On Saturday 24 May 2025 a retrospective exhibition of Maria Filopoulou entitled “Eleftheria” will be inaugurated in the temporary exhibition hall of the Nafplio branch of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum.

Maria Filopoulou, through her fifteen paintings and two sculptures, reveals to us her own truth and relationship with nature in the field of senses and emotions. Feeling free in the natural environment and especially in the life-giving water, she paints vividly experienced places under patio skies and Mediterranean suns, celebrating human existence and composing the whole of nature bathed in light and rhythm.

The exhibition presents in full harmony the man-made and the natural environment, proposing to the residents and visitors of Nafplio places of sensual emotion and a personal tour of Maria Filopoulou’s painting world.

The exhibition is kindly sponsored by the Antonis E. Komnenos Foundation.

Duration: 24 May 2025 -30 October 2025

Curated by: Lamprini Karakourti-Orfanopoulou

Eight well-known Greek artists with an extremely rich creative past, give their own present in an artistic “See you in Hydra” at the Ι Historical Archives and Museum of Hydra, with a group exhibition that highlights and promotes the power of contemporary artistic creation.

With reference to the place, the history and the timelessness of Art, Panagiotis Tountas, Efi Soutoglou, Katerina Hatzigiannouli, Konstantina Bolieraki, Voula Efthymiou, Cleo Bolieraki, Christina Papadaki and Varvara Spyrouli converse with each other and are inspired by different media and approaches, creating a wonderful visual landscape, an impressive colourful canvas of art, which reflects both their memory and their contemporary artistic experience.

Landscapes, faces, wildflowers, drawings with symbolism, sculptures, mosaic creations, all the works converse with each other in successive images that wander around the space of the Museum, bathed in the beauty of colours.

The Historical Archives and Museum of Hydra with its rich and continuous cultural activity becomes the setting of the dynamic meeting of these eight young people and on the occasion of “See you in Hydra”, hosts their works in a museum space where tradition and the past coexist in full harmony with the present and innovation, challenging the viewer to discover through this wonderful group exhibition new narratives, to feel new emotions, to redefine his relationship with art and its space and to become one of the participants in the “See you in Hydra” experience.

Welcoming the audience to the upcoming, anniversary Athens and Epidaurus Festival, its artistic director, Katerina Evangelatos, expressed her excitement both for the historical review that will take place in view of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the institution, and for the abundance of modern productions that will be presented both at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, but also at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Peiraios 260 and elsewhere:

““Seventy years of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, 1955–2025. This anniversary is not merely an occasion for a historical retrospective, nonetheless necessary; above all, it is a creative springboard into the future, an opportunity to reflect on theFestival’s role today, after decades of a defining presence in both the Greek and international artistic landscape. Its history is not a static archive, but a living, pulsating tradition that passes from one generation to the next, lighting the way for tomorrow’s artistic vision. 

For seven decades, the Festival has served as a compass of cultural vitality, an ideal scenery from where the voice of Ancient Drama is transmitted across the contemporary world. A place where Theatre, Music, and Dance converge through innovative performances that engage with eternal existential quests while fostering thriving communities. Iconic artists from across the globe, emblematic performances, accounts of legendary figures who have graced its stages, fearless experimentation and ceaseless exploration have shaped the character of this institution, establishing it as a pillar of cultural identity that knows no borders. A festival of such enduring presence has been both witness and catalyst for cultural developments. It is interwoven with our very lives. What has transpired in Epidaurus and Athens is not a mere collection of snapshots for a museum of past glories. Instead, the history of our institution is a true beacon guiding our artistic exploration forward.  

This anniversary marks a moment of reflection, but also the birth of a new chapter. It is the perfect occasion to reassess the Festival’s relationship with its audience and the contemporary artistic scene. Can the Festival serve as a fertile ground for radical new approaches to art? Can it embrace an even broader spectrum of artistic voices, becoming a locus where diverse disciplines converge in response to the challenges of our era? What does an anniversary truly stand for in an era where Art itself is under siege—when hard-won freedoms of expression and speech are heavily challenged, and the rhetoric of hatred and fanaticism constantly gains ground? 

We believe it is our duty to present works that help us navigate through inhospitable times, works that illuminate the challenges of the future and prepare us for what is lying ahead, and—why not—works that may unsettle and disorientate us. Works that dare to provoke and awaken us, and, just as crucially, works that heal and console us. 

In this year’s anniversary programme, we welcome prominent figures of the Arts while simultaneously turning our gaze toward the future, offering a platform to the voices of the younger generation—on a scale unprecedented in our history! In addition, we launch thematic Cycles that draw from Literature and our cultural traditions. We give prominence to formidable women who are leading the way in Theatre, Dance, and Music. We create landmark global events in Epidaurus, unveiling a constellation of productions full of surprises. We invite artists from dozens of countries, making the international character of the festival more pronounced than ever. We initiate public discussions on the pressing agonies of our times, participate in film production, expand our free-access events, embark on new artistic journeys, and establish strategic partnerships that thrust the Festival into its next era..”

FULL PROGRAMME

PEIRAIOS 260

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL D—THEATRE

May 30–31 & June 1, 3, 4, & 5 / 20:00 Duration 165′ (with intermission)

Théâtre du Soleil – Ariane Mnouchkine

Here dwell the dragons / Hic sunt Dracones

A popular play inspired by real events,

in several episodes

First episode

1917: Victory was in our hands

Guided by a carefully curated “subjective” bibliography (as she calls it), developed in collaboration with esteemed philosopher and feminist Hélène Cixous—a longtime collaborator of the Troupe from the 1980s onwards—Mnouchkine dives headlong into the year 1917 to theatrically portray “the birth of a system that changed the world.” By reintroducing the historical events as they happened in real time and through a grand theatrical embodiment on the part of its protagonists, Mnouchkine seeks to trace the roots of today’s war in Ukraine—and to lay bare the mechanisms of totalitarianism that have shaped the world we now inhabit.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL B| ROOTS CYCLE

May 30–31 & June 1 21:00

Spyros Angelopoulos – Sinika

Mad Max Karagiozis

The traditional hero of shadow puppet theatre meets the post-apocalyptic desert aesthetic of cinema, juxtaposing the shadow’s corporeality against the vastness of the screen, satire against survival, and the grotesque against the epic.

Mad Max and Karagiozis–each an alter ego of the other–are called to stand together on stage, with courage and humour as their weapons.

The performance transpires as a hybrid multimedia experiment: live music, blending electroacoustic and traditional sounds, intertwines with shadow theatre, all morphing into cinematic storytelling. In the end, an industrial liturgy of metal and electricity, a pulse oscillating between the traditional and the mechanical, emerges.

In this kingdom of rust, satire turns into a howl, farce meets the uncanny, and the shadow theatre is reborn into a ritual of light and noise.

Karagiozis does not merely fight dystopia; he renegotiates it.

Suitable for ages 16+

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL H—PERFORMANCE

June 3

Hellenic Fashion Designers Association

Dramodé

A stage happening at the crossroads of theatre,

dance, opera, and fashion!

Greek fashion designers draw inspiration from iconic performances across the 70-year history of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival, reimagining beloved roles, performers, and even festival audiences. The result? A one-of-a-kind “performance” on the stage of Ηall H at Peiraios 260!Audiences will witness a theatrical défilé on the edge of burlesque, where specially designed costumes take centre stage alongside song, music, set design, lighting, theatrical monologues, and more. A cast of actors, dancers, opera singers, and models will bring these exclusive creations to life in a multimedia performance that merges Fashion, Theatre, and Music.

