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

Mezzo-soprano Margarita Syngeniotou performs Dimitris Dragatakis’s Monologue, while baritone Tassis Christoyannis performs Michael Adamis’s work A Woman Clothed with the Sun and Argyris Kounadis’s Five Songs to Poetry by Constantine Cavafy, at the auditorium and the roof of the French Institute. Conductor – piano: Nicolas Vassiliou.

THE MUSIC: All members of the same generation, Dimitris Dragatakis (1914-2001), Argyris Kounadis (1924-2011) and Michael Adamis (1929-2013), were three of the most important representatives of Greek musical modernism.
Dragatakis, a member of the Greek National Orchestra for many years, preserves through a modern writing his connection with Greek elements such as the songs of Epirus and the origins of ancient drama, rejecting any sense of folklore. His work Monologue No. 1 for voice was composed in 1979, followed by works of the same title for cello (2000), violin (2001) and piano (2001). In Monologue No. 1 the surrealistic text of the composer himself shifts between prose and poetry.
Born in Constantinople, Kounadis studied in Athens and then in Freiburg, Germany, where he delved particularly in the twelve-tone, serial and aleatoric music. He was very much involved in vocal music – he composed operas and set poetry to music. Cavafy’s five poems were set to music in 1961.
After his studies in Athens, Adamis studied electronic music but also Byzantine music palaeography in Boston. His work A Woman Clothed with the Sun, originally written for a mezzo-soprano, piano and, optionally, gong was completed in 1998, and was followed by a version for an eight-voice mixed chorus in 2005.

THE ARCHITECTURE: The new building of the French Institute of Athens was built in the years 1973-1976 and it was designed by architect Sthenis Molfesis, graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. It is one of the most remarkable manifestations of the international Brutalist code. The three-floor building is significantly differentiated from the old French Institute but also from its structured environment. It has a ground floor, two floors above it and a recessed floor. The ground floor houses an auditorium with a capacity of 400 seats.  

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.