Spotlight on Apollo, god of music, light and prophecy
Apollo and his legacy from antiquity to the present day is the inspiration for a wide-ranging cultural program at Delphi this summer. The European Cultural Center of Delphi (ECCD) is holding an international conference, cultural events and an exhibition, all inspired by the god of prophecy, music and light. The center has decided to broaden the range of activities on offer this year, ECCD’s president, Helene Ahrweiler, told the press yesterday. The program includes performances of music, operatic arias, ballet and theater. Traditional musicians from Turkey, India, Greece and Africa will improvise music inspired by Apollo. Mezzo-soprano Christa Pfeifer will sing arias connected with the myth of Apollo, accompanied by Rudolf Jansen on piano and a reconstructed version of the ancient hydraulis, a keyboard instrument. Singers from the Bolshoi will perform Mozart’s «Apollo and Hyacinth» and Kirov ballet dancers will perform Stravinsky’s «Apollo Musaget.» The National Theater of Greece will present its new production of Euripides’ «Ion» – a work set in Delphi – before it officially premieres at Epidaurus. Roula Pateraki directs and performs Christa Wolf’s «Cassandra» and the National Theater of Luxembourg and Theatro Attis present an evening of excerpts from Euripides, directed by Hans-Guenter Heyme, and Aeschylus, directed by Theodoros Terzopoulos, woven together with other texts and all linked to the god Apollo. Afternoon lectures will focus on the legacy of Apollo in myth, opera and the cinema. The exhibition, «The Legacy of Apollo,» comprising works by 16 renowned artists from Giorgio de Chirico and Salvador Dali to Nikos Hadzikyriakos-Ghika and Nikos Engonopoulos, opens officially on July 4 and continues to July 30. It comprises paintings, statues, drawings, constructions, installation and video art on loan from public and private collections in Greece and abroad. Five of the artists – Taki, Mytaras, Fasianos, Karavouzis and Psychopaidis – have created new works for the exhibition. At the conference, which runs from July 5-11, speakers will explore the poetic and political aspects of Apollo. Tel. 210.331.2781-5; e-mail: [email protected]