PEIRAIOS 260 E –THEATRE

June 6, 8 21:00

June 7 19:00 & 22:00 Duration 60′ June 8 Universally accessible performance More info:aefestival.gr

Back to Back Theatre 

The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes

What if artificial intelligence ruled the world? Would we all automatically become intellectually disabled? These questions are explored in the performance The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes by the acclaimed Australian troupe Back to Back Theatre—questions made all the more urgent when articulated by a company composed entirely of internationally renowned professional actors with intellectual disabilities. The show’s title references a Charles Perrault folktale, which is itself inspired by an Aesop fable. In the story, a dog carrying a piece of meat in its mouth while crossing a bridge is deceived by its reflection in the water. Mistaking the image for another dog with an even greater prize, it lunges after the illusion—only to lose both its real meal and the imagined one.

PEIRAIOS 260 B – DANCE

June 6­–8 21:00

June 7 21:30

Christina Gouzelis—Paul Blackman

Far from the End 

The internationally celebrated choreographic duo of Christina Gouzelis and Paul Blackman return to the stages of the Athens Epidaurus Festival with a bold new work that touches upon the curious case of the unfinished, imperfect, and abandoned artwork. Created for three emerging wunderkinds of the Greek choreographic community, Far from the end glorifies the infinite beauty that arises from the absence of definite closure, questioning whether something must “finish” to be considered complete.

260 PIRAEUS 260 H –DANCE

June 7 &8 21:00 Duration 70′

Idio Chichava|

Vagabundus

In Latin, vagabundus means “wanderer.” In his own Vagabundus, Mozambican choreographer Idio Chichava illuminates the notion of immigration through the lens of the human body. Conscious or forced, immigration can be seen as an invisible human stream, with the immigrant being the par excellence nomad of our era—a settler, an explorer, but also a drifter. In a performance with no obvious beginning or end, thirteen performers dance and, at the same time, sing traditional and present-day Mozambican melodies blending gospel and baroque motifs. Chichava is inspired by the ritual dances of the Makonde tribe in Mozambique, which organically convey the collective memory of the community through the combination of dance and song. After all, the vital connection between dance and music is deeply embedded in the African culture. According to the creator, full expression can only be attained by a body that dances and sings at the same time, let alone existing in true synergy with other bodies. For Chichava, the eruptive dimension of dance—when coupled with the force of the human voice—needs no further support from elaborate set design, costumes, or lighting.

PEIRAIOS 260 D – DANCE

June 12 21:00

June 13 21:30 Duration 60′

Alexandra Waierstall

HEART MOMENT 

The work premiered last September in Düsseldorf under the title HEART MOMENT.An Interlude for Düsseldorf. According to the choreographer, it is an invitation to experience the dialogue between bodies as a heartfelt and generous act of offering, as a tender negotiation within an eternal search for connection and psychic rapport. Articulated upon a basis of boldness, freedom, and trust, it becomes a reflection on the gift of human touch in an era of scepticism and unresolved contradictions. The music of the performance is composed by renowned German pianist, experimental musician, and composer Hauschka (Volker Bertelmann), an Academy Award winner for his score for All Quiet on the Western Front (2022).

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL E—THEATRE / PERFORMANCE

June 12–14 21:00 Duration 90′

El Conde de Torrefiel 

La luz de un lago

In the stage universe of El Conde de Torrefiel, theatricality is often evoked through soundscapes. In La luz de un lago, the team takes this approach one step further: sound becomes the backbone upon which the work is supported, holding together the narrative’s ruptures and threads. Therefore, a novel space of sight and sound, both fluid and vital, unfolds in the imagination of the viewers. In this fragmented narrative, dramatic tensions between the individual and society come to the fore and unexpectedly accentuate, revealing the rifts of our globalised 21st-century landscape.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL H—THEATRE| BOOKS ON STAGE CYCLE

June 13–16 21:00

Io Voulgaraki

Comemadre 

Based on the book by Roque Larraquy

The story of Comemadre is set in 1907 at a sanatorium on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where a group of scientists embarks on a monstrous experiment designed to explore the boundary between life and death. With disarming cynicism, peculiar humour, and a bizarre horror atmosphere, Larraquy paints a world steeped in despair and grotesque, where men entirely dominate its dramatic action and narrative. The all-male group of doctors at the sanatorium, with what seems like self-righteous entitlement, and despite their initial moral reservations, control the lives of dozens of people, orchestrating a dystopia from which even they cannot find an emergency exit. As the experiment progresses, one woman—the head nurse—becomes the object of desire for the entire scientific team. With ruthless clarity, the author lampoons his own gender, exposing its flaws in the fields of male authority, self-actualisation, ambitions, love, and the search for meaning.

The performance serves as an allegory for present-day humanity, a satire on toxic masculinity with lyrical digressions. Through the story of a group of incredibly ludicrous, unexpectedly dangerous and mediocre scientists, it attempts to dissect apathy. Amid beheadings, stretchers, cigarettes, ballots, and male phantasies, a fundamental component of human nature is utterly gutted. Does this desolation leave any trace behind?

PEIRAIOS 260 B – DANCE

June 14–16 21:30

Alexandros Stavropoulos

Who’s gonna tell her?

Drawing inspiration from the figure of Snow White, Who’s gonna tell her? gives this timeless fairy tale a contemporary and abstract spin, bypassing a plain recount of the story and focusing on the symbols that have defined its mythology: the apple, the mirror, the kiss, and the number seven. Following Cinderella’s and On Wednesdays We Wear Pink, choreographer Alexandros Stavropoulos—awarded by the international platform Aerowaves (2021) and recipient of the SNF Artist Fellowship Program—turns once again to the contradictions in the representation of femininity within contemporary media imagery, deepening his creative excursion through this novel production.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL D—THEATRE| ROOTS CYCLE

June 19–22 21:00

Giannos Perlegas

Katsourbos 

by Georgios Chortatsis

One of the theatrical masterworks of the Cretan Renaissance, Chortatsis’ Katsourbos belongs to the tradition of commedia erudita—a branch of comedy addressed to scholarly audiences—while also borrowing many features from the comedy typology of the more mature and improvisational commedia dell’arte. Αfascinating riddle of the Renaissance era, Katsourbos hides, beneath the surface of a light-hearted comedy, an anguished portrayal of the bourgeois class of Renaissance Heraklion at the close of the 16th century. Heroes seem to teeter between the safety of their social and financial status and the uncertainty of the historical momentum; the end of an era, marked by the collapse of Venetian rule, is right around the corner.

Giannos Perlegas assembles a pocket ensemble of actors to break away from the shackles of traditional representation, seeking to establish a conversation between the text and the language of dancers and acrobats. On an aesthetic level, the set and costume design nod to the Renaissance era and, at the same time, subtly subvert it, while the play’s soundscape “teases” Monteverdi’s madrigals and Cretan musical tradition with a contemporary angle.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL E—THEATREBOOKS ON STAGE CYCLE

June 19 &20 21:30

June 21 20:00 & 22:00 Duration 55′

Thanasis Dovris

Sotiria

Based on the short story collection by Chara Romvi

In the short story collection Sotiria—the inspiration behind Thanasis Dovris’ play— Chara Romvi, a leading voice among the vanguard of young authors in Greece, paints a bittersweet yet tender portrait of life in 1980s and 1990s Greece.

In an interview, Romvi remarked, “What interests me most is the human being itself, beyond any specific era—what I call the eternal human.” Director Thanasis Dovris, with the irresistibly comedic Maria Parasyri in the title role, explores the essence of the ordinary individual—any regular John Doe and any everyday Sotiria—unveiling the existential dread that lurks beneath the surface of their personalities. The result is a unique theatrical farce: a self-deprecating meditation on an absurd mishap that becomes a moment of revelation—an unexpected blunder that just might hold the seed of salvation…

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL Η

June 20–22 21:00 Duration 100′

Handspring Puppet Company—William Kentridge 

Faustus in Africa! / Faustus in Africa!

