Cretan Renaissance / Church of the Holy Apostles of the Solakis, Ancient Agora

The Festival is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach

Cretan Renaissance / Church of the Holy Apostles of the Solakis, Ancient Agora

Seven emblematic works of Francescο Londariti, from the Cretan Renaissance, as well as one work of Orlando di Lasso and Francesco de Laudis are performed by three distinguished musicians, Dimitris Koundouras (recorder), Ilias-Ion Livieratos (violin, viola) and Dimitris Tigkas (violone) in the yard and inside the Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles at the Ancient Agora of Athens. The Festival is realized thanks to the support of the grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) for the enhancement of the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

MUSIC: Francescο Londariti (1518-1572) was a Cretan Catholic musician who emerged in the wealthy, cosmopolitan and exciting Venetian Renaissance music life of the 1540s. Born in Handakas –today’s Heraklion–, he played the organ and was also a singer and a composer, associated with the Saint Titus Cathedral in his city. He sought a better future in Italy, first in Rome and then in Venice. He used to sing at the famous St Mark’s Basilica and wrote religious and secular music in the elaborate Venetian polyphonic idiom of Cinquecento. He joined the Munich Court after receiving an invitation from Duke Albert V, just like another Greek musician of the time, Francesco de Laudis. The selection of Londariti’s works along with the compositions of other musicians of the time bring out the musical framework in which he created, both in Venice and Munich. Londariti’s two three-tone canzonettas are a typical sample of the secular, light and highly popular form known as canzonetta napoletana. His religious work is worthily represented by two parts of the liturgy –“Agnus Dei” and Kyrie eleison”– in a stricter, more complex homogeneous polyphonic style. The programme is completed with a secular, playful song of the great French-Flemish musician Orlando di Lasso, who marked the music life of the Munich Court, as well as with a canzonetta of composer and virtuoso cornetist Francesco de Laudis. Finally, an instrumental version of these vocal compositions proposes a different listening experience focused on bringing out the contrapuntal writing and the clarity of the form.

ARCHITECTURE: The Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles of the Solakis is situated at the southeastern corner of the Athens Ancient Agora and dates back from the last quarter of the 10th century A.D. It was constructed over the foundation of a 2nd-century A.D. Nymphaeum in a cross-in-square style. The name Solakis probably refers to the Solakis, a wealthy family of Athens, who funded the reconstruction of the temple during the period of the Turkish rule. During the years 1954-1956 restoration works were carried out to bring the monument back to its original form.

Ministry of Culture and Sports

2nd Greek National Opera Online Festival

Counterpoints

A “consonance” of Greek art music with public architecture

27 September – 31 October 2020

nationalopera.gr/en, Facebook, YouTube, digitalculture.gov.gr     

The Greek National Opera presents its 2nd Online Festival titled “Counterpoints”*. The festival is curated by Giorgos Koumendakis and sheds light upon the relationship between Greek art music and architecture. The Festival’s videos will be streamed online from 27 September to 31 October 2020 and will remain available to the public for 30 days after their premiere. The videos will be streamed online at nationalopera.gr/en, on GNO’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Sports digitalculture.gov.gr.

Architecture and music are two arts that share a lot in common: the primacy of structure, the importance of shapes, contrasts and textures, and the deep and immediate communication with the viewer. Through the dialogue of these primordial arts, emblematic buildings of Athens converse with great works from the historical repository of Greek art music. Reaching from the Cretan Renaissance to the present day, works of architecture and music of a respective historical period and style complete each other, offering a fruitful experience to the audience. The Festival’s ultimate goal is to bring out our country’s musical and architectural legacy through the harmonious and equitable pairing of the images of the buildings with the sounds of the works, while communicating to the audience the Greek music and architectural creation.

The Festival was shot at some of the greatest buildings of Athens, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles at the Ancient Agora, the Gennadius Library, the French Institute, the Little Stock Exchange, the Athens Conservatoire, and the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”. In these places, celebrated Greek artists perform works of Londariti, Konstantinidis, Kalomiris, Ravel, Kounadis, Adamis, Dragatakis, Xenakis, Hatzis, Papadatos, Alexiadis, etc. The Festival is curated by Greek National Opera’s Artistic Director Giorgos Koumendakis.

Giorgos Koumendakis notes: “When last March, in the midst of the pandemic, we began planning a new online artistic programme, we could not imagine how successful our 1st Online Festival (May-June 2020) would be. Each of its video performances attracted tens of thousands of viewers and many positive comments from across the globe.

After a lot of demanding shooting in the summer, the time has now come for the Greek National Opera’s 2nd Online Festival, titled Counterpoints, which shall engage Greek art music into a creative dialogue with public architecture. Our wish is to celebrate Greek musical creation, from the Cretan Renaissance to this day, bringing to the foreground some of the most remarkable compositions of great Greek composers, such as Londariti, Konstantinidis, Kalomiris, Kounadis, Adamis, Dragatakis, Xenakis, Hatzis, Papadatos, Alexiadis. We asked distinguished artists of the GNO and beyond, to study and interpret these emblematic art music works in prestigious buildings that form part of the historical legacy of Athens. From 27/9 to 31/10, we invite you to travel with us –through the screen of your computer, tablet or mobile phone– using our music and architectural legacy as a vehicle, and making stopovers at the Cretan Renaissance, the Interwar period, the encounter of our folk music with art music, modernism, Xenakis’s universe and the 21st century.”

* Counterpoint is the way that many melodies are harmonically interconnected – the simultaneous consonance of many different melodies resulting in a harmonious composition.

The Greek National Opera would like to thank the Management of the National Bank of Greece, the French Institute of Athens, the Gennadius Library, the Athens Conservatoire, the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”, as well as the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens for providing permit for the shooting of the videos and for their exceptional collaboration.

The Greek National Opera would like to thank all the artists and artistic ensembles, who have given their permission for the free broadcast of these video-performances to the public, in this difficult time.