1. The retaking of Asti's page with information on Mikis Theodorakis has to do with a little miracle.
As you know, Mikis has not written any music since the death of his brother in December 1996. He took care of the publication of his work by Romanos's editions.
In the meantime he has as newly arranged for voice and piano a few more ancient cycles of songs.
For the first time since three years, Theodorakis thinks to put back himself to the composition of a new works. If my information is exact, he thinks on writing a new opera, but a comic opera on the topic of „Lysistrate“, after Aristophanes. If the master decides, we want well to follow him...

2. The song-cycle „Sun and Time", recorded in the Church of the Passion in Berlin, in November 1998, has just been published in Greece at Lyra. It is sung by Maria Farantouri, Rainer Kirchmann and, on two tracks in bonus, by Mikis Theodorakis himself.
The documentary movie of one hour that merges excerpts of the concert with documentary pictures on the origin of the cycle is shown on 21.4.2000 at Greek TV ERT and the 27.5.2000 on ARTE.
If all goes well, this project will be presented with the involvement of Mikis Theodorakis, on 9.5. and 10.5.2000 at the concert hall of Athens.

3. The edition in three volumes „Poetry set to music” with all texts on which Theodorakis ever put music is now complete with the publication of the third volume with booklets of operas. Despina Zilfidou is responsible for the publication of this edition.

4. A Greek-Australian movie on Cretan vendetta, that knew/its first projection, on 24.1.2000, in Athens, uses exclusively music of Theodorakis selected and newly arranged by Henning Schmiedt for this movie. The soundtrack is going to be published at the end February by Universal, Greece.

5. On 21.2.2000, cooperation between the edition „Romanos” of Theodorakis and the edition Schott will be announced in Athens. We wish a lot of successes to this extremely important cooperation.

6. I heard that there is a project to produce „Antigone”, the opera of Mikis in the Megaron Moussikis newly constructed in Thessalonica, probably in October 2000.

7. On 10.12.2000, the opera „Metamorphoses of Dionysus”, in the version for chamber orchestra by Henning Schmiedt, and in a production of Gert Hof, will have its premiere at the State Opera of Athens!

8. The publication of the trilogy - in Greek, English, and Hebrew -, of „Mauthausen”, prepared since a very long time already and waited for with impatience by a lot of people, is imminent. The CD will appear mid-March at „Pläne”.

9. Last but not least: Intuition plans to publish for July of this year, on occasion of the 75e birthday of Theodorakis, his trilogy of operas - Medea, Electra, Antigone -, 8 CDs published in a box. It is probably the most important CD-Production on Theodorakis of the last ten years.
 

This New Asti Page has been  translated in English by Guy Wagner and set to the Internet, on 8.2.2000

Asti's Page Nr.1 | Nr.2 | Nr.3 | Home Page