Faustus in Africa! stands as an allegorical tale on the iniquities of colonialism and Western imperialism. Reimagined through the ironic lens of South African poet Lesego Rampolokeng, it manifests into a dramaturgical composition-cum-compendium of the most iconic incarnations of the devil in literature. This fascinating and meticulously orchestrated universe tells the story of the protagonist who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for unlimited joy and everlasting youth. However, the story is here transposed to Africa, the pristine land that the ruthless hero plunders and ravages just as Faust seduces and leads innocent young Gretchen to her demise. His journey, beginning as a safari, spirals into a full-fledged frenzy of greed, delusion, and wreckage. Aligning superb stage aesthetics, political insight, and social critique, this timeless tale, performed by puppets (the only human being the Devil), has now become a classic, all the while exposing the disastrous repercussions of brute and single-minded profiting at the expense of the common good.

PEIRAIOS 260 B – THEATRE| ΚΥΚΛΟΣ Η ΣΚΗΝΗ ΤΩΝ ΒΙΒΛΙΩΝ

June 26 & 28 21:00

June 27 20:00 & 22:00 Duration 60′

Elena Mavridou

SARMANTZA

Inspired by the short stories of Konstantinos Dominik

In his books Opa-Opa Blatimi and Kakó Anílio, Konstantinos Dominik—a prominent figure in the new generation of Greek authors—channels poetic imagery in the dialect of his native Pieria, merging magical realism with the eerie depths of folkloric horror. His stories inhabit a world where the supernatural and the fantastical intertwine with the literary tradition of Papadiamantis.

Inspired by stories from both collections, director Elena Mavridou crafts a staged monologue set within a ritualistic space, where body and matter serve as carriers of memory. At the farthest edge of an old, nearly abandoned cemetery—an area known as Sarmantza (“infant cradle” in the local dialect) due to its gently sloping terrain—the protagonist carves symbols into his mother’s grave. Over the years, the cemetery has “devoured” so much flesh and bone that the excess remains simply collapse into the earth.

Suspended between an abstract landscape of disintegration and oblivion, the performance builds to a feverish climax, as the protagonist enters a state of delusional atonement, consumed by his reflections on his past.Childhood memories resurface, resurrecting fragmented images, shadowy figures, and buried moments from the soil beneath him.

Giannis Tsortekis inhabits the tormented soul of the protagonist and throws himself on an excursion into memory and purification, while George Mavridis’ score—haunted by archetypal sounds of loss—resonates through the otherworldly stage landscape envisioned by Paris Mexis.

PEIRAIOS 260 E –THEATRE| ΚΥΚΛΟΣ ΡΙΖΕΣ

June 26, 27 21:00

June 28, 29 20:00

Simos Kakalas

Nasty Scenery 

By Giannis Aposkitis

A nightmarish retrospective of Greek comedy

From the improvisational slapstick sketches and farces to the era of modern Greek television, Simos Kakalas and Sofia Paschou reexamine this reservoir of comedic material with a wholly subversive spirit, determined to make the middle-war and post-war comedy “rise from its grave.” Naturally, in keeping with the nihilistic and post-apocalyptic flavour of our days, the comedy here wears its darkest outfit—mocking and satirising not from a vantage point of optimism, but one of despair. This is where the biting comedic voice of Giannis Aposkitis steps in to complete the performance.The creators “revisit” comedic stereotypes by mangling gruesome comedy figures through an extreme and distorting filter. They return to the raw fundamentals of theatre, such as the makeshift stage of the wandering troupe, masks and metamorphoses, the breaching of the fourth wall, and direct engagement with the audience.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL D—DANCE/PERFORMANCE

June 27–29 21:00 Duration 65′

Faye Driscoll

Weathering

A choreography woven from layers of senses, scents, liquids, vibrations, and, most poignantly, the raw poetry and evocative imagery of bodies, caught in a symphony of motion and frozen stillness. Among the twelve or so works by American dancer and choreographer Faye Driscoll, Weathering—which premiered in 2023—has garnered the most attention, introducing her to a broader European audience.

260 PIRAEUS 260 H –DANCE

June 27 21:30

June 28 & 29 20:30

Panagiota Kallimani

Somehow, if not, at all, together

The theme of the performance revolves around the gaze.

A dual stage—two identical spaces, side by side. Two identical couples, each in its own space, each mirroring the other. The relationship of the couple is a living organism that evolves over time—morning, noon, evening, and then back to the beginning. Until the moment when a subtle shift, a simple movement sparks the emergence of a new gaze, a new version. One facet of the couple’s life becomes independent, following a different path. Reality becomes plural. Two distinct realities unfold simultaneously. Everything is in flux. Depending on the gaze they choose to adopt in experiencing reality, the characters respond differently, and moments fracture into multitudes. The couple moves together through life, forever. Or do they?

It is the eye of the beholder that decides the story. As it is impossible to monitor both couples at once, what the viewer chooses to focus on ultimately constructs their version. The couple then becomes an open-ended space for exploration, akin to a painter’s creations.

PEIRAIOS 260 PLATEIA—DANCE

June 28 & 29 22:00

5ο AEF Urban Dance Contest

Hip Hop Battle & All Styles Battle

The AEF Urban Dance Contest, a staple of the Athens Epidaurus Festival for the past four years and a key meeting point for the hip-hop and street dance scene returns for its fifth edition and is more dynamic than ever! This year’s contest celebrates its anniversary with even more electrifying dance showdowns and two consecutive nights full of energy, rhythm, and pure talent. Dancer and choreographer Elias Hadjigeorgiou, alongside his longtime collaborator Periklis Petrakis, will curate the event, featuring the finest Greek and international hip-hop and street dancers. Competitors will go head-to-head in two categories—the classic 1vs1 Hip Hop Battle and the explosive 2vs2 All Styles Battle—vying for the championship title and significant cash prizes. Elevating the competition to new heights, an esteemed panel of judges, featuring top professionals from Greece and abroad, will not only evaluate the battles but also take the stage for exclusive Judges Showcases. SifuVersus returns as host, bringing his exuberant energy, while the rising talent DJ Greetana (spinning for the Hip Hop Battles) and the experienced and dynamic DJ Amaze Me (taking charge of the All Styles Battles) will keep the vibes high throughout the event. And when the battles end, the celebration continues—at the legendary after-battle parties, where the dance never stops. Get your dancing shoes ready for a milestone edition packed with rhythm, passion, and the pure essence of dance!

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL D—THEATRE/PERFORMANCE| GREEK DEBUT

July 5 & 6 20:00 Duration 150′ (without intermission)

Carolina Bianchi—Cara de Cavalo| GREEK DEBUT

The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella /A Noiva e o Boa Noite Cinderela

Brazilian theatre director, writer, and performer Carolina Bianchi, awarded with the Silver Lion at this year’s Venice Biennale, makes her Greek debut with a striking production that premiered at the Avignon Festival in 2023, sending a visceral jolt through the audience and garnering widespread acclaim.

As implied by its title, the work is articulated in two parts. The Briderefers to the story of Pippa Bacca, an Italian performance artist who, in 2008, set out from Milan dressed as a bride, intending to reach Beirut by hitchhiking—a symbolic artistic action that would advocate for peace and the brotherhood among nations. After managing to cross the Balkans, she was eventually raped and murdered in Turkey. Bianchi admits she became obsessed with Pippa Bacca’s story: Where did she master all this strength to do something so daring? And what naivety pushed her to undertake something so perilous? What made her believe that she would be safe?

PEIRAIOS 260 E –THEATRE| ΚΥΚΛΟΣ Η ΣΚΗΝΗ ΤΩΝ ΒΙΒΛΙΩΝ

July 5–8 21:00 Duration 100′

Emily Louizou

Blindness

By Simon Stephens

Based on Blindness by José Saramago

Presenting the world premiere of the adaptation by the award-winning British dramaturg five years after the outbreak of the pandemic, Emily Louizou explores the corrosive effect of fear on the dissolution of our societiesthrough an allegoric lens. She illuminates the distorted image of a society in panic, one that consents without hesitation to the crackdown of the most elemental and historically gained human rights.

