Akhmatova’s Requiem & The Anniversary

Haris Vrondos is one of the most consistent voices in the Greek music theatre scene of the last decades, having composed numerous operas. Two of his one-act chamber operas (a genre he’s been exploring for years) are now presented in one single performance on the Alternative Stage.

Akhmatova’s Requiem, based on Anna Akhmatova and Haris Vlavianos’ poetry, starts off with the great Russian poetess’ life and raises questions about the relationship between art and power. As the composer notes, “Akhmatova’s Requiem includes, in the form of lyrics, incidents of extermination, cold blood murder, imprisonment and exile of poets and artists who didn’t blindly succumb to the doctrine of socialist realism in art. The same period, convicted as decadent artists, many writers, musicians and painters, mainly Jews, were killed and exiled, and saw their works being burnt or banned by the Nazi regime in Germany, Austria and Central Europe.

The Anniversary, based on a libretto by the composer and by poet Yannis Ioannidis features writer Yannis Beratis, in a play between incidents of the Civil War and its perpetuation in the field of historical memory.