The Festival is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)  [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach

Two works exploring the relation between folk and art music are performed at the Little Stock Exchange by GNO soloists Tassis Christoyannis and Yannis Christopoulos, with Sophia Tamvakopoulou on the piano: Yannis Konstantinidis’s Twenty Songs of the Greek People and Maurice Ravel’s Five Greek Folk Songs.

THE MUSIC: Folk songs and traditional music have been a steady source of inspiration for Yannis Konstantinidis. In his works the composer preserved the outline of the original songs and highlighted their special characteristics, the rhythmic stresses and the flourishes of the melodic line. He was preoccupied with the composition of the Twenty Songs of the Greek People for about a decade (1937-1947). In this concert the Songs engage in a dialogue with the Five Greek Folk Songs harmonized by Maurice Ravel in the early 20th century (1904-1906).

THE ARCHITECTURE: The Athens Stock Exchange was founded in 1876 and was initially housed at the Melas Residence, where, until then, the Central Post Office used to be. From 1885 to 1891 the Athens Stock Exchange was housed at the building on 11 Sofokleous Str. which had been constructed by the stock broking S.A. “Ermis”. In 1891 it moved to the building on Pesmazoglou Str., where it remained until 1934. The Little Stock Exchange is a neoclassical building with many Renaissance elements and an impressive interior and exterior décor. It consists of only one single space, the impressive Stock Exchange Hall, about twelve meters high and 17.5×15.5 m. wide. Its internal décor is the main reason why in 1991 it was declared by the Ephorate of Modern Monuments of the Ministry of Culture “a work of art and a historical and protected monument along with its surrounding space, because of its great architectural, morphological and historical significance, both internally and externally”.

The Greek National Opera presents its 2nd Online Festival titled “Counterpoints”*. The festival is curated by Giorgos Koumendakis and sheds light upon the relationship between Greek art music and architecture. The Festival’s videos will be streamed online from 27 September to 31 October 2020 and will remain available to the public for 30 days after their premiere. The videos will be streamed online at nationalopera.gr/en, on GNO’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Sports digitalculture.gov.gr.

Architecture and music are two arts that share a lot in common: the primacy of structure, the importance of shapes, contrasts and textures, and the deep and immediate communication with the viewer. Through the dialogue of these primordial arts, emblematic buildings of Athens converse with great works from the historical repository of Greek art music. Reaching from the Cretan Renaissance to the present day, works of architecture and music of a respective historical period and style complete each other, offering a fruitful experience to the audience. The Festival’s ultimate goal is to bring out our country’s musical and architectural legacy through the harmonious and equitable pairing of the images of the buildings with the sounds of the works, while communicating to the audience the Greek music and architectural creation.

The Festival was shot at some of the greatest buildings of Athens, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles at the Ancient Agora, the Gennadius Library, the French Institute, the Little Stock Exchange, the Athens Conservatoire, and the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”. In these places, celebrated Greek artists perform works of Londariti, Konstantinidis, Kalomiris, Ravel, Kounadis, Adamis, Dragatakis, Xenakis, Hatzis, Papadatos, Alexiadis, etc. The Festival is curated by Greek National Opera’s Artistic Director Giorgos Koumendakis.

Giorgos Koumendakis notes: “When last March, in the midst of the pandemic, we began planning a new online artistic programme, we could not imagine how successful our 1st Online Festival (May-June 2020) would be. Each of its video performances attracted tens of thousands of viewers and many positive comments from across the globe.

After a lot of demanding shooting in the summer, the time has now come for the Greek National Opera’s 2nd Online Festival, titled Counterpoints, which shall engage Greek art music into a creative dialogue with public architecture. Our wish is to celebrate Greek musical creation, from the Cretan Renaissance to this day, bringing to the foreground some of the most remarkable compositions of great Greek composers, such as Londariti, Konstantinidis, Kalomiris, Kounadis, Adamis, Dragatakis, Xenakis, Hatzis, Papadatos, Alexiadis. We asked distinguished artists of the GNO and beyond, to study and interpret these emblematic art music works in prestigious buildings that form part of the historical legacy of Athens. From 27/9 to 31/10, we invite you to travel with us –through the screen of your computer, tablet or mobile phone– using our music and architectural legacy as a vehicle, and making stopovers at the Cretan Renaissance, the Interwar period, the encounter of our folk music with art music, modernism, Xenakis’s universe and the 21st century.”

* Counterpoint is the way that many melodies are harmonically interconnected – the simultaneous consonance of many different melodies resulting in a harmonious composition.

The Greek National Opera would like to thank the Management of the National Bank of Greece, the French Institute of Athens, the Gennadius Library, the Athens Conservatoire, the Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”, as well as the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens for providing permit for the shooting of the videos and for their exceptional collaboration.

The Greek National Opera would like to thank all the artists and artistic ensembles, who have given their permission for the free broadcast of these video-performances to the public, in this difficult time.