With the eerie tension of a psychological thriller, the play pairs the apocalyptic setting of quarantine withintense physicality, bringing the power of intimacy into sharp focus as the need for survival grows ever more urgent. As integral elements of the directorial vision, the original music and movement guide the theatre ensemble in a haunting narrative journey from darkness to light.

PEIRAIOS 260 B 

July 5–8 21:00 July 8 Universally accessible performance More info: aefestival.gr

Christos Thanos

War correspondents

Here, theatre and music co-exist on stage as an organic whole, their boundaries obscured. What distinguishes war between two packs of animals from war between two nations? What drives human beings toward conflict? Why does humanity resort to violence when, unlike animals, they don’t need it to survive? To what extent is the information we receive about an event faithful to that event? What factors mediate between an event and its documentation, and how do they influence the historical record—one that ultimately becomes the collective memory of humankind?These and other questions take center stage in War Correspondents, at a time when more and more conflict zones remain dangerously open. Πολεμικούς ανταποκριτές, σε μια περίοδο που ο πόλεμος αποτελεί βασικό συστατικό της καθημερινότητάς μας.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL H—DANCE INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION

July 7 & 8 21:00 Duration 90′

Miet Warlop

INHALE DELIRIUM EXHALE

In INHALE DELIRIUM EXHALE, we witness the interplay between five performers and 1,500 metres of fabric as they transform the stage into a living, breathing canvas where fears, secrets, and desires are woven together. Drawing inspiration from the Chorus of ancient tragedy—particularly its unique ability to transcend the limits of language in expressing what lies beyond the central narrative—Warlop reimagines its power, transposing it into our fragmented present. She seeks to redefine the notion of the collective as the locus where diverse voices can retain their singularity while co-crafting shared codes of expression.

Here, the fabric itself becomes a protagonist—flowing, pulsating, and enveloping stage and performers alike, giving tangible form to humanity’s perpetual struggle for reconnection within a world in shards. Rooted in ceaseless movement, INHALE DELIRIUM EXHALE foregrounds the importance of coming together on the grounds of our uniqueness, all the while celebrating diversity and coexistence.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL D—THEATRE| BOOKS ON STAGE CYCLE

July 13 & 14 21:00 Duration 120′

Het Nationale Theater—ITA Ensemble—Eline Arbo

The Years 

Based on the book by Annie Ernaux

In The Years, five actresses collectively narrate the life of one woman against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world. Growing up amidst the debris of the Second World War, the protagonist breaks free from her middle-class upbringing and, through writing, develops a keen political and social awareness. Using photographs, songs and news reports that activate memory, the work traces her path to emancipation, illustrating how female identity is interweaved with sexuality, class background, and personal aspirations. A woman’s personal history thus transforms into a biography of post-war Western Europe.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL H—THEATRE| BOOKS ON STAGE CYCLE

July 13–15 20:30 Duration 110′

Daria Deflorian

The Vegetarian 

Scenes from the novel by Han Kang

The performance is based on the titular novel by Nobel laureate Han Kang (Man Booker International 2016). In its pages, the writer sketches a diagram of violence—physical, psychological, or political—through a family portrait that culminates in a dark allegory of power, obsession, and the struggle of a woman to free herself from both external and internal violence. A profound success upon its first publication in Seoul in 2007, The Vegetarian has achieved an international resonance, having been translated into 32 languages.

Deflorian distils the power of Kang’s masterpiece into a theatrical elixir. Like a walker on a tightrope, she fuses the most mundane aspects of life with dreamlike, neurotic or even fantastical instances that simply flash with brilliance on stage. Through a sensual and provocative stage language, she turns this Kafkaesque universe into a breathing and pulsating work of art, crucially aided by the remarkable performances of her collaborators.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL B—THEATRE| BOOKS ON STAGE CYCLE

July 13–16 21:30 July 15 Universally accessible performance More info: aefestival.gr

Sophia Karagianni

18, Mpoumpoulinas St. 

Based on the book by Kitti Arseni

Kitti Arseni (1934-2013), a young actress in Greece during the military junta, fled the country in 1968. On the train journey between Paris and Strasbourg, while en route to testify before the Human Rights Committee regarding the torture she endured at the Athens General Security Subdivision, she wrote a gripping account. This testimony, alongside numerous others from Greek witnesses, contributed to the public denunciation of the systematic torture campaign carried out during the military junta. The leak of the Committee’s Report to the press had a dramatic impact on European public opinion, forcing the Greek government to withdraw from the European Council and delivering a powerful blow to the dictatorship.   

The autobiographical narrative, presented as a monologue, is performed by actress Amalia Arsenis, who, as the niece of the writer, received this living testimony firsthand.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL E—THEATRE RERUN

CONTEMPORARY ANCIENTS CYCLE RERUN  

July 13–16 21:00

Duration 90′

Ekaterini Papageorgiou

Iphigenia / Prey by Vivian Stergiou

Inspired by Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis

Iphigenia walks around Epidaurus, sending recorded messages to her mother, meditating by the beach. She cares for her skin, visits her altar. Before the altar swallows her, she delivers her oracle—a femicidal “apposition” of commandments: “Love hurts; if you want to be loved, you must endure it.”

Vivian Stergiou draws inspiration from Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis, focusing on the moment just before Iphigenia’s sacrifice, when she reconciles with her fate. “It’s okay if I die, but first, I shall be heard,” her words spat out like her only weapon. As long as she speaks, she exists in the here and now.The moment she falls silent, she dies—in every sense, in every realm. Everywhere, always, the oracle triumphs. Her sacrifice is comic, hardly tragic. She digs her own grave and steps into it, offered up for nothing, meat to be consumed. The role is performed by Eliza Skolidi.

Nikos Hatzopoulos

Me, Her Servant by Vangelis Hatziyannidis

Inspired by Euripides’ Hecuba

The face of Hecuba faintly gleams within our collective unconscious as the archetype of human suffering. The image of the grief-stricken, venerable, and ethereal old woman is so potent that it overshadows all other facets of her personality—every thought or action, no matter how horrific that action may be.

In his reflection on Euripides’ Hecuba, Vangelis Hatziyannidis crafts a text that is both engaging and enlightening, one that demystifies the ultimate emblem of mourning and despair. He does so through the lens of a character who lived closely with her, offering insights that have never been captured by the great poets. It’s the common human gaze, the small human scale, set against the grand myth. Filareti Komninou brings this journey of the tragic Hecuba—viewed through an unexpected and skewed lens—to life in a remarkably vivid way.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL E—VIDEO/INSTALLATION

July 5–24

Pantelis Makkas

Tenant

Tenant is the title of a video installation by artist and video designer Pantelis Makkas, presented at Peiraios 260: a translucent house filled with images born and crafted for theatrical productions in which he has collaborated over the past fifteen years. As the creator remarks, “A tenant is not merely the one who inhabits a space, but also one who remains in constant interaction with it. In theatre, the tenant could be the play itself, which settles on stage and then unfolds through actions, words, images, and emotions fostered and expressed on that very stage; a play that, through the act of interpretation, temporarily ‘inhabits’ the audience, influencing and engaging with the viewers.”

In Tenant, the element of video assumes a leading role, disrupting the traditional hierarchies of theatrical production and reveling in the autonomy of the image as a self-sufficient artistic medium. As an organic component of the play, video on stage invites new interpretations.

The images featured in the installation originate from productions of both classical and contemporary plays—Euripides, Shakespeare, and Molière alongside Pinter, Dario Fo, and others. Here, video transcends its formal function within performance, liberating the texts from their theatrical framework and granting them a new visual dimension.

Rather than merely depicting the action, video transforms it—reframing and deconstructing the very concept of the theatrical work. Plays such as Hippolytus by Euripides, The Tempest and King Lear by Shakespeare, or The Misanthrope by Molière are baptized anew through the lens of video, offering the audience an immersive and experiential encounter. The use of the camera and image processing generates an ever-evolving environment, one that illustrates the tensions and contradictions within these classical texts. Characters and conflicts are revealed from new perspectives, beyond the boundaries of the traditional stage.

