Classical music festival in Rhodes
The Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Rhodes has organized a classical music festival that is taking place between now and Sunday at different historical monuments around the island’s capital. Set in the lovely surrounding of the fortified city of Rhodes, the main focus of this annual festival is classical, pre-classical, medieval and renaissance music. It also aims to highlight timeless Greek compositions by artists such as Frankiskos Leontaritis. On Thursday, pianist Ferline Studi and violinist Girolamo Bottiglieri will perform Beethoven’s Sonata in G Major, Brahms’s Scherzo in C Minor and Schumann’s Sonata No. 2 in D. Minor, Opus 121. The focus here is on the talents of Studi and Bottiglieri, two new and hopeful names on the international classical music scene. Next, on Saturday, the festival will trace the influence of classical music history to the Greeks of Venice in the 16th century, paying tribute to secular medieval music from Venice and Germany by presenting works by Desperez, Isaac, Newsidler, Stolzer, Hafhaymer, Fink and Dalza, as well as Leontaritis, whose work Cosi va chi ha ventura will be performed by an ensemble of singers and musicians selected by Thomas Wiemmer, founder and director of the famous early music ensemble Accentus. On the following night the festival will come to a close with Handel’s Messiah, which will be interpreted by the London Festival Orchestra under the direction of Ross Pople. Handel composed the work while recovering from a stroke, in less than four weeks, an effort that is considered one the greatest moments in the history of world music. Throughout the show, the popular actor Yiannis Bezos – who is best known to the Greek public for his humorous roles on television sitcoms though he is also an acclaimed singer who has worked with Theodorakis for several years now – will narrate excerpts from the poetic works being performed.
