CULTURE

Ashkenazy here in 2004?

A proposal: Vladimir Ashkenazy, directing the Olympic spirit in Athens, August 2004. He came and conducted works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Mahler in two concerts that filled the Herod Atticus Theater up to the stars. Ashkenazy, a Russian Jew who is also a musical citizen of the world, once again expressed his love of Greece, saying how touched he was by the warm reception for him and the European Union Youth Orchestra, of which he is the conductor and musical director. Surrounded by diplomats and other celebrities at a dinner in honor of the conductor and orchestra, Ashkenazy gave an emphatically positive response when Helbi asked if he would like to conduct a concert for the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. «Yes, I’d like to, because we would be celebrating in music the return of the Olympic spirit to its birthplace.» All it needs is a proposal, if Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is listening. Ashkenazy could play a song by Hadjidakis on the piano or conduct a composition by Skalkottas with brio.

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