Varia
Echoes from News Agencies (III)
picked up in the Internet
Delphic
Celebrations open today
Athens, 16/07/1997 (ANA)
Celebrations commemorating the effort of poet Angelos Sikelianos and his wife Eva Palmer-Sikelianos to revive ancient drama at Delphi will open at the ancient oracle site today.
The commemorative events mark the 70th anniversary of the first Delphic Celebrations in 1927 and the 20th anniversary of the European Cultural Center of Delphi, where the events are being held.
Two exhibitions will open, on the stage set-up for ancient plays and Greek artists who have painted backdrops for such plays.
A concert will round up events of the first day at 9 p.m. today at the ancient stadium, with Andreas Pylarinos conducting poems of Sikelianos set to music by composer Mikis Theodorakis.
Olympic gold medallist Ioannis Melissanidis will perform a dance on the myth of Icarus.
Events will conclude on Sunday, with a play based on works by Sikelianos, with actor Stratos Tzortzoglou narrating.
ALEXIA
- THEODORAKIS.
In about fifteen days Alexia's new disk, including old songs of Mikis Theodorakis, will be ready.
But you have to wait until September to get it because the record is going to be sold just after the summer-time holidays.
The surprise of the disk will not be the careful choice of Theodorakis' classic songs not even the plenty of the orchestrators who are occupied with the music arrangement. The surprise will be the unexpected female-duet. Alexia & Milva together in the same microphone, under Mikis' directory.
Be ready for a big radio-hit in Autumn!!!
Andreas
Papandreou remembered on June 22
Athens, 03/06/1997 (ANA)
French former culture minister Jacques Lang will speak at an event commemorating the first anniversary of the death of Andreas Papandreou, the founder of PASOK and former three-time prime minister on June 22.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis will speak at the Athens Concert Hall event, to be followed by a concert with works of Mikis Theodorakis, conducted by Stavros Xarhakos and sung by Giorgos Dalaras, Maria Farandouri and Manolis Mitsias.
Earlier in the day PASOK will hold a memorial service at the Athens First cemetery.
Patras
International Festival program announced
Athens, 03/06/1997 (ANA)
The program for the Patras International Festival was presented to the public yesterday.
The festival begins on June 25 and will end on September 14 and is based on four axes: a dedication to composer Mikis Theodorakis and poet George Seferis; the Balkan forum for musical co-operation; a dedication to Greek composers such as Xenakis, Antonio u and Christou; and a dedication to 401 years of opera in Europe and Maria Callas.
There will also be special jazz events with performances by Greek and foreign musicians.
The Karolos Koun Theatre, Anna Synodinou troupe and theatrical groups from Thessaly, Volos and Cyprus will also perform as will the ERT Symphonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of Colors, the Camerata and the State Greek Music Orchestra.
THESSALONIKI:
FROM THE PRESENT TO THE FUTURE
part IV
From:
gmich@sae.gr (George A. Michalopoulos) Date: 1997/06/02
Message-Id: <339350d4.1323799906@news-the.forthnet.gr> Newsgroups:
soc.culture.greek
VII. EVENTS FOR 1998
In the beginning of 1998, the opera "Antigone", by Mikis Theodorakis, will be presented, in a world premiere, (Society for Macedonian Studies, December), on the occasion of the inauguration of the Thessaloniki Music Mansion.
George A. Michalopoulos
THESSALONIKI
HONORS MIKIS THEODORAKIS
Thessaloniki, May 18 (MPA)
Thessaloniki today honored Greece's famous composer Mikis Theodorakis, during an event held at the city's Aristotle University.
The event was prompted by the recent publication of the book "Theodorakis, the politician", written by Pavlos Petrides who is a professor of law and also the Macedonian Press Agency's President.
Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 97-05-18
TURKEY'S
UNIVERSITY OF ANKARA HONORS GREEK POET ODUSSEAS ELYTIS
Thessaloniki, May 12, 1997
Turkish students from the University of Ankara's Department of Modern Greek Language organized an event commemorating the late Greek poet laureate Odysseas Elytis.
