The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
Hellenic
Festival
2009
Parnassos Library Society Program
Please
see ticket information at the bottom of this page
Parnassos Literary Society
8, Agio Georgiou Karytsis Square
June
Date
Time
Performance
Begin pre-sale
Tickets
09-06-09
21:00
A tribute to George Tsontakis
Works by:
George Tsontakis, Three Sighs Variations, for viola and piano (1981)
Requiescat, for viola and piano (1996)
Knickknacks, for violin and viola (2001)
Ghost Variations, for solo piano (1991)
With:
Krystalia Gaitanou, viola,
Alexandros Sakarellos, violin,
Nikos Laaris, piano
George Tsontakis, the Greek-American composer, is one of the most outstanding ‘voices’ in contemporary America, and the importance and communicational power of his music transcends his collection of awards (which include the Grawemeyer and Charles Ives awards).
Artis Piano Trio:
Yannos Margaziotis, violin
Nikolas Kavakos, cello
Anni Totsiou, piano
This concert refreshes our memory of two classic 20th-century works. Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 (1944) is dedicated to the memory of Ivan Sollertinsky, a friend of the composer. In the last movement, astute ears will recognize the Jewish theme to which Shostakovich returned in his dark Eighth Quartet. Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (1940-1941) was written and premiered by the composer and three fellow prisoners in the Gorlitz concentration camp. A metaphysical vision - the title references the Book of Revelation and the phrase “there should be time no longer” - the work is a landmark in musical Modernism.
With:
Jaana Ranta, flute
Silver Ainomäe, cello
Antti Suoranta, percussion
Marios Nikolaou, percussion
Manolis Neofytou, piano
Stefanos Nasos, piano
A concert dedicated to George Crumb, the sui generis American composer with a host of faithful fans around the world, including Greece.
Music for a Summer Evening (1974) comprises the third part of Makrokosmos, a four-part cycle in which Crumb, mirroring Bela Bartok’s Microcosmos, explores the potential of which he calls ‘extended piano’ (prepared, amplified piano, and other unusual techniques). The piece’s orchestration—for two pianos and an array of percussion—is also descended from Bartok (specifically, from the composer’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion of 1937), though this 40-minute ‘cosmic myth’ also calls to mind the typically optimistic American avant-garde of the era: the experimental cinema of Stan Brakhage, for example.
Extended technique also feature in the concert’s most recent work, Otherworldly Resonances (2003), a hypnotic passacaglia of sorts for two amplified pianos. The last item in the programme, Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale, 1971) is perhaps Crumb’s best-known work, “a sort of oceanic counterpart to the birdsong in Messiaen’s oeuvre” (according to Michael Walls) inspired by recordings of the Megaptera Novaeangliae whale. The piece also features unexpected performance techniques (the flautist, for instance, sings through her flute), while all three musicians wear masks symbolizing “the powerful impersonal forces of nature”.
Works by Minas Borboudakis, Bela Bartok, Maurice Ravel, Witold Lutoslawski
With:
Athina Kapsetaki, percussion
Spyros Lambouras, percussion
Dimitris Karydis, piano
Petros Moschos, piano
The final concert in the series brings together a collection of better and lesser known works—all energetic—from the repertoire of the European 20th century. Witold Lutoslawski’s Variations on a theme by Paganini (1941), an irresistible burlesque written during the German occupation when the composer was playing the piano in Warsaw cafes, is followed by two legendary works: Bela Bartok's Sonata for two pianos and percussion (1937) and Maurice Ravel’s piano version of La valse (1919-1920), a nostalgic and merciless depiction of the Vienna of the Belle Epoque which vanished without trace in the fallout from the Great War. The concert ends with Chorochronos I (1997) by Minas Borboudakis, a Cretan composer who lives and works in Munich whose outstandingly vital, spirited music is often inspired by science and philosophy. Chorochronos I is based on theories by the physicist Stephen Hawking on the origins and future of the universe.
There are three way you can
book you tickets for Festival events:
Online, using your credit or debit card
By telephone, using your credit or debit card
In person, at Festival Box Office
Advance booking begins three weeks prior to each event.
1. Book online
Credit card bookings entail
ticket purchases and not ticket reservations.
Tickets can be purchased on-line until 2 pm on the day
of the performance.
Buying your tickets online allows you to select your seats,
according to price and availability. You may also buy season
tickets, where available. Tickets can be collected from
Festival Box Offices, or directly from event venues. A
courier service is also available (at a charge of 4€ per
call out).
To book tickets online, click
on the online link next to the event .
You will be guided step by step through the process of
selecting the event you require and booking your tickets.
2. TELEPHONE BOOKINGS
Tickets can be purchased over the telephone using a credit
card.
A. Call Centre Sales Personnel
Tickets can be purchased from call centre sales personnel
until 2 pm on the day of the performance.
Telephone Booking
Centre: +30 210 - 32 72 000
Opening Hours: Through a telephone operator: 09:00-21:00
daily
B. Using the Interactive Voice Response (IVR):
Advance booking by IVR ends one day prior to the performance.
Telephone
Booking Centre: +30 210 - 32 72 000
Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In both cases, tickets can
be collected from the Festival Box Offices or directly
from the event venues. A courier service is also available
(at a charge of € 4 per call out).
3. 'IN-PERSON' BOOKINGS: BOX OFFICES
Addresses and Opening Hours:
Central Athens
39, Panepistimiou Street, inside the Pesmazoglou Arcade
Opening Hours: Monday - Friday: 08:30-16:00, Saturday 09:00-14:00
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Dionysiou Aeropagitou Street (pedestrianised) -
Makriyianni
Opening Hours: 09:00-14:00 and 17:00-20:00 Daily
Ancient Epidaurus Theatre
Argolis Prefecture, Peloponnesus
Opening Hours: Monday - Thursday 09:00-14:00 and 17:00-20:00,
Friday - Saturday 09:30-21:30
Other Venues
Tickets may be purchased
at all Festival venues with ticket booths, opening two
hours before the start of performances.
Useful
information: 1.
It is not allowed:
•
To enter the theatre after the beginning of the performance
except during the
intermission if there is one.
• To smoke and to consume food and drink in the theatre.
• To take photographs with or without flash, to audio-
or video-record the performance.
• To wear shoes with pointed heels.
• To bring children younger than six to the theatre.
• To tip the ushers.
• To return tickets.
2.
During the performance cellular phones must be turned off.
3. If a performance is cancelled, there will be an announcement
regarding the refund.
4. Ticket sales are computerized. Therefore there can be no
double bookings.
5. The program of the performances may change. Any changes
will be announced in time by the
press.
