2007: A year of major tributes
Tributes to prominent figures in the arts and letters, such as Nikos Kazantzakis and Maria Callas are the focus of a program of events for this year announced by Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis. It is now 30 years since the death of Callas, 50 since that of Kazantzakis, 150 since the death of Dionysios Solomos and 100 since the birth of poet and painter Nikos Engonopoulos. The announcement of the tributes was a form of dress rehearsal for the way the ministry’s various departments and organizations are to work together. Maria Callas. Events are to include recitals by foreign artists, an international competition to find the best Violetta, Athens Festival events, concerts in the Ancient Agora, an opera at the Herod Atticus Theater, a gala at the Paris Opera, a tribute at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and television programs throughout the year. Nikos Kazantzakis. A traveling exhibition at home and abroad, speeches, conferences and symposia at universities abroad, publication of an album, re-publication of permanent collections at the Crete History Museum, a special stand at the Thessaloniki Book Fair, concerts, a stand at the Beijing International Book Fair, a presentation at the Frankfurt fair, theater performances and cinema tributes. Dionysios Solomos. Concert by Yiannis Markopoulos, monologues at the National Theater, special presentation at Thessaloniki and Frankfurt book fairs and a television special on Greek state media (ERT). Nikos Engonopoulos. The first retrospective of 250 paintings at the Benaki Museum in November, an exhibition at the Macedonian Museum of Modern Art, a scientific exhibition, publication and performance are just some of the events. The National Book Center is undertaking to organizing many of these events with a committee that includes Nikos Vagenas, Stavros Zouboulakis, Aris Marangopoulos and Catherine Velissari.
