Pre-sale for the September – December 2023 events starts on Monday 24 July
With the great tribute to the 100th anniversary of Maria Callas’ birth at the centre of its artistic programming, Megaron the Athens Concert Hall pays its own tribute to the absolute diva, by presenting two opera galas (24/9/2023 and 3/12/2023) with Greek and international performers who have sung in the world’s greatest theatres – Elena Stikhina and Dimitris Platanias, Ermonela Jaho, Charles Castronovo, and the major exhibition “Good Night, I Love You”, which will be hosted in its premises from 3/12/2023 to 30/1/2024.
During the 2023-2024 season, the stage of Megaron will host great names from the world of classical music. Virtuoso musicians who have won international competitions and are constantly in the global musical spotlight thanks to their amazing talent, such as South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho (25/10/2023), German violinist Julia Fischer (4/12/2023) and French violin virtuoso Renaud Capuçon (11/2/2024). Prestigious conductors, such as Jordi Savall conducting the ensemble Le Concert des Nations (16/10/2023) and Sir András Schiff leading the Cappella Andrea Barca (25/1/2024); but also two excellent female conductors, Alevtina Ioffe with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Russian phenomenal pianist Alexander Malofeev (14/12/2023), and Karina Canellakis, who will be on the podium of the London Philharmonic, with German violin virtuoso Christian Tetzlaff as soloist (23/2/2024, sponsored by: Piraeus Bank).
Following the successful Jazz@Megaron series launched last year, November will be the month of jazz again this year (4-12/11/2023). For the second year, Megaron will host distinguished Greek and foreign jazz musicians (Samara Joy, Joshua Redman, Petros Klampanis, Gilad Hekselman, Daniel Dor, Flying Jazz Trio, Alekos Vretos Quartet, etc.) and the world-famous Ballets Jazz de Montréal from Canada.
100 years of Maria Callas
Megaron commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Maria Callas (1923-1977) with an exhibition on the great diva and two opera galas. The first (Athens State Orchestra, 24/9/2023) will feature the internationally renowned soprano Elena Stikhina and the acclaimed Greek baritone Dimitris Platanias, while the second (Philharmonia Orchestra of Athens, 3/12/2023) will feature the renowned soprano Ermonela Jaho and the distinguished tenor Charles Castronovo. The musical direction for both operatic galas is by Loukas Karytinos.
In addition, from 3/12/2023 to 30/1/2024, Megaron will host the exhibition “Good Night, I Love You. The curator is Lili Pezanou.
Great Orchestras-Great Maestros
The successful Great Orchestras-Great Maestros series will open on 16/10/2023 with Jordi Savall, the great Spanish conductor and viola da gamba soloist who brought early music to the forefront in the 1970s, changing the landscape of historical music performance forever. He appears at Megaron with the ensemble Le Concert des Nations, which he created and directs himself, focusing on the “Italienne” symphony and Felix Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream accompanied by Flore van Meersche and Diana Haller. They are accompanied by the women’s choir La Capella Nacional de Catalunya.
Just before Christmas (14/12/2023), the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra will visit Megaron, as part of its 100th anniversary tour, offering the audience a programme of great symphonic and piano works by Hungarian and Russian composers. Among others, Liszt’s Fantasy for piano and orchestra ‘Dance of the Dead’, Chopin’s ‘Great Polonaise’ for piano and orchestra, Béla Bartók’s ‘The Miraculous Mandarin’ Suite from the ballet and Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Suite. Soloist, the phenomenal pianist Alexander Malofeev from Russia, who, despite his young age, has already performed with leading conductors and world-class orchestras. In the musical direction, Alevtina Ioffe, also from Russia, an important conductor with highly regarded international collaborations and highly interesting performances of well-known works from the world repertoire.
Next year, the Cappella Andrea Barca, the ensemble of distinguished musicians founded by the eminent conductor and pianist Sir András Schiff in 1999, will make its first appearance at the Megaron (25/1/2024), with the aim of performing all of Mozart’s piano concertos by a flexible ensemble as part of the Mozart Week events. That is why the orchestra’s concert at the Christos Lambrakis Hall is devoted exclusively to works by the great Austrian. In addition to the famous Symphony No. 40, one of the most famous and much-played of all time, the popular Piano Concertos No. 23 and No. 27 will be performed with Schiff himself in the double role of soloist and conductor.
Finally, the concert (23/2/2024) of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the historic British ensemble that in a few years will complete 100 years of uninterrupted presence in the international music scene, stands out from the artistic programming of the coming year. The Greek-born American conductor Karina Canellakis, who has become one of the most important conductors of our time, will lead the London orchestra in symphonic works by Modest Mussorgsky (“Dawn on the Moskva River” from the opera Hovanshina) and Johannes Brahms (Fourth Symphony). The London Philharmonic is joined by the internationally acclaimed German violin virtuoso Christian Tetzlaff, who will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto. The concert is kindly sponsored by Piraeus Bank.
