song heritage, capturing the essence of the concert: lamentation is portrayed as a psychoacoustics process that turns sounds into a source of life.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Oros Ensemble

The musical group Oros Ensemble was formed in 2020 by a group of young musicians who are active in Greece and abroad, with the support of the Greek National Opera and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, as part of the Vamvakou Revival programme. The ensemble consists of emerging musicians who have common artistic goals and concerns, as well as shared experiences, as most of them completed the first cycle of their music studies together in Greece, before moving abroad to live and work in different countries around the world. Since its establishment Oros Ensemble has made its mark across Greece by collaborating with the most prestigious cultural organisations. They have repeatedly performed at the Greek National Opera, Onassis Stegi, Thessaloniki Concert Hall, and in various festivals including All of Greece – One Culture, Microdances, the 1st Sacred Music Festival, Rethymnos Days, Ανοιχτά Πανιά (Sails Unfurled) Festival in Chania, Naxos Festival, and Paros Festival. In December 2023, the CD featuring the ballet Eclipse, which had premiered in March 2023 at the Greek National Opera with music performed by the Oros Ensemble, was released.