Six concerts celebrate 25 years
The Santorini International Music Festival, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, will start on September 5 and run to September 21. This year’s program includes six unique concerts that will take place at the hall of the Petros Nomikos Conference Center at Fira. The silver jubilee’s festive program will start with the acclaimed Paris Opera String Quartet on September 5. The four French musicians, who met with great success in their first appearance at Santorini two years ago, will return to the island to interpret works by Schubert, Borodin and Cesar Franck. Athina Capodistria, founder and artistic director of the Festival, will play the piano. On September 7, the Obilic mixed choir of the University of Belgrade will give a performance. The well-known vocal ensemble has received numerous awards at major international choir competitions. On Saturday, September 13, Alexander Serdar, the young pianist who has received wide recognition and numerous awards, will interpret works by Clementi, Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, while on Sunday, September 14, an opera evening will take place. Three young and talented opera singers – Myrto Papathanasiou, Irini Karayianni and Haris Andrianos – will present duets and extracts from operas by Mozart, Bellini, Puccini, Donizetti, Rossini and Bizet, among others. They will be accompanied by pianist Dimitris Yiakas. A jazz night will follow on September 19, with Giorgos Kondrafouris and Alexandros Ktistakis along with Ronan Guilfoyle, one of the greatest personalities of Irish jazz. Finally, on Saturday September 21, the famous Spanish ensemble The Madrid Soloists of the LIM Organization (Laboratorio de Interpretacion Musical-Laboratory of Musical Interpretation) will present a program of three works by 20th-century Spanish composers: Antonio Garcia Abril, Ernesto Halfter and Jesus Villa Rojo. The evening will also include a selection of lighter compositions by Astor Piazzolla, Scott Joplin, Roger Bourdin and Gershwin’s celebrated «Rhapsody in Blue.»