This interplay with video is not merely an innovative mode of presentation—it is a proposal for reinterpreting the classical repertoire. Video frees the play from its stage form, presenting a different, dynamic, and multidimensional experience for the audience.

260 PIRAEUS PLATEA 

May 30–July 24 23:00

Live at the Platea

Curated by Dimitris Tsakas

After three successful years, Live at the Platea, the pocket-music festival that has been cherished by the city’s music lovers, returns more dynamic than ever. With more musical groups than ever before and a diverse array of styles—from gypsy jazz, funk, and Latin to hip-hop, world music, and Balkan rhythms—this year’s live performances will take place throughout the artistic programme at Peiraios 260, following the main performances and all free of charge

30 May (Opening Party)

Rosanna Mailan Orchestra

The Rosanna Mailan Orchestra is a dynamic ensemble of ten superb musicians from Greece and Cuba, founded in 2020. With deep roots in jazz, Cuban music, and Latin rhythms, the orchestra offers an unmatched musical experience, tackling tradition with a contemporary mindest. Under the direction of Cuban bassist, composer, and arranger Yoel Soto, the orchestra delivers both virtuosity and energy, with the charismatic singer and composer Rosanna Mailan at its heart, captivating audiences with her expressive voice. The orchestra’s repertoire includes arrangements and original compositions by Yoel Soto and Rosanna Mailan, as well as classic Cuban pieces, New York Latin jazz, and Latin reinterpretations of iconic pop hits.

31 May, 1 & 3 June

Vagelis Stefanopoulos Sextet

70s & 80s Acid Jaxx and Disco to make you move your feet

4 – 8 June

Yiannis Kassetas J-Funk Project

The new ensemble of saxophonist Yiannis Kassetas plays compositions based on danceable jazz-funk, as well as pieces by The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Jimi Hendrix, arranged by the saxophonist with a soul-funk spirit.

12 – 16 June

Yiannis Oikonomidis Group

Timeless melodies of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz that have become a part of global music legacy, as well as compositions by the trumpeter and leader of the group, Yiannis Oikonomidis.

19 – 22 June

Idra Kayne Quintet

Idra Kayne and her four-piece band are set to deliver an unforgettable dance party, featuring ear-worm hip-hop and R&B gems of the 90s, alongside their original compositions. With her infectious energy, Idra Kayne will lead us on a musical throwback full of fun, dancing, and pure joy!

26 & 27 June

21 – 23 July

LOS TRE

Los Tre began in 2012 as a funk ensemble that has since evolved and taken on a new music guise over time. Today, they have managed to craft a highly distinctive sound, deeply influenced by the traditions of West African and Middle Eastern music, combined with the improvisational freedom of jazz and the wild spirit of 70s psychedelia.

5 – 8 July

Gadjo Dilo

Gypsy Jazz with a Greek Twist! Formed in 2009, Gadjo Dilo have crafted a unique musical language, marrying the virtuosity and improvisational spirit of jazz with the rich tradition of the Greek songbook.

13 – 16 July

Manolis Afolanio (MC YINKA)

Manolis Afolanio, also known as MC Yinka, alongside a group of remarkable musicians, presents cuts from his discography in a performance where hip-hop, reggae, and funk have the final say.

24 July (Closing Party)

Banda Entopica

Banda Entopica, the traditional street band based in Thessaloniki, uses clarinet, trumpet, accordion, and davul to create a vibrant blend of traditional and modern Balkan music.Rooted in the sounds of Macedonia, Thrace, Epirus, and the broader Balkan Peninsula, their music pulses with dance rhythms, often ecstatic, featuring both traditional songs and original compositions.

PEIRAIOS 260

June 1 & 15 19:00
PEIRAIOS 260 HALL E

June 19 & 29 19:00

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL B

Formidable Persistence   

A series of public events and roundtables

Curated by Dimitris Papanikolaou

In conversation with ideas shaping contemporary artistic creation—ones brought to light through the 2025 Athens Epidaurus Festival programme—this year’s public roundtables will focus on the concept of persistence. Together with our invited speakers, we will address this notion of formidable persistence, both individual and collective, that we are witnessing in the face of hegemonic discourses, socioeconomic crises, and ecological ruination.

The discussion circle takes a stand, trying to trace the positive aspects of persistence as a liberating and critical discourse. Without forgetting its opposite, “marvelous persistence” is, for us, a way of understanding new forms of collectivity and resistance that are prevalent in life and its diversity. Let’s talk about lives that try to articulate a discourse and demand to be treated with value. Let’s talk about the body that works for years to be able to transform its experience into choreography, about the archive that tells an “other” story, about biography and autobiography, about artists and cultural institutions that resist the dominant logic of uniformity. Let’s talk about the Earth that insists on correcting human excess, about the earthly time that constantly reminds us that it exceeds the time of man, the anthropocene. Let’s talk about housing and the right to it, about people who insist on returning even to a dilapidated house, who insist on rebuilding. About the sound management of natural resources. For coexistence and symbiosis. For everyday life and the small, persistent habits that define it. Let’s also talk about the history of the Athens Epidaurus Festival itself, an institution that this year completes seventy years of life, insisting on remembering the past and seeking new ways of expression, through multiple paths of revival and survival. Perseverance is also a connection with the past, not a fragmentary one, but a connection that builds networks, traces the line of union between the past and the present, that builds a genealogy.

PROGRAM

1/6 Poetic(s) / Persistence

15/6 Body, bios, biography

19/6 Post-Human: Earth, Technocapitalism, Εmpire

29/6 The politics of memory and mourning

PEIRAIOS 260 AT THE PLATEA

May 30–July 24 Prologue—Exodos

Pre-Show & Post-Show Talks

A foretaste of performances, just before the curtain goes up!

In collaboration with the Master’s Programme in Theatre Studies at the University of Athens, Prologue offers a lively introduction to the artistic language of international Theatre and Dance performances.Half an hour before each performance, young theatre scholars and dance specialists provide audiences with key insights to help them navigate contemporary stage language. After the end of each show, the artists meet with the audience in person, unveiling the creative paths and inspirations behind their work.

PEIRAIOS 260 AT THE HALLS

Exit

Post-Show Talks

Discussions with the cast and crew after the curtain falls…

The established discussions with directors, choreographers and other members of the performances at the Peiraios 260 theatre continue. The artists meet the audience and reveal ways and paths of the creative process.

PEIRAIOS 260 GARDEN 

VISUAL INSTALLATION

1 June– 24 July

Objects Of Common Interest

An original installation of visual lighting by the award-winning design studio Objects of Common Interest will be hosted this year at Piraeus 260. Its founders, architects and designers Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Tramboukis, have presented their works at the Noguchi Museum and Madisson Square Park in New York, as well as in Milan, Copenhagen, Bergamo, etc. Based in Athens and New York, Objects of Common Interest received the “Designer of the Year” award in 2023 from Wallpaper, one of the world’s most prestigious architecture and design magazines.

HADRIAN’S AQUEDUCT & CEPHISSUS| SITE-SPECIFIC

14 – 18 June

Giorgos Sachinis

Secret water

Beginning and ending at Dexameni Square in Kolonaki, a theatre and dance performance commences along the banks of the Cephissus River in Kifisia, plunging into the depths of the Roman Hadrian Aqueduct of Athens. The collective Ochi Pezoume / UrbanDig Project, continuously inspired by the Aqueduct, traces humanity’s journey toward an essential awakening to water—a path from the intangible to the material, from the hidden to the revealed.

