The Athens State Orchestra under the direction of the distinguished conductor Stathis Soulis performs masterpieces of the international repertoire. In 1875, the Norwegian Edvard Greig composed the music for the first stage production of Peer Gynt, the dramatic poem written by Ibsen based on a Scandinavian folk tale. Also based on a folk tale is the iconic Firebird, Stravinsky’s radical white ballet performed in 1910 by Sergei Diaghilev’s Russian Ballets, launching the composer’s reputation in Parisian circles. The programme also includes two exquisite selections from the soprano repertoire, performed by the acclaimed soprano Vasiliki Karagianni: in 1915, Rachmaninoff concludes his Fourteen Romances with the famous Vocalise, a sublime melody that the voice can perform on any vowel. Today, the work counts more than thirty transcriptions for solo instruments and chamber music ensembles. Reinhold Glière pioneered by devoting an entire concerto to the voice as a solo instrument without words: in the first movement, the soprano waves grand lyrical phrases over a rich orchestration, while in the second, the vocal movement recalls the elegant dance figures found in Tchaikovsky’s ballet music.
