Stéphanos Thomopoulos’ piano recital with works by Xenakis, Kalomiris, Constantinidis

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

Acclaimed pianist Stéphanos Thomopoulos chose works by three great Greek composers of the 20th century for his online recital. Kalomiris and Constantinidis were born in Smyrna. The first formed his musical personality in Vienna and the second in Dresden and Berlin. The quite younger Xenakis was born in Brăila, Romania, and developed as an artist in France. Each of them was inspired by Greece in a different way: the first two were inspired by its traditional folk music, and the third by the ancient Greek philosophy. The short piece Nocturne belongs to Kalomiris’ first works, with its early draft having been created in 1906. Constantinidis’ Eight Greek Island Dances comes almost half a century later, in 1954. Herma (1960-1961) belongs to the works in which Xenakis applied mathematical theories –in this particular case, the set theory–, while his Evryali in 1973 is based on a technique devised by Xenakis during the 1970s and it’s his second greatest piano work.

Ministry of Culture and Sports

4th Greek National Opera Online Festival

Mediterranean Desert

12-26 April 2021 | nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en

The Greek National Opera’s 4th Online Festival titled Mediterranean Desert and curated by Giorgos Koumendakis brings to our screen four special recitals via GNO TV. The Festival’s videos will be streamed via GNO TV for free from 12 to 26 April 2021, and will remain available to the public for 30 days after their premiere. 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.

Baritone Dimitri Platanias, pianists Stéphanos Thomopoulos, Lorenda Ramou, Sophia Tamvakopoulou, visual artist Leda Papaconstantinou, and the Galan Trio, present works by Labelet, Xyndas, Samaras, Kamilieris, Spathis, Kalomiris, Constantinidis, Xenakis, Theodorakis, Koumendakis in four filmed recitals. The 4th Online Festival will be streamed entirely via GNO TV, for free, like the three previous online festivals, and the videos will remain on the platform for a month after their premiere.

The Artistic Director of the Greek National Opera Giorgos Koumendakis notes: “For the 4th Online Festival we invited leading music and visual artists to present us their own readings of famous and lesser known works of Greek composers. The invisible line connecting all these works we will watch and listen to, is the sense of the sea and, for this reason, the Festival was named Mediterranean Desert. We invite you all to enjoy them, with your thoughts wandering like a light summer breeze.”