A co-production

Under the auspices of the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens

The original concert Prompters, conceived, arranged, and conducted by Alexandros Gkonis, blends music by François Couperin and Claudio Monteverdi with Eugenio Montale’s poetry and a new score composed by Alexandros Gkonis himself, in a tribute to the musicality of speech and the prosody of music. A tribute to the musicality of speech and the prosody of music, the concert The Prompters is coming to the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage at the SNFCC for two unique performances on 18 and 19 October 2025, in co-production with Big Olive.

“With this concert, we honour the people who, through their work, have ensured we have an everlasting companion. We sing the music in the same way we whistle it while going down the stairs; we articulate speech in the same way we hum it while walking in the street; and we want to remain faithful to this demanding carefreeness,” notes Alexandros Gkonis.

The concert’s programme is composed of two parts. The first part of the concert bridges French Baroque vocal chamber music with 20th-century poetry.  The third motet from composer François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres (Readings of Darkness) and Italian Nobel laureate Eugenio Montale’s poem “All’ Amico Pea” (“To my friend Pea”) are combined into a single work. Blending these two diverse narratives into a single musical piece, one maestro, two singers, one actress, and a string quartet carve out a path for unprecedented coexistence and conversation.

The second part of the concert includes ten pentatonic madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi and five additional poems by Montale (translated into Greek by Nikos Aliferis). Fifteen brief and self-luminous pieces, each following the previous, take audiences on a journey from rich Baroque sounds to a more elegant and delicate musical whisper, which harmoniously blends with the recitation.

“Montale’s nobleness of thought and sweet cynicism, alongside Monteverdi and Couperin’s exquisite music, create a co-existence that we believe should be presented to a wider audience as a unified piece. The three of them were charismatic individuals. They remain highly captivating and difficult to resist, and it is always a pleasure to dedicate our time to them”, remarks Alexandros Gonis.

The set has been visually curated by Konstantinos Pittas. 

Performing are the sopranos Marietta Sarri and Irini Bilini-Moraiti, along with actress Katrina Patsiani.

Featuring a string quartet: Rrezarta Krujia (violin Ι), Dimitris Kouzis (violin ΙΙ), Faidon Vryniotis (viola), Sofia Efkleidou (violoncello).

A few words about Alexandros Gkonis
Born in Athens, Greece. He studied composition and orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, cello at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory and political science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since 2012, he has been working steadily on both theatre and music productions. As a musician and composer, he has collaborated with National Theatre of Greece, National Theatre of Northern Greece, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra, GNO Alternative Stage, Municipal and Regional Theatres of Kavala, Serres and Crete, Porta Theatre, Vasilakou Theatre, Giorgos Armenis New Hellenic Theatre, Rabbithole Theatre, Sfumato Theatre Laboratory in Sofia (Bulgaria), El Sistema Greece, etc. Ηe has participated in festivals such as Philippi-Kavala Festival, Open Sails Festival in Chania (Crete), All of Greece, One Culture, Athens Baroque Festival, Serres Eleftheria, etc. He has given concerts in Korzo Theatre Den Haag, Splendor Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, Parnassos Literary Society, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, German Evangelical Church of Athens, etc.

 Brief biographical notes 

 Irini Bilini-Moraiti
She was born and lives in Athens. Her vocal repertoire ranges from the Middle Ages to contemporary music. She collaborates with the early music ensemble Ex Silentio and the Early Music Centre’s ensemble, and has participated in concerts, performances, and opera productions at the Greek National Opera, Baroque Opera of Bayreuth, Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall, Third Programme of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, Athens Epidaurus Festival, Municipal and Regional Theatre of Patras, Olympia City Music Theatre “Maria Callas”, etc. She plays the medieval viol and tambura. In 2022, she founded the Lycabettus Ensemble with Athanasia Teliou, a group that focuses on medieval music. Alongside her artistic activities, she is keenly interested in researching and cultivating vocal training and art from a broad and diachronic perspective. A graduate of the Piraeus Music School, she studied musicology at the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, piano and theory at the Municipal Conservatory of Moschato, violin with Alexandros Matos and singing with Christina Yannakopoulou. She also graduated from the Centre for Early Music of the Athens Conservatoire, where she studied with Aris Christofellis and Dimitris Kountouras.

 Katerina Patsiani
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of the National Theatre of Greece Drama School and the Linguistics Department of the School of Philology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has been working in theatre since 2011, having performed in classical and contemporary repertoire at the National Theatre of Greece, Athens Epidaurus Festival, in Municipal and Regional Theatres across Greece, as well as at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Onassis Stegi, Poreia Theatre, Neos Kosmos Theatre, Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall, etc. She has collaborated with the directors Vasilis Papavasileiou, Yannis Moschos, Yannis Kalavrianos, Ektoras Lygizos, Thodoris Gkonis, Martha Frintzila, Georgia Mavragani, Sofia Vgenopoulou, Kostas Filippoglou, Aris Laskos, Sofia Paschou, Manos Vavadakis, Dimitris Lignadis, etc. She collaborates with Little Things Orchestra (Hamlet, The Massacre at Paris, The Tragedy of King Richard III). In 2024, she worked for the first time with the group RMS Mataroa.

Marietta Sarri
Dramatic coloratura soprano, she holds degrees in music theory and piano and a voice diploma. She made her debut at the Music Theatre Workshop of the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Patras performing the role of Susanna from Le nozze di Figaro. She has been a member of the GNO programme “Youth Opera”. She has attended masterclasses and taken voice and interpretation lessons with many musicians in Greece and abroad such as Christos Marinos, Kharálampos Goyós, Myrsini Margariti, Dimitris Tiliakos, Tassis Christoyannis, Romina Basso, Markellos Chryssicos, Mary Mills, Janet Williams, Graciela Araya, Susanne Winter, Angelo Cavallaro, Anastasios Pappas, Dimitris Yakas, Sofia Kyanidou, etc. She has participated in international competitions and collaborated with many stage directors and conductors. In May 2023 she founded, with Marilena Souri, the Duo Amorsima which concentrates on the interpretation of art songs.