Tribute to Yannis Constantinidis - Kostas Giannidis

Alternative Stage founding donor 

Major Sponsor of the Greek National Opera

The GNO Alternative Stage presents a great tribute to the multifaceted work of the great composer Yannis Constantinidis—Kostas Giannidis (1903-1984) on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death. Four concert programmes make up the tribute to the work of the great composer Yannis Constantinidis - Kostas Giannidis, who lived between two musical worlds and between two identities. These programmes will be presented on the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 10, 15, 16, 22, and 23 November 2024. The curator and one in charge of presenting the tribute's concerts is the professor of Ethnomusicology Lambros Liavas, who took over the responsibility of preserving the composer's archive, currently housed at the Department of Music Studies of the School of Philosophy of the NKUA, from the composer himself.

Yannis Constantinidis (Izmir 1903 – Athens 1984) was a unique composer known for his dual yet not split approach to music, as he served equally consistently in both art-sophisticated classical music and popular “light” singing (under the alias Kostas Yannidis), establishing himself as a renowned creator in both genres. And it is definitely not a coincidence that much of his "flexibility," his ability to navigate different music genres and styles, stems from the musical heritage of the multicultural bourgeois environment in Izmir.

The Tribute to Yannis Constantinidis – Kostas Giannidis presents some of the most representative aspects of his significant work, featuring select performers, through four concerts: The Works for Voice and Piano, featuring Tassis Christoyannis and Thanasis Apostolopoulos (10/11), Shοuld You Wish Send Me Some Flowers… featuring songs by Kostas Giannidis transcribed for a  period orchestra and performed by Eleni Voudouraki, Angelos Papadimitriou, and Fenia Papadodima (15,22/11), The Works for A Capella Four-voice Mixed Choir performed by the Mixed Choir of the Department of Music Studies of the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and POLIS Ensemble (16/11), and The Works for Piano performed by Theodore Tzovanakisa and Eftychia Veniota with Nelly Semitecolo participating as a special guest (23/11).

More specifically, the tribute’s programme is as follows:

Yannis Constantinidis – Kostas Giannidis, the remarkable creator of “Let’s Go Like We Did in the Past”, was a leading figure in many different music genres. Through the tribute’s four concert programmes, we follow his journey from Izmir’s cosmopolitan setting to the cabarets of Berlin, and from the music theatres of Athens and the era of 78-rpm discs to the “golden 1930s”, the challenging times during the Nazi Occupation, and the postwar “new order.

• The Works for Voice and Piano

10 November 2024 / Starts at: 20.30

Tassis Christoyannis baritone

Thanasis Apostolopoulos piano

Distinguished baritone Tassis Christoyannis will perform "The Works for Voice and Piano," accompanied by Thanasis Apostolopoulos on piano, in a concert that marks the beginning of the GNO Alternative Stage’s tribute to Yannis Constantinidis - Kostas Yannidis.

Alongside his known career as “Kostas Yannidis”, Yannis Constantinidis had also become involved in art music, silently and discretely, since the 1930s. His inspiration to compose Five Songs About Love (1930-31) and Twenty Songs of the Greek People (1937-47) for voice and piano stemmed from various compilations of Greek folk songs, which he tried to harmonize according to the compositional principles and ethnomusicological work of Béla Bartók.

The concert programme also includes the pieces: Miroloi (Dirge, 1946), The Nun and the Singer (1950), and Five Songs of Anticipation, a composition set to poetry by Rabindranath Tagore, translated by the composer himself (1924/1980).

• Shοuld You Wish Send Me Some Flowers…

Songs by Kostas Yannidis transcribed for a period orchestra

15, 22 November 2024 / Starts at: 20.30

Transcription: Giannis Loupakis

Conductor: Nicolas Vassiliou

Performers: Eleni Voudouraki, Angelos Papadimitriou, Fenia Papadodima

With the participation of: Angelos Politis clarinet, Konstantinos Pangiotidis violin Ι, Vanessa Athanasiou violin ΙΙ, Elli Filippou cello, Yorgos Arnis double bass, Kostas Argyropoulos percussion, Konstantinos Zigeridis accordion, Christos Sakellaridis piano

This is how life is, my dear one; life is always like that

And those who do not live life bitterly regret it…

The second concert of the tribute, Should You Wish Send Me Some Flowers..., encourages audiences to recall enduring melodies (refrains) that have stood the test of time through a selection of Kostas Yannidis’ most beloved songs. Resisting being labeled as “retro,” these songs come back with their enduring power and truth to be discovered by younger generations.