The students recited some of the Greek poet's most well-known works while there was also simultaneous translation into the Turkish language. The college students also sang three of Elytis' poems, set to music by Greece's famous composer Mikis Theodorakis while a group of seven youngsters performed Greek traditional dances. A.F.
MACEDONIAN PRESS AGENCY NEWS IN ENGLISH
1997/04/01
Zorba found
THE GRAVE of George Zorbas, the man who inspired the world famous book and film Zorba the Greek, has been discovered in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The discovery was announced yesterday by the Athens daily Ethnos, ahead of a concert by composer Mikis Theodorakis on April 12, marking 55 years since Zorbas' death.
Semcor Inc. George Koutroubas
taken from the Athen's News daily newspaper
Iskaldt,
men majestetisk
Av Heidi H. Wigestrand
Stavanger
Aftenblad
26. mars 1997
Framføringa av korverket Canto General under leiing av Mikis
Theodorakis i omnshall 3 på smelteverket i Sauda i går
kveld, blei ei storslegen, men kjølig oppleving.
Det er nemleg uråd å få særleg varme i ein hall på storleik med ein fotballbane, og med ei takhøgd på fleirfoldige metrar. Alle dei rundt 1200 frammøtte fekk likevel sjeleleg varme frå dyktige musikarar og songarar. Fleire hadde dessutan utstyrt seg både med luer, skjerf, pledd og varm drikke.
På mange måtar var det ein uverkeleg kveld, særleg for dei som var på skift og passa omnane.
Dei som medverka i den musikalske delen av Canto General var Sosialistisk Kor frå Oslo, eit 15 manns orkester med tyske og greske musikarar, samt solistane Maria Farantouri, Petros Pandis og Arja Saijonmaa.
Det virka som utøvarane stortreivst i omnshallen. Ein slik stad må utvilsamt gje ekstra glød og nerve. Varmeomnar som var sette opp bak scena gjorde også sitt til at kunstnarane kroppsleg slapp å frysa altfor mykje for kunsten denne kvelden. Publikum kvitterte for innsatsen med ståande applaus.
All musikken i Canto General er komponert av Mikis Theodorakis. Handlinga i verket er bygd på 13 dikt av den verdskjende chilenske diktaren Pablo Neruda. Dikta høyrer til i ei samling på fleire hundre dikt.
I mellom songane las skodespelar Jan Hårstad og Sunniva Lindekleiv Neruda-dikta på norsk. På den måten fekk publikum eit innblikk i kva koret song om, for all tekst blei sungen på spansk. Kjartan Fløgstad står for den norske omsetjinga av dikta.
Canto General blir kalla den store songen til alle fridomselskande folk og tek for seg fridomskampen i Latin -Amerika.
Korverket var det første av i alt fire arrangement i omnshallen. Det var Arja Saijonmaa som i fjor haust innvia hallen som konsertlokale. Også Theodorakis har sett fram til å ta hallen i bruk. Neste år har han planar om å setja opp ein opera i denne hallen.
Athens, 14/03/1997 (ANA)
Monument to Greek Jewish victims of WWII to be unveiled
The foreign ministry in association with the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) and the World Hellenic Parliamentary Commission will honor in Thessaloniki on June 29 the Greek Jews who died during World War II.
At a press conference attended by Alternate Foreign Minister George Papandreou and SAE President Andrew Athens in Thessaloniki yesterday, it was stressed that "our society must remember where Nazism led us, and our youth must know the history of their country".
Events will include the unveiling of a monument for the wartime Jewish victims and a concert by composer Mikis Theodorakis. Delegations of Jewish communities worldwide are expected to attend.
An event entitled "Jewish life in Greece" will be held on the same day.
Athens, 22/3/1997 (ANA)
Lentakis buried
Andreas Lentakis, the politician, mayor, writer and professor, was buried
at the Athens First Cemetery yesterday in the presence of several members
of the government, deputies and a large crowd.
