Christianity, Byzantium and tradition feature at music festival on Patmos
Back for a sixth successive year, the Religious Music Festival, to be held early in September on the Greek island of Patmos, will feature a range of artists whose repertoires include classical music inspired by Christianity, Byzantine hymns, as well as traditional Greek folk music, or demotika, as the style is known. A 10-day event that begins September 1, the festival’s lineup includes local artists Chronis Aidonidis, Glykeria, the all-female ensemble Feminarte as well the groups Orpheus and VocalArt, both from Norway. Byzantine music performances by Aidonidis, Nektaria Karantzi, and Ymnodos, a group specializing in chants, make up the opening night’s agenda. The following evening, Vicky Stylianou and Dionysis Malouchos, both pianists, and Akis Sakellariou, an actor, will present a performance to combine religious music and poetry. On the same evening, the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) choir will perform works by Mozart, Haydn and others. Glykeria, a popular singer whose long-lasting career has spanned close to three decades, will perform Byzantine hymns and traditional religious songs on September 3. On September 6, the agenda will feature youth-era poems by the Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, and religious songs by various Greek composers. Performances by the Norwegian groups Orpheus and VocalArt follow on September 7. The Feminarte Orchestra performs on September 9 and the festival’s closing night, September 10, features the Rhodes Experimental Choir. For more information, call 22470.312.35.
