The Second Cycle, titled “Active Pasts” and curated by distinguished conductor Markellos Chryssicos, is grounded in the belief that Early Music is not an outdated fossil but an active field of listening and reinterpretation that continues to generate new meanings even today. In this context, new commissions from Greek composers, jazz interpretations of Bach’s variations, electronic sounds, and sound and lighting design create a seamless artistic setting in which the historical material is reactivated.

Perhaps no other elements of Early Music are more representative than improvisation and variation, two traits that effortlessly bridge Baroque music and Jazz. Along these lines, pianist Nikolas Anadolis explores J. S. Bach’s monumental Keyboard Practice Consisting Of An Aria With Thirty Variations, more widely known as the Goldberg Variations. Improvising in turn on the great composer’s recorded improvisations, Nikolas Anadolis offers us a jazz concert while remaining true to the letter and spirit of Baroque music.