Songs by Mikis Theodorakis were heard while members of Lentakis'
family were accompanied by Political Spring (Pol.An) leader Samaras. Lentakis
was a founding member of Pol.An.
Eulogies focused on the character of Andreas Lentakis, his fighting spirit, his writings and his love for those who stood by him.
1997/03/13
Greece crumbles as the show must go on
by Andrew Galanakis
(...) The Megaron has undertaken to restrict performances to a dozen or so every summer, gradually increasing the number of spectators as the excavators uncover more ancient seats and put them back into place. "It's essentially an experiment," says Christos Lambrakis, the concert hall chairman, "to find out what kind of music is suited to the ancient surroundings, and then make sure that we include performances that will also attract local people."
At the Herod Atticus, a more robust attitude prevails, partly because a heavily restored Roman-era theatre in the centre of Athens is considered less sacrosanct than a Greek one still being unearthed from an olive grove. New theatres were built after Greece became a Roman colony, though there are few surviving examples of tall stone backdrops like that of the Herod Atticus, from which a roofed stage originally protruded.
Amplifiers have moved in, thanks to the political muscle of Nana Mouskouri, the Paris-based Greek singer who insisted she could perform nowhere else in Athens. Then came Mikis Theodorakis, the composer who was banned from the Herod Atticus for years because of his communist views but is now permitted to stage his symphonies and oratorios there, complete with an orchestra and a bouzouki group as well as massed choirs.
Yet the Herod Atticus is still the scene of clashes between conservationists and the tourism ministry, which is anxious to reverse a declining trend in audience numbers now that many tourists skip Athens and fly directly to the islands and Athenians are more willing to attend performances staged at ancient theatres deep in the countryside.
One recent controversy involved a plan to rebuild the roof over the stage on the basis of 19th century excavation drawings and studies of other Roman theatres around the Mediterranean. The tourism ministry claimed that audience numbers would improve immediately because the reconstruction would improve acoustics in the upper tiers.
"There's a limit to how much you can restore without creating a false monument and the Herod Atticus has reached it"; says Nicholas Minos, head of the archaeological service conservation department. "Putting on a new roof is going too far. We can't allow anything that could look like Disneyland."
To persuade more world-class performers to play there, the tourism ministry proposed to replace cramped changing-rooms with a complex of comfortable dressing-rooms and storage space plunging four storeys below ground level into the rock. That was shot down by the archaeological service on the grounds that the Acropolis hill, in itself considered an important monument, should not be tampered with.
"The Herod Atticus is really a victim of its own success," says Constantine Boletis, the architect who heads a new archaeological service programme to restore another 70 ancient theatres, medieval castles and other monuments for modern performances.
ANA 1997/03/13
Greece
to contribute to Moscow's 850th birthday party
Moscow, 20/02/1997 (ANA)
Greece's contribution to celebrations for the city of Moscow's 850th anniversary were presented yesterday at Greece's Embassy in the Russian capital.
The program, presented by Ambassador Kyriakos Rodousakis, includes five exhibitions, an international symposium entitled "Greek Civilization in Russia" and a performance of the ballet "Alexis Zorbas" set to music by Mikis Theodorakis, who will conduct the orchestra.
The exhibitions are "Russian Painters on Greece" with works by some of the most important Russian artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and an exhibition in September by six modern Greek artists from Thessaloniki on the theme "The Other Europe".
There will also be an exhibit of Greek religious icons and artifacts, valuable religious garments belonging to Russia's Greek clerics, gifts from Greeks to Russian Patriarchs and tsars, as well as a display of Byzantine manuscripts and documents from Russian archives on Greek history and that of Greeks' in Moscow. Finally, there will also be an exhibition on the activities of contemporary Greeks in Moscow.
The organizing committee for the Greek events includes the Russian Culture Minister, Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Ambassador Rodousakis, Moscow Patriarch Alexios and the participating museum's directors.