LYCABETTUS THEATRE

May 28 21:00

Greek nu jazz in dialogue with the African diaspora

An afrofuturistic journey

The Athens Epidaurus Festival presents a musical meeting inspired by the fascinating movement of Afrofuturism, introducing us to the dynamics and aesthetic arsenal of one of the 21st century’s most groundbreaking and visionary cultural phenomena. Weaving together elements from Black diasporic cultures of the past, Afrofuturism explores the richness of the Black experience in the metropolises of the Western world today, placing it in dialogue with technoscience, digital evolution, and contemporary cultural discourse. At the same time, it generates new modes of expression that serve as tools of empowerment for the multitudes of the modern Black community globally and as a critical commentary on the postcolonial condition and its impasses.

29 May/ 21.00

Spiritualized

From the rock ‘n’ roll legend of Spacemen 3, a new band took flight—one that would go on to carve its own place in musical history: Spiritualized. It seems almost predestined that the words “space” and “spirit” would define Jason Pierce’s path, the man who, under the name J. Spaceman, has steered the musical motherboard of Spiritualized for over thirty years. Aboard this vessel, Spaceman drifts to the outer reaches of the cosmos, only to return with sounds that feel utterly celestial and strangely familiar—filtered through some inner universe. Blues, gospel, free jazz, garage, psychedelia, drone—all converge in a searing yet serene wave, a symphonic wall of electricity and frequencies. And at its core, unwavering and untouchable, stands J. Spaceman’s fragile yet brave voice—calm, like the stillness in the eye of the storm.

31 May/ 21.00

Arca 

Opening act Evita Manji

Curated by Plural Artist Management

As one of the most unconventional and intriguing figures in electronic music of the past decade, Venezuelan-born, Barcelona-based Arca (Alejandra Ghersi) explores the outer reaches of performance and sound design while investigating themes of identity, sexuality, and personal emancipation across the vastness of artistic expression.

Arca’s music is animated by stark contrasts—she can manoeuvre between explosive and introspective, chaotic to affectionate. Her music is sharply attuned and incorporates emotional and psychological layers that result in both extreme and deeply meaningful works of autobiographical art. Drawing from an astounding spectrum of sounds, genres and influences that traverse industrial, glitch, and ambient, she crafts a nonpareil universe that is perpetually restless in its experimentation and reinvention.

1 June / 21.00

Nalyssa Green & Guests

Very good at parties 

A sensational music extravaganza

For one night only, Νalyssa Green transforms the stage of Lycabettus into a musical gathering, inviting friends and kindred spirits to join her in an evening of shared songs—hers, theirs, and everything in between. A unique music relay unfolds, as the torch passes between thirteen music acts, bursts of stand-up comedy, and dazzling drag performances.

PLAYGROUND 260 

Hellenic Cosmos Center

11 July / 21.00

BICEP present CHROMA (AV DJ set)

Who wouldn’t leap at the chance to relive one of the most unforgettable dance experiences Athens has witnessed in recent years? Following their tectonic appearance at OAKA on April 30, 2023, Bicep are back in town under the banner of the Athens Epidaurus Festival for yet another dance saga. This time, they bring with them a groundbreaking laser LED show—featuring technology never used before in the country—alongside two stages and an expanded lineup that includes Modeselektor and Future666. On July 11, one thing is certain: this will be the event that will linger long after the summer fades.

SUBSET FESTIVAL

4 – 8 June

Subset Festival – New Music Festival 

Curated by Stavros Gasparatos

In co-production with the Athens Conservatoire

The Subset Festival, the multifaceted music platform launched in 2023, held by the Athens Epidaurus Festival in co-production with the Athens Conservatoire, returns refreshed but always with a focus on the dialogue between contemporary music and new media.

Named after a mathematical term (subset ⊆), Subset Festival weaves together diverse versions of contemporary musical creation, incorporating a wide variety of artistic trends. From June 4 to June 8, the Conservatoire venues will host musical ensembles and soloists, established and up-and-coming alike, both from Greece and around the world, visual and sound installations and performances, as well as open-call workshops.

AMPHITHEATRE

4 June/ 20.00

COMMISSION

Dimitris Kamarotos

A Time Ratio

Based on Yiorgos Veltsos’s texts Sketch for Electra and Sketch for Phaedra

In A Time Ratio, composer Dimitris Kamarotos proposes a work that unfolds in two spaces and forms, based on Yiorgos Veltsos texts Sketch for Electra and Sketch for Phaedra, respectively. According to the composer, the piece represents the fusion of ceaseless research and an ideal point in time where, for an instant, all that is perceptible converges into sound. The first part of the work features a concert with vocal performer Anna Pangalou, in which a concert piano and a grand percussive instrument are activated through a special oscillated system handled by the composer. Without the aid of any musicians, the system produces the sonic plateaus that engage in dialogue with the vocal line. The second part presents an underground installation operating continuously in the basement sound studios of the Athens Conservatory, which are opening to the public for the first time. The labyrinthine installation combines the recorded voice of Amalia Moutousi with the historical Monster Analogue Synthesizer EMS-SYNTHI 100 of KSYME (Contemporary Music Research Centre).

COMMISSION

Philippos Tsalachouris

Lapis Silentium

The body, an ever-changing terrain

“The understanding of the human body as an ever-changing terrain” provided the springboard for the project, as noted by the visual artist Rena Tsangaiou, who is responsible for this forty-minute video projection. It is “an attempt at a geological mapping of the body that transforms over time, perception, and memory,” with the artist concluding that “people do not merely inhabit landscapes but also carry them within themselves, imbuing them with shape and meaning.” Inspired by Tsangaiou’s mesmerising and deeply poignant imagery, composer Philippos Tsalachouris created a series of “aural images” for piano and string quartet, which will accompany the projection in real-time and parallel mode. The images set the stage for sound, and the sound breathes time into the images.

NEW STAGE

4 June/ 22.30

COMMISSION

Theodoros Lotis

SCRAPING – Silent Landscapes and Sonic Pariahs

SCRAPING – Silent Landscapes and Sonic Pariahs is an interactive algorithmic music composition that explores and sheds light on the often-overlooked soundscape of noise pollution in urban environments. Extending over 40 minutes and presented through an immersive ambisonic sound system, the work focuses on the relentless mechanical hum of generators, air-conditioning systems, and refrigerator units that overwhelms the city streets. Through targeted field recordings at central locations of Athens and the use of specialised ambisonic microphones, the artist traces these low-information and high-redundancy sounds, revealing the hidden sonic layers that shape how we perceive the urban environment. The composition transforms these industrial drones into a bold auditory experience, inviting the audience to confront the unseen sonic backdrop of everyday life. Presented through a fully immersive ambisonic sound system, the work enables the listeners to physically and emotionally interact with the evolving textures of urban noise, enhancing their conscious auditory perception and their relationship with the modern-day soundscape. The work is supported by the expertise and equipment of the Electroacoustic Music Research and Applications Laboratory of the Ionian University, guaranteeing a deep and high-fidelity acoustic experience.

