Thousands of music lovers filled the streets of Athens for the concerts and events featured in the 3rd Sacred Music Festival

Co-organised by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Greek National Opera

The 3rd Sacred Music Festival brought Easter to Athens, featuring numerous concerts from Lazarus Saturday, the 12th of April, to Holy Wednesday, the 16th of April 2025. The successful Festival, co-organised by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Greek National Opera, under the artistic direction of Giorgos Koumendakis, was attended by approximately 20,000 audience members who enjoyed performances at various museums, churches, significant landmarks, and concert venues in the centre of Athens, as well as at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

More than five hundred distinguished and emerging artists, musicians, choristers, vocal performers, cantors, composers, conductors, and actors participated in this year’s spring celebration of Sacred Music, presenting a unique musical panorama that drew connections to both the divine and the human passions.

The Festival’s Artistic Director, Giorgos Koumendakis, notes: “This year’s Sacred Music Festival, the third in a row, confirmed in the clearest way that what started little by little in 2022 amidst the pandemic has already become an established tradition in our city. Sacred music is a reason to go out in the city, meet with one another, and experience the atmosphere of Holy Week. I would like to thank the thousands of spectators who honoured us with their attendance and participation, the artists and ensembles that took part in the Festival, the venues that hosted our events, the Minister of Culture, Mrs Lina Mendoni, for her support, Eurobank –the Festival’s sponsor–, and the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation – the Festival’s donor.”

Brief overview of the 3rd Sacred Music Festival

Lazarus Saturday, 12 April – Holy Wednesday, 16 April 2025

The Festival commenced on Lazarus Saturday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens with the concert From Passion to Resurrection, featuring the Byzantine Choir “Tropos” under the baton of Konstantinos Angelidis, with Panos Dimitrakopoulos accompanying on the qanun.

On Palm Sunday, over 5,000 people flooded the courtyard of the Acropolis Museum to attend the concert Vassilis Tsitsanis – The Saint of Love, featuring Dimitra Galani, the Estoudiantina Orchestra of Nea Ionia, Volos, and the Greek Byzantine Choir conducted by Georgios Konstantinou. Based on an idea by Andreas Katsigiannis, the concert connected Byzantine music hymns to the emblematic songs composed by Vassilis Tsitsanis. In the same venue, on Holy Monday, the Vamos Orchestra under the baton of Thanasis Papathanassiou presented the concert Oh, My Sweet Spring, featuring soloist Tassos Apostolou.

On Palm Sunday, the Catholic Cathedral Basilica of St Dionysius the Areopagite hosted the concert Ex tenebris lux, based on a concept by Irene Anastasiou and George Krimperis, with Aglaia Pappa as the narrator. On Holy Tuesday, the same venue held the concert Polyhymnia panegyrica – The Polychoral Style and the Art of Melodic Embellishment in 17th-Century Germany, featuring the ensembles The Clerkes Extraordinarie and Cappella Sancti Pauli, conducted by Iason Marmaras.

The three concerts held at the Fethiye Mosque included Tholos, curated by Sokratis Sinopoulos and Taxiarchis Georgoulis, The Bows of the East, featuring Yorgos Psaltis, Sofia Efkleidou, and Yannis Poulios, and Vitraux, featuring Tasos Poulios, Kyriakos Tapakis, Giorgos Kontogiannis, and Nikos Paraoulakis.

At the First Greek Evangelical Church another series of concerts took place, including Maria Matrem performed by the ensemble Ex Silentio under the musical direction of Dimitris Kountouras along with the Children’s Chorus of the GNO led by Konstantina Pitsiakou, Nature, Worship, and the Divine performed by Sibil•la Ensemble, Conversations performed by the Chamber Music Ensemble of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Chalandri, and The Grandeur of the Minimal performed by Les Vibrations sympathiques under the baton of Pavlos Kordis.

The concerts held at the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation included Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time featuring Spyros Tzekos, Iro Seira, Alexis Bove, Sofia Tamvakopoulou, and Lenia Safiropoulou, Eve with soloists Sophia Kyanidou and Antonis Kordopatis accompanied by Dimitris Yakas on the piano, Faith Through Music: A Journey of the Soul featuring pianist Marios Panteliadis, and the lecture Prayer In Opera, given by author and journalist Helena Matheopoulos.

The Old Stock Exchange of Athens hosted a series of piano concerts, including Satie, Works for Piano performed by Beata Pincetić and Christos Sakellaridis, Bach in the Sky with Diamonds performed by Alexandra Papastefanou, and For the Time of Figs Was Not Yet executed by Giorgos Konstantinou. In the same venue, the Choir musicAeterna Byzantina, led by Antonios Koutroupis, presented the concert The Harlot Came to Thee under the artistic direction of Teodor Currentzis, with Ribale Wehbe and Grigorios Zarkos as soloists, and Amalia Moutousi as the narrator. Also held in the same emblematic building on Sofokleous Street were Nikos Galenianos’ new work Paradise Lost – Morfé Δemoníon, which was commissioned by the GNO specifically for the Festival and featured Ioanna Vrakatseli, Danae Bletsa, and Artemis Bogri as soloists along with the female choral ensemble CHÓRES led by Eirini Patsea, as well as the concert I Don't Have Much To Tell You… performed by Zacharias Karounis and Gerasimos Papadopoulos.

The Olympia Municipal Music Theatre “Maria Callas” hosted Cherubini’s Requiem performed by the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, under the baton of Alkis Baltas, as well as Britten’s opera Noye's Fludde, conducted by Kyriaki Kountouri and directed by Themelis Glynatsis, featuring the Children’s Chorus of the GNO led by Konstantina Pitsiakou, the Underground Kids Orchestra, members of the Underground Youth Orchestra and the El Sistema Greece Youth Orchestra, and soloists Anna Agathonos and Yanni Yannissis.

In the garden of the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments “Fivos Anoyanakis” – Centre for Ethnomusicology, musicians Nikos Katritzidakis, Nikos Papageorgiou, Dimos Papatzalakis, and John Papatzanis presented the concert Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, while Michalis and Pantelis Kalogerakis showcased the musical performance At St Luke’s Monastery.

A distinctive vibe was added to the Festival by the established marching concerts held around the Acropolis. The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Municipality of Chalandri began its procession at the entrance of the Acropolis Museum on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street and concluded in Thiseio, marching along Apostolou Pavlou Street. The Hellenic Army Band of Athens also began its route at the entrance of the Acropolis Museum and, proceeding through Plaka, concluded its tour at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, while the Navy Military Band paraded around the Roman Agora in Plaka.

At the Alternative Stage of the GNO in the SNFCC, conductor Markellos Chryssicos presented Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 performed by the Bulgarian String Orchestra Drop Down Community, mezzo-soprano Theodora Baka, and bass Timos Sirlantzis, with Spyros Souladakis accompanying on the celesta. The Alternative Stage also hosted a concert by the famous Vanya Moneva Choir from Bulgaria, under the musical direction of Vanya Moneva herself. These two concerts were co-produced with the Thessaloniki State Orchestra.

The 3rd Sacred Music Festival successfully concluded with an Easter Concert by the Thessaloniki State Orchestra in the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO at the SNFCC. The concert featured a unique programme with immersive works by Dimitri Mitropoulos, Richard Strauss, and Charilaos Perpessas, performed by soloist Aphrodite Patoulidou under the baton of Leo MacFall.