Savina Yannatou & chórεs at the GNO Alternative Stage on 2 & 3 April 2022

Concert

Savina Yannatou & chórεs
Crossings

An anthology of songs in transcriptions by Greg Eleftheriou, Yiannis Maramathas,
Alkis Baltas, Filippos Sakagian, Gary Salomon and Christos Samaras,

2 & 3 April 2022

Starts at: Saturday at 20.30 & Sunday at 19.30

Greek National Opera Alternative Stage
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC)

Free admission upon priority vouchers that will be exclusively distributed
from Wednesday 30 March, at 12.00, via ticketticket servicesservices.

Savina Yannatou and the chόrεs female vocal ensemble led by Marina Satti join forces for the first time on a programme that combines tradition, contemporary musical creation and improvisation in an indivisible whole based on the human voice. The programme, titled Crossings, is curated by Kornilios Selamsis.  

Crossings will be presented for two unique concerts on the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on Saturday 2 April at 20.30 and on Sunday 3 April at 19.30. Admission to the concert will be free upon priority vouchers that will be exclusively distributed from Wednesday 30 March, at 12.00, via ticket services.

Crossings is an anthology of works based on pre-existing songs and written especially for these concerts by four different composers: Greg Eleftheriou, Yiannis Maramathas, Filippos Sakagian and Gary Salomon.

Running through the musical landmarks and history of the Mediterranean, these original songs – traditional folk songs or songs written by known composers –  turn into material for research and creation of new musical experiences and unexpected surprises in the hands of a younger generation of composers living in Greece and abroad.

Thus the music of the Corsican polyphony, the musical culture of Sephardic (Spanish-Jewish) refugees, the songs of Lena Platonos, the tradition of the early-20th-century Smyrna, and the oldest extant complete musical composition, Seikilos’ archetypical Epitaph, cross paths with elements and media envisioned and invented by contemporary composers. The programme comes complete with two historic choral transcriptions of Greek traditional folk songs by two distinguished composers, Alkis Baltas and Christos Samaras.

This unexpected combination of musical materials produces an original sonic world that hovers at the border between modernity and tradition.  

Savina Yannatou

Savina Yannatou studied singing with Gogo Georgilopoulou and Spyros Sakkas. She graduated from the Department of Performance and Communication Skills of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied on a scholarship from the Mousigetis Foundation.  Her career started from the show of the third public radio station (knows as Third Programme) Edo Lilipoulpoli, on which she worked together with Lena Platonos. She has collaborated with many composers, such as Lena Platonos, Nikos Kypourgos, Nikos Mamangakis, Michalis Gregoriou, Dimitris Marangopoulos, Dimitris Kamarotos, Nikos Galenianos, Vangelis Katsoulis, Arild Andresen, Barry Gay, etc. She was also a member of the Early Music Workshop (1981-1991). Since 1992 she has been involved in vocal improvisation in the field of free jazz, where she has collaborated with musicians Peter Kowald, Floros Floridis, Nikos Touliatos, Gunther Sommer, Joana Sa, Gunther Pitscheider, Gerald Preinfalk, Klaus Trauheit, Giannis Anastasakis, Manolis Manousakis the Medea Electronique ensemble etc. Since 1994 she has collaborated with the Primavera en Salonico band, performing songs from the Mediterranean and the Balkans at music festivals across the world and recording for the labels LYRA and ECM. She has composed music for the National Theatre of Greece, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, the Municipal Theatre of Larissa, the Theatre of Neos Kosmos, as well as for documentaries and pantomime performances in collaboration with directors Nikaiti Kontouri, Sotiris Hatzakis, Io Voulgaraki, Stavros Stagos, the theatre groups Elephas Tiliensis, Playback, and Pyr, as well as with Aspasia Kralli and Natassa Zouka. She also teaches vocal improvisation to actors and musicians. Her discography includes about thirty albums with music by Greek and foreign composers, traditional folk songs by various countries, free improvisations, and songs of her own.

Chórεs  

The chórεs female vocal ensemble is a hub for artists created in 2017, as a result of a series of artistic events organised by Marina Satti with the goal of bringing out the world traditional folk song repertoire and combining music, dance and drama education with performance and artistic expression. Chórεs now consists of more than 150 women aged 13 to 55. They collaborate with celebrated teachers from different art fields and their goal is to evolve into a strong community of mutual support that favours the creation of open-minded and socially aware artists. Their diverse repertoire ranges from Greek traditional folk songs to songs from the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. The ensemble has sung pieces by Konstantinidis, Samaras, Tsalahouris, Baltas, and other Greek and foreign contemporary composers. Chórεs regularly collaborates with the Greek National Opera, with its members having participated in productions such as Nikos Kypourgos’ Medea, Theophrastos Sakellaridis’ Satanerie, Exit: Spring, Domna’s Song, Mikis Theodorakis’ Epitaph, etc. In 2020 the Chórεs ensemble  went on its first tour to selected archaeological sites across Greece as part of the Ministry of Culture’s programme “All of Greece, One Culture”, and in 2021, they presented the musical performance EXI (Six) to music by Martha Mavroidi, as part of the same programme.

Female vocal ensemble chórεs
Konstantina Giannopoulou, Maria Delaporta, Giota Dimitrakopoulou, Marina Emmanouilidou, Irini Zoutsou, Natalia Katsimani, Sofia Katsiouri, Nancy Klabatsa, Sissy Orfanidi, Alkmini Basakarou, Ino Pikioni, Natalia Routsolia, Marina Skoura, Danai Stergiou  

Nancy Klabatsa ancient lyre, Maria Delaporta quanun, Irini Zoutsou santur, Sofia Katsiouri violoncello

Curator: Kornilios Selamsis
Chórεs ensemble leader: Marina Satti
Chórεs ensemble musical director and voice coach: Simela Emmanouilidou
Chórεs ensemble production manager: Nadia Samara

The event “CROSSINGS” is part of the GNO Alternative Stage’s strand of programming titled “SUNDAY MORNINGS” which falls under the Act “FESTIVAL EVENTS OF THE GNO ALTERNATIVE STAGE”(MIS 5004053), code  2017ΕΠΑ08510107 (Axis 06 of the O.P.  “ATTICA”), and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and National Funds.