In collaboration with the Electroacoustic Music Research and Applications Laboratory, Department of Music Studies, Ionian University

AMPHITHEATRE

5 June/ 20.00

Carmen Villain

The diverse sonic worlds that Carmen Villain has built over her career are shaped by her natural curiosity about sound. Her music hits a sweet spot between the languid yet vibrant pulse of dub and cosmic fourth-world* influences, creating evocative granular soundscapes and melodies with hints of instruments such as flute, voice, and clarinet. Her most recent studio album, Only Love From Now On, received rave reviews and was featured on multiple year-end best-of lists, including Pitchfork and Resident Advisor, with the latter hailing it “a masterpiece of jazz-informed ambient and downtempo.” Last year, she released Music from The Living Monument, a commissioned composition for Eszter Salamon’s contemporary dance performance with Carte Blanche. Carmen has brought her atmospheric live performance to prestigious venues and festivals such as ICA London, Berlin Atonal, Dekmantel, and Mutek. She has collaborated with an array of luminaries and like-minded artists, including Actress, Arve Henriksen, Biosphere, Huerco S, Dj Python and rRoxymore. Carmen Villain is half Norwegian, half Mexican, and lives in Oslo. Only Love From Now On δέχτηκε διθυραμβικές κριτικές και βρέθηκε στις λίστες με τις καλύτερες κυκλοφορίες της χρονιάς σε διάφορα μουσικά websites, όπως το Pitchfork και το Resident Advisor, με το τελευταίο να το χρήζει «ένα ambient αριστούργημα που διαπνέεται από τη jazz και ήχους downtempo». Πέρυσι κυκλοφόρησε το μουσικό έργο Music from The Living Monument, το οποίο συνέθεσε για τις ανάγκες της παράστασης σύγχρονου χορού της Eszter Salamon για την Carte Blanche. Η Κάρμεν έχει παρουσιάσει ζωντανά τις ατμοσφαιρικές της περφόρμανς σε χώρους και φεστιβάλ όπως το ICA London, το Berlin Atonal, το Dekmantel και το Mutek. Έχει συνεργαστεί με επιφανή και καλλιτεχνικά συγγενή ονόματα όπως οι Actress, Arve Henriksen, Biosphere, Huerco S., DJ Python και rRoxymore.

ARTS’ FOYER

June 5 22:30

COMMISSION

BLIP

Chimeras

BLIP (Yorgos Stenos & Yorgos Stavridis) is a duet that explores the inherent sonic potentials of materials, objects, and electronic circuits through construction, in-situ action, and improvisation. Their musical practice highlights the notion of texture, gesture, timbre, and rhythm, approaching listening, improvisation, and composition as interdependent acts, deeply connected to physical action, instrument-objects, and the given venue and time. For their newly commissioned work at the Subset Festival, BLIP propose a space for sonic play, open to diverse ideas and sound-generating media. This hybrid, spatial, and site-specific sound piece incorporates found objects, percussion, acoustic phenomena, self-devised circuits, and light, while further welcoming natural, amplified, and electronic sounds that interact, coalescing into an electroacoustic musical amalgamation. The sound sources are dispersed throughout the venue, with the musicians activating or pausing them at will—playing, listening or remaining silent. The audience is invited to wander within the space, observing, listening and experiencing the performance from various perspectives. Specifically designed for the Arts’ Foyer of the Athens Conservatoire, the work embraces the architectural and acoustic features of the venue. Beyond their activity as BLIP, its two members are also involved in the group Trigger Happy, the Centre for Research & Dissemination of Music Scheming, and the experimental radio platform Loskop.radio.

AMPHITHEATRE

6 June/ 21.00

COMMISSION

Christina Vantzou

The reintegration of the ear

With Oliver Coates, Irene Kurka, John Also Bennett

Christina Vantzou is a composer who explores concepts such as the expansion of time, atmosphere, and harmony through both electronic and acoustic instruments. In her latest work, she focuses on the shaping of ceremonial and affective spaces, where synthesizers, voice, and the language of ensembles mingle and form tendril-like sonic structures. The intimate practice of documenting her wanderings evokes the atmosphere of a travelogue-dream journal, while her minimalist arrangements and introspective compositions propose a subtle yet expressive sonic vocabulary. Her works are often defined by a meditative slowness, which invites contemplative listening. In her ensemble work, she delicately invokes the invisible, drawing audiences into profound depths with a light touch.

NEW STAGE

6 June/ 22.30

COMMISSION

Alexandra Katerinopoulou—Sofyann Ben Youssef (AKA AMMAR 808)

LOSS

LOSS is an immersive audio-visual installation by Sofyann Ben Youssef, the Tunisian music producer and composer celebrated for his fusion of traditional music with modern electronic soundscapes, and Alexandra Katerinopoulou, a composer who integrates traditional instruments, vocal arrangements, classical orchestral components, as well as analogue modular and digital synthesizers. Drawing inspiration from both Greek and Arabic traditions, the work dives headlong into the universal human experience of loss, exploring its personal, collective, cultural, and cosmic dimensions through an intricate fusion of sound, light, and sensory manipulation. By blending music, storytelling, and spoken word, the artists craft a transformative journey that guides participants through myth, sound, and darkness. The installation incorporates a 3D sound system, dynamic lighting, room scent, and temperature shifts to initiate an environment where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, heightening emotional and physical engagement. Audience members are invited to engage as passive observers or active participants, moving from introspection to collective release. The installation’s circular progression—from darkness to creation and back—symbolises acceptance and renewal. More than just an art piece, and deeply rooted in the shared Mediterranean heritage of Greek and Tunisian cultures, LOSS offers a profound sensory journey that bridges personal and collective grief, inviting reflection, connection, and transformation.

ARTS’ FOYER

6 June/ 22.30

Mouse on Mars 

AAI AV

ft.Dodo NKishi

Mouse on Mars, the Berlin-based duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma, approach electronic music with boundless curiosity and unparalleled ingenuity. Operating in their own orbit within dance music’s nebulous echosystem, the duo’s hyper-detailed productions are inventive and groundbreaking, yet always infused with a signature joyful experimentation.

Their genre-less embrace of cutting-edge technologies has ensured that every Mouse on Mars release sounds strikingly modern—a remarkable feat, especially when considering the duo’s 25 years of making music.

AMPHITHEATRE

7 June/ 20.00

COMMISSION

Michalis Paraskakis & Eleonore Schönmaier

Field Guide [to the lost flower]

Field Guide [to the lost flower] is an innovative multimedia music theatre piece by composer Michalis Paraskakis in collaboration with poet Eleonore Schönmaier. Inspired by Schönmaier’s poetry collection Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete, the work weaves music, text, video, theatre, and electronics into a unified, immersive performance. The three central characters of the piece are two performers and a grand piano, which transforms into a multi-functional object—a stage, instrument, and overall physical entity that drives the entire action.

COMMISSION

New Babylon ensemble / ARTéfacts ensemble

Time and Money 

Conductor Cecilia Castagneto

Time and Moneyis a multimedia concert (live electronics and video), the fruit of the collaboration between the musical ensembles New Babylon (based in Bremen) and ARTéfacts ensemble (based in Athens).

On the one hand, it aims to the sharing of experiences and approaches to musical interpretation, bringing together two musical ensembles from different countries. On the other hand, it seeks to reach and converse with the Greek audience—through music—on the social dimension of time, money, and our economic system, exploring the range of human behaviours that emerge in relation to these concepts.

ARTS’ FOYER

June 7 22:30

Ryoji Ikeda

Ryoji Ikeda, Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist, focuses on the fundamental ingredients of sound and the pure essence of visuals as light, employing both mathematical precision and aesthetic insights. Renowned as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media, he elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical concepts into immersive live performances and installations.

AMPHITHEATRE

8 June/ 20.00

COMMISSION

Nikos Antonopoulos

Blue Thread

Free improvisation, ambient drones, songs from island traditions, autotune, silences, fuzz, lo-fi beats, and all sorts of electronic sound devices are some of the elements that make up Blue Thread, the new performance by Nikos Antonopoulos. At its core, the project explores the delicate balance between the retreating analogue world and the emerging digital reality. Blue Thread serves as a thin yet resilient joint that bridges these two states, illuminating a new, hybrid space that salutes play and experimentation. The work is a constantly changing creative landscape, reflecting Nikos Antonopoulos’ artistic research over the past two years. Each presentation is unique, defined by the musical paths he explores each time. The guitar, free improvisation, and the imaginative and contemporary ways in which the composer reactivates tradition are key elements of his ongoing exploration. After a set of winter performances in Greece and abroad, the thread returns to Athens for a specially configured concert-performance at the Subset Festival, featuring a new mosaic of narratives, original compositions, and a selection of pieces drawn from the ever-evolving music of the world.