Great Soloists
The Great Soloists series (25/10/2023) opens with a recital by pianist Seong-Jin Cho, whose innate musicality and impressive virtuosity have been internationally acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. The renowned South Korean piano virtuoso will present a program of high interpretive and technical demands with compositions that seek synergies between classicism, romanticism and impressionism. Works by Joseph Haydn, Maurice Ravel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Liszt will be performed.
In December (4/12/2023), the German Julia Fischer, one of the most versatile artists of her generation, who excels internationally not only as a violinist but also as a member of chamber music groups, violin teacher and piano soloist, gives a unique recital at the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall with works by Beethoven, Khachaturian, Ysaÿe and Franck for solo violin as well as for violin and piano. With her, the Russian Yulianna Andeeva, a pianist with a strong soloist’s activity and a special love for chamber music.
French violin star Renaud Capuçon and award-winning pianist Guillaume Bellom set aside the soloist repertoire for a moment and focus on some of the brightest gems of chamber music, showcasing the finest violin and piano sonatas by three prominent composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven [Ludwig van Beethoven] and Richard Strauss.
Jazz@Megaron vol. 2
For the second year, the Jazz@Megaron series (4-12/11/2023) is organized, which includes concerts from the whole spectrum of jazz and a dance performance. This year’s events at Megaron will feature: Flying Jazz Trio with Stefanos Andreadis on guitar, George Kontrafouris on piano and Dimitris Klonis on drums (4/11/2023), the African-American singer with the velvety timbre Samara Joy, who made her recording debut in 2021 at the age of 22 and won two Grammy Awards this year (5/11/2023), the Alekos Vretos Quartet (7/11/2023), the group led by American saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman, with whom singer Gabrielle Cavassa joins (9/11/2023), and internationally acclaimed Greek double bassist Petros Klampanis, guitarist Gilad Hekselman and drummer Daniel Dor in A Tribute to the Beatles (11/11/2023). On the same night and the following night (11-12/11/2023), the Ballets Jazz de Montréal dance company presents Dance Me to music by Leonard Cohen.
Megaron Spring Festival
In April and May 2024 (8/4/2024-20/5/2024), for the third consecutive year, the Spring Festival will take place, an artistic event that is particularly loved by the public. The curtain for the spring festival of music and dance opens with the Milan Scala String Quartet (Quartetto d’Archi della Scala) and Scottish virtuoso pianist Alasdair Beatson (8/4/2024). Then, the organist of Cologne Cathedral Winfried Bönig takes to the stage of the Christos Lambrakis Hall (10/4/2024). Two days later, a dynamic return to the Hall of the famous Batsheva Dance Company (12-14/4/2024), based in Tel Aviv, which captivates audiences around the world with its theatricality and powerful performances. The Spring Festival program also includes a recital by two shining stars of the world music scene, violinist Janine Jansen and pianist Denis Kozukhin (4/17/2024). Of course, the Festival could not be without orchestral and symphonic music. Thus, on 20/4/2024, the famous Chamber Orchestra of Europe will perform with the eminent Greek conductor Konstantinos Karidis, while a month later (20/5/2024), the podium superstar Theodoros Kourentzis will perform Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony at the head of the newly formed Utopia Orchestra.
Bridges
This season, Bridges continues its successful journey in a multi-dimensional field, where different arts, ages and musical genres meet fruitfully. Englishman Max Cooper (16/1/2024), a prominent figure in electronic music, creates an ultimate audiovisual experience, a site-specific (specially designed) production for Christos Lambrakis Hall with digital projections and dynamic compositions, as he has done in the past at the Barbican and Roundhouse. Ukrainian pianist and pioneer of “continuous music” Lyubomir Melnyk (18/10/2023) pushes the boundaries of the piano in a hybrid landscape of Eastern mysticism and minimalism. In a subversive musical proposal, the beloved Nikos Portokaloglou (30/3/2024) enters Megaron “In formal attire”, accompanied by the Underground Youth Orchestra and the Choir of the Music School of Pallini.
Documentary screening
After the successful screening of the documentaries “Smyrna, the destruction of a cosmopolitan city” (March 2022) and “Athens from East to West” (November 2022), the Megaron continues the screenings of historical films by Maria Iliou, with the film “From the two sides of the Aegean”, which is presented on the occasion of the 100 years of the population exchange of 1923 (13 & 14/10/2023). The film tells, through testimonies of second and third generation refugees and historians from both sides of the Aegean, how the population exchange between Turkey and Greece took place in 1923. Another fascinating documentary by director and screenwriter Maria Iliou, historical consultant Alexandros Kitroeff and their collaborators. The music is by Nikos Platyrachos, and the editing is by Aliki Panagi.
Production Proteas & Proteus NY Inc. Documentary sponsors. Partner: Benaki Museum.
Pre-sale for the September – December 2023 events starts on Monday 24 July.
Tickets
210 72 82 333
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