French cultural week on Samos; Greek tunes at Lake Plastiras
A big part of Greece’s cultural activity takes to the countryside and the islands this summer. On the island of Samos, for instance, the Kalomiris Festival is taking place for the seventh consecutive time. In collaboration with the Angouleme Festival, the French Embassy and the French Institute in Athens, this year’s festival features a French week. The festival’s events begin today and include concerts by Greek and foreign artists, an exhibition of photos by Axel Arno as well as a film directed by the artist on the subject of women. The exhibition will be showcased in the town of Vathi’s Historical Archive and will run to August 10. Going on display are 12 photographic panels, shot by Arno on Samos. Tomorrow, at Vathi’s City Hall Theater, young pianist Carolos Zouganelis will interpret Bach’s Goldberg Variations (the same program will be interpreted by Zouganelis the following day at Karlovasi). Complementing the music will be a screening of Arno’s film «With the Gaze of a Woman.» The French week will come to an end on August 7 with a chamber music concert by the Opus Trio at the Historical Archive in Vathi. The trio, namely Elena Mouzala, Loic Poulain and Pierre Champagne will interpret works by Haydn, Kuhlau, Kalomiris, Faure, Mouzakitis and Piazzolla. Other events include a tribute to the poet Yiannis Ritsos with the Mikis Theodorakis Popular Orchestra at Karlovasi’s National Stadium on August 10; «Musical Journeys» with the Hainides group on August 17 (Marathocambos Bay Theater) and August 19 (Fourni); the Olympic Trio performing works by Dvorak and Kalomiris at Vathi’s City Hall Theater on September 3, ending with a a tribute to Cavafy by composer Dimitris Papadimitriou featuring the ERT National Symphonic Orchestra at Vathi’s Samos Lyceum on September 6. Turning three this year, the Lake Plastiras Festival (near Karditsa) is also getting ready to welcome its friends with a series of concerts scheduled to take place at the Lamberos beach. Petroloukas Halkias presents a traditional feast on September 7, followed by Michalis Hadziyiannis and Alkinoos Ioannidis on August 8 and Katerina Kouka, Lena Alkaiou and Lambros Karelas on August 9. At the beautiful lake, events will wind up with a concert by Vassilis Papaconstantinou and Eleni Peta on August 10.