COMMISSION

Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko

Гільдеґарда / Hildegard (Гільдеґарда)

Recording under the moniker Heinali, Ukrainian composer and sound artist Oleh Shpudeiko uses the modular synthesizer to reimagine early music and sounds, reconciling the past with the present and cutting-edge technology with the notion of the sacred. For this special premiere performance, Shpudeiko will team up with composer, flautist, and singer Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko to bring the music of 12th-century abbess, philosopher, and mystic Hildegard von Bingen into a contemporary context.

Σμίγοντας παραδοσιακά ουκρανικά τραγούδια με μοναδικές τεχνικές σύνθεσης για το modular συνθεσάιζερ, το Гільдеґарда / Hildegard αναδεικνύει την ιδιότυπη σωματικότητα της γραφής της Χίλντεγκαρντ, χρησιμοποιώντας την ως καθρέφτη γεγονότων του τώρα και ως βάση για περαιτέρω στοχασμό πάνω στην εμπειρία του πολέμου.

NEW STAGE

8 June/ 22.30

Savvas Metaxas / Giannis Arapis / Dimitris Tigas

Circular

Three musicians from diverse musical backgrounds unite

to create Circular, an original composition crafted especially for this year’s Subset festival. Circular.

This unique trio—featuring two electric guitars, a double bass and a modular synthesizer—merges different musical genres and traditions. On-stage, Savvas Metaxas (electric guitar, modular synthesizer), Giannis Arapis (electric guitar) and Dimitris Tigas (double bass) bring together distinct elements, influences, and methodological approaches from seemingly foreign yet intrinsically connected forms of musical expression. The ensemble’s original composition highlights its rich musical background and influences, ranging from jazz to experimental ambient and modern classical music.

SNFCC DOME

SOUND INSTALLATION

June 6–12

Athens Epidaurus Festival—Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center— Monom 4DSound Νιάρχος – Monom / 4DSound

Curated by Stavros Gasparatos

MONOM is a pioneering spatial sound studio that merges technology, art, and music through the 4DSOUND system, forging virtual sonic environments that can be perceived with the entire body. Having collaborated with over 200 artists, MONOM’s work comes into full play in spaces specifically designed for sonic and spatial arts exploration—ranging from bespoke listening rooms and festivals to cutting-edge museums. Their work has been showcased by institutions and events such as Barbican Immersive, CTM Festival, MUTEK, The New York Times Climate Forward, D’stric, Google, Reethaus, Mercer Labs: Museum for Art and Technology, COP26, and more—fostering a global community committed to expanding the frontiers of sound and art.

At the Dome of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), in collaboration with the Athens Epidaurus Festival and the SNFCC, Monom will set up a unique multi-channel sound installation that utilises the innovative 4DSound technology. The state-of-the-art system will transform the space into a holographic acoustic environment, embracing the audience from all directions and displaying the power of multi-dimensional sound to form communities of listeners, changing the way we perceive live music. The installation will invite visitors to immerse themselves in mesmerising sound worlds, while a series of live musical performances will fully demonstrate the unparalleled potential of 3D sound—making certain that the attendees will go through a truly transformative experience.

The highlight of the project is a newly commissioned piece by William Russel (sound design) and Sofiana Theofanous (text/dramaturgy), which is addressed primarily to children and adults.

grape – Greek Agora of Performance

grape – Greek Agora of Performance, the successful Agora for the Greek Performing Arts of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, returns for its third consecutive year! Providing a platform for Theatre and Dance creators to showcase their works to representatives of international festivals, cultural institutions abroad, and the wider public, grape aims to systematically promote Greek artistic vision to the international Theatre and Dance scenes.

260 PIRAEUS 260 H –DANCE

July 21–24 / 21:30 Duration 70′

Patricia Apergi

Hystory 

Since the early feminist movements, the trajectories, transgressions, deviations, registers, and events inscribed upon women’s bodies and minds have provided painful yet vital materials in life and art.

The new work by Patricia Apergi, a choreographer of significant influence on the global dance realm, focuses on women’s struggles throughout the centuries. According to the creator, “It is a journey to places real or dreamlike, to all those identities attributed to women as well as those they accepted, to the failure or success of manipulation.”

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL D—THEATRE

July 21–24 / 21:00 Duration 105′

Katerina Giannopoulou

Phenomenon

By Greg Liakopoulos

What are the outer limits of human knowledge? In an era where technologies of rendering and simulating reality have now become widely accessible, how can we distinguish the genuinely real from the artificial? On what can we still rely with certainty? And what happens when our most fundamental beliefs are shaken to their core?

An author faces the most direcrisis in his life as he finds himself unable to continue writing. Appalled by fiction, he chooses to devote himself exclusively to reality, determined to understand it in its deepest depths.

Hence, a journey of self-discovery and truth-seeking commences, gradually submerging in a world where reality, fiction, and simulation become indistinguishably weaved.Wandering through a city that changes face from one minute to the next, seeking fragments of the real in an increasingly artificial world, he encounters thinking machines, literary figures, and deceased philosophers, embarking on a road trip within his own subconscious—a psychedelic plunge into the domain of doubt.

Inspired by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s On Certainty,Phenomenon is a contemporary study of knowledge and doubt, groping the outer limits of a posteriori human knowledge: Are there any things that lie beyond doubt?

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL B—DANCE ROOTS CYCLE

July 21/ 21:30

July 22­–24 / 20:00 Duration 60′

Dafin Antoniadou

Darkest white 

Darkest White is the next chapter in the ever-evolving artistic universe of Dafin Antoniadou, a stage composition that sprouts from the intersection of ancestral memory and a fragmented vision of the future.Rooted in her Slavo-Macedonian heritage, the piece veers into a multilayered reading of the notions of displacement, survival, and the omnipotence of female presence, culminating in a tapestry of fragility and resilience.

The performance follows the pace of a ritual. At its core stands an enigmatic figure, a presence that embodies both the archetypal and the immaterial, guiding the audience through a cycle of birth, union, and death. Moreover, it bears the weight of collective memory, becoming the voice of those erased from the body of history while further transpiring as a spectral entity amid a bleak and emotionless digital space.

In this work, the artist explores the interchanging dynamics between power and sacrifice, forging a map of the land through song—a primaeval sound that has the capacity to transform reality. The thread that weaves together collective memory with a cosmological horizon lends the heroine’s journey a dimension of universal relief. Rich in symbols, Darkest White portrays the quest for absolute freedomsuspended in a liminal space.

STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION CULTURAL CENTER / LIGHTHOUSE

DANCE

July 21, 22, &24 / 21:00

July 23 / 19:00 Duration 70′

Konstantinos Papanikolaou

Sufficiently Creative

When did the obsession with the notion of the “genius artist” begin, and how does it relate to ideas of authenticity, originality, innovation, individuality, and ownership? Why must an artist or intellectual establish their distinctness from their predecessors to be taken seriously? All these questions serve as the springboard for Sufficientlycreative, a performance structured as a symposium featuring a lawyer, a choreographer, a dance professor, and an art theorist. Together, they explore why originality and experimentation have become an inescapable prerequisite for every creator. By revisiting legal scandals and iconic choreographies, they argue that this perception works in favour of a competitive, market-driven approach to artistic practice, ultimately fueling the commercialisation of art.

PEIRAIOS 260 HALL E -THEATRE BOOKS ON STAGE CYCLE

July 21, 23 / 21:00

July 22 / 19:00

July 24 / 21:30

Sofia Antoniou

Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman

Based on the book by Didier Eribon

A tribute to both the unsung members of the workingclass and motherhood, Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman by renowned French philosopher and sociologist DidierEribon—recently published in Greece—carries a deeply autobiographical origin, dedicated to the author’s mother. A profoundly political work, it boldly and honestly paints the portrait of a working-class woman while bringing to the forefront the hardships, dreams, and frustrations that shaped her life. As its title makes crystal clear, the book links together personal identity, class background, and the fated trajectory of working-class women. Inthework, thepersonalbecomesunmistakably political, while issues of old age and the rights of elderly women take centre stage.

ART THEATRE KAROLOS KOