CULTURE

Striving to maintain standards

Overshadowed by the recent death of the venue’s founder, media magnate Christos Lambrakis, the Athens Concert Hall’s team presented its latest Megaron Plus agenda, a high-profile series of lectures now in its fifth year. «The greatest challenge is to maintain the standards of events in the post-Lambrakis era,» the venue’s director, Nikos Manolopoulos, told a recent news conference attended by figures from the country’s political, academic and artistic fields. This intention seems to have helped shape the quality choices made for the venue’s Megaron Plus series – amid unfavorable times that have curtailed subsidies. Even so, there is no shortage of notable names in the series. The European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet’s willingness to take part in the Megaron Plus series is noteworthy, considering the country’s current struggle with its out-of-shape economy. Trichet has asked to deliver his lecture, as part of the series, at the end of the year, in the hope that the economic crisis will have subsided by then. Other interesting prospects include a possible lecture by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, whose confirmation is pending, French politician Xavier Bertrand and Henri Guaino, a special adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Jean-Marie Colombani, director at French newspaper Le Monde between 1994 and 2007, will take part in a discussion with Gerard Mortier, a Belgian opera director. Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel prize winner in 2006, will present a lecture on March 10. Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, known for work in helping to popularize his field, has been booked for a March 22 lecture. Ismail Kadare, an Albanian Nobel prize nominee in literature, will present his Megaron Plus lecture on April 19. Post-impressionist painter Panayiotis Tetsis will be the first artist to take part in Megaron Plus. The European Central Bank’s Vice-President Loukas Papademos will deliver a lecture titled «The Crisis – International and European Prospects – and Financial Stability.» «Psychoanalysis and Women» is the topic of a lecture to be offered by Bulgarian-French academic Julia Kristeva and Cornell University Professor of Psychiatry Daniel Stern on October 21. For yet another year, new and internationally recognized architects will also be taking part in Megaron Plus. Spanish architect Carme Pigem presents a lecture on April 29, Dominique Perrault has been booked for May 14, Rudy Ricciotti on October 12 and David Adjaye on November 16. Classical Literature professor Michalis Kopidakis will moderate a three-part lecture series featuring philosophy professor Niketas Siniossoglou and history professor Nikos Katapidakis as well as history professors Theodosis Nikolaidis and Zisis Salibas, all on May 3. Literature professor Sokratis Kougeas and theologist Dimitris Mavropoulos end this sub-series on October 5. Theodosis Tassios, a professor at the National Technical University of Athens, will present a three-part lecture on «Philosophy and Society.» Other events feature philosophy professor Theodosis Pelegrinis, for a series of dramatized lectures titled «Philosophy on Stage – Kierkegaard», and, in the field of poetry, lectures by Titos Patrikios, Kiki Dimoula, Dimitris Kosmopoulos and Dimitris Aggelis.

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