Sparta set to get new music hall
While presenting the Athens Concert Hall’s upcoming agenda for the 2002-2003 season at a news conference last week, the venue’s president, Christos Lambrakis, characterized the scheduled activity as «grand and reviving.» Besides presenting the concert hall’s program, Lambrakis noted that an extension to the venue – currently being constructed at the building’s rear and by its side – would begin operating next season. He also told the news conference that the government had committed itself to constructing an airport at Sparta, in the southern Peloponnese, which has been listed as an infrastructure prerequisite ahead of the construction of a new concert hall in the city. The project, Lambrakis said, will be funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Further, Lambrakis announced that the concert hall’s current collaborations with several municipalities in Athens would be expanded to cover the entire capital. The initiative, Lambrakis noted, will entail performances by the Camerata, the orchestra of the Friends of Music Society, at municipal venues; link municipal conservatories with the Athens Concert Hall’s on-line musical library; and recruit gifted musicians from municipal conservatories into educational programs organized by the venue. Over the next few years, the venue intends to gradually expand this educational program throughout the country. Lambrakis’s rundown of the Athens Concert Hall’s plans and aspirations was followed by the unveiling of its concert agenda for the 2002-2003 season, presented by its artistic director, Nikos Tsouhlos, and Dimitris Maragopoulos, head coordinator of the venue’s Bridges series. OPERA: An ambitious production and part of the Cultural Olympiad (the series of artistic events leading to the Athens 2004 Olympics), «Shadowless Woman» by Richard Strauss will make its Greek premiere in April 2003. It will feature Denmark’s National Radio Symphony Orchestra – conducted by Michael Schnwandt – and leading opera singers. GREAT ORCHESTRAS – MAESTROS: The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, with Schnwandt at the podium, will perform two concerts, on October 13 and 16; the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev will perform on October 30 and 31; the Paris Orchestra, conducted by Christoph Essenbach, has been booked for November 25 and 26; the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir, conducted by John Elliot Gardiner, will perform on January 29 and 30; the Hamburg Philharmonic, with Ingo Metzmacher at the podium, has been booked for February 10 and 11; and Christoph von Dohnanyi will lead the London Philharmonic on March 25 and 26. GREAT INTERPRETERS: A recital by famous Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelic has been booked for March 15; Greek pianist Dimitris Sgouros will play on March 19; Lazar Bermann will follow on March 22; Romanian pianist Radu Lupu will perform Beethoven’s concertos for piano on May 13, 15, and 17; and Alfred Bredel has been booked for May 28. DANCE: «Giselle,» choreographed by Leonidas De Pian with leading Russian dancers Diana Vishneva, Vladimir Malakhov, Svetlana Zakharova, and Igor Zelenski, has been scheduled for performances between December 20 and 30. Moreover, Malakhov will follow up with solo performances between January 20 and 23. CHAMBER MUSIC: The internationally acclaimed cellist Anner Bylsma and his chamber group, l’Archibudelli, will perform on October 29; the Kondaly Quartet will perform two shows, first with pianist Dimitris Sgouros on November 11 and later with gifted young cellist Han-Na Chang on February 18; Also, the Chamber Music Festival, an established event organized by violin virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos, will take place between February 20 and 28, featuring Bach compositions. GREEK MUSIC: The venue will stage a tribute to the late composer Manolis Kalomiris, coordinated by musicologist Giorgos Leotsakos, with five concerts between November 24 and December 13, featuring various works, as well as a world premiere of «From the Life and Woes of Captain Lyras.» On October 16, a homage to music professor Stelios Kafantaris will be directed by Thodoros Antoniou. BRIDGES SERIES: Included are events focusing on topics such as Film and Music; Dance and Music; Cretan Music Tribute; Musical Fables with the Camerata; a Guitar Festival organized by Costas Kotsiolis; jazz performances by vocal innovator Bobby McFerrin on March 20 and 21; Michalis Grigoriou and Savinna Yiannatou in April; Thanos Mikroutsikos in February; and, Maria Farandouri performing songs by Turkish composer Zulfu Livaneli in March. BAROQUE: The Old Music Academy will perform concerts featuring works by Handel on November 2 and 3, while Stuttgart’s Bach Academy will perform on November 26 and 30. One of Handel’s many oratorios, «Jephtha,» will be performed by Slovenia’s Capella Istropolitana orchestra with Greek soprano Sonia Theodoridou on April 21 and 24. MODERN MUSIC: Concerts scheduled for November, January and March will feature the Oxford Philomusica Orchestra; the Nash Ensemble of London – one of Britain’s finest chamber groups; a tribute to contemporary Greek music; and workshops connected to the category. CAMERATA AND OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS: Prominent Greek and foreign conductors will lead the Camerata Friends of Music Orchestra. Other highlights include a concert by Eleni Karaindrou in February; the venue’s established Sunday-morning concert series; and the introduction of a new series, «Monday Night at the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall,» featuring recitals by local and foreign soloists, renowned and upcoming. EXHIBITIONS: The venue will host two exhibitions next season, one focused on the prominent Greek stage designer Panos Aravantinos, who became known throughout Europe in the interwar period and the other on mechanical musical boxes and other odd objects.
