End-of-summer Ilioupolis Festival is full of promise
For some years now, the Municipality of Ilioupolis in Athens has been hosting its own festival at the end of each summer, with major theater and live music performances. This year will be no exception: the municipality’s cultural center will host a string of events at the Dimitris Kindis Park’s open-air theater from August 29 to September 20. This year’s Ilioupolis Festival will open with a large concert of Greek music by Stelios Dionysiou and Christos Nikolopoulos. The remaining events are as follows: On Tuesday, August 30, dance groups from Bulgaria, Nepal and Korea will take the stage, while there will be more dance on the following day with participants from Russia, Italy and Costa Rica. On September 2, the Regional Municipal Theater of Kalamata will stage Xenia Kalogeropoulou’s play «Eliza,» under the direction of Yiannis Kakleas, and on Sunday, September 4, the Odessa State Opera and Ballet Theater will perform Tchaikovsky’s «Swan Lake. Theater performances will kick off in earnest on Monday, September 5, with Euripides’ «Orestes,» a Theatriki Diadromi production directed by Stamatis Fassoulis and starring Kariofyllia Karabeti, Argyris Xafis and others. Top vocalist Savina Yiannatou is scheduled to follow on September 6, with her ethnic band Primavera en Salonico and then it is back to theater with the Karolos Koun Theatro Technis children’s performance of «The Great King» on September 7. On September 9, the Regional Municipal Theater of Volos and the Evmolpis theater company will present their joint production of Joseph Stein and Jerry Bock’s popular musical «Fiddler on the Roof,» about the hardships of a Jewish family living in early 20th-century Russia, directed by Costas Tsianos and featuring actors Grigoris Valtinos, Renia Louizidou, Cosmas Zacharoff, Alexandra Karakatsani and others. Further events include a concert by Eleni Vitali, a performance of Moliere’s comedy «The Would-be Gentleman,» directed by Vassilis Papavassileiou and starring Yiannis Bezos, Natalia Tsaliki and Periklis Moustakis among others on September 12, and Aeschylus’ tragedy «Prometheus Bound» by the Regional Municipal Theater of Larissa (see above) the following day.