“Yannidis” carved out a flourishing career in music theatre and “light” singing, which lasted for thirty years until the early 60s. He wrote music for over fifty operettas, revues, musical comedies, ethographies, and films, as well as many popular songs that were performed by the most significant artists of the time (Sofia Vembo, Danai Stratigopoulou, Nikos Gounaris, Petros Kyriakos, Anna and Maria Kalouta, Kakia Mendri, Stella Greka, Nana Mouschouri and more).

Kostas Yannidis’ songs transcribed for a period orchestra by Giannis Loupakis will be performed by Eleni Voudouraki, Angelos Papadimitriou, and Fenia Papadodima, alongside an eight-member instrumental ensemble conducted by Nicolas Vassiliou. In this special concert, the heroes of Yannidis’ songs will dance the Hesitation Waltz, Waltz-Musette, tango, swing, Charleston, samba, rumba, and bolero.

• The Works for A Capella Four-voice Mixed Choir

16 November 2024 / Starts at: 20.30

Mixed Choir of the Department of Music Studies of the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Conductor: Nikos Maliaras

The original folk songs will be performed by the POLIS Ensemble: Nikos Paraoulakis (ney), Giorgos Kontogiannis (lyre), Stefanos Dorbarakis (qanun), Alexandros Kapsokavadis (lutes), Theodoros Kouelis (double bass), Manousis Klapakis (percussion)

Transcription: Alexandros Kapsokavadis

With the participation of the senior students of the Postgraduate Programme of the Department of Music Studies of the School of Philosophy (NKUA): Sevastiani Vletsi, Emmelia Damanaki, Marianthi-Ippolyti Katsari, Chryssi Tzavla, Dimitra Tsangaraki, Varvara Tsiviki

The third concert of the tribute includes the pieces Eight Dodecanesian Songs (1972) and Eight Songs from Asia Minor (1972), which will be performed by the Mixed Choir of the Department of Music Studies of the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, under the baton of Nikos Maliaras. The original folk songs that will be featured in the concert, transcribed by Alexandros Kapsokavadis, will be performed by POLIS Ensemble.

Yannis Constantinidis was initiated at a young age to the music of the Asia Minor folk tradition by the servants in his household and female tobacco workers in the suburbs of Izmir, whom he listened to during his family's summer outings. These vivid memories inspired him to compose the Eight Songs from Asia Minor. The Eight Dodecanesian Songs are based on the collection Songs of the Dodecanese by Swiss ethnomusicologist and orchestra conductor Samuel Baud-Bovy. Regarding the key choices that mark his compositional style, the composer himself states he is “against any thematic reworking of folk singing”. Instead, he leaves “the melodies intact, as they have been passed down to us by the people. He only tried to achieve variety in his compositions by investing in harmony and emphasizing the rhythm of the content in his hands”.

• The Works for Piano

23 November 2024 / Starts at: 20.30

Theodore Tzovanakis, Eftychia Veniota piano

Special guest: Nelly Semitecolo

The tribute to Yannis Constantinidis—Kostas Yannidis will be completed with a special programme featuring the composer’s major works for piano performed by Eftychia Veniota and Theodore Tzovanakis. The concert will also feature the acclaimed pianist Nelly Semitecolo as a special guest.

Eftychia Veniota will perform the second book of the piece 22 Songs and Dances from the Dodecanese (1943-46), the first and second books from 44 Children’s Pieces on Greek Folk Melodies (1949-51), and the Six Etudes on Greek Folk Rhythms (1956-58).

Theodore Tzovanakis will perform the first book from the piece 22 Songs and Dances from the Dodecanese (1943-46), the third book from 44 Children’s Pieces on Greek Folk Melodies (1949-51), and Sonatina No.1, which is based on Cretan folk melodies (1952).

Finally, Nelly Semitecolo and Eftychia Veniota will perform the piece Eight Greek Island Dances for Two Pianos (1954/1971).

* At the beginning of each concert, Lambros Liavas will give a brief lecture on the composer and his works, with visual material projected from the Archive of Yannis Constantinidis / Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

The concert cycle “Tribute to Yannis Constantinidis - Kostas Giannidis” is part of the GNO Alternative Stage’s unit of programming titled “CYCLE OF THEMATIC CONCERTS”, which falls under the ACT “FESTIVAL EVENTS OF THE GNO ALTERNATIVE STAGE 2024-2025” » (MIS 6002467) with code 2024ΕΠ08570049 (Priority: “Fostering regional social cohesion through the enhancement of mechanisms and infrastructure to support employment, education, health care and socioeconomic inclusion” of the programme “Attica 2021-2027) and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and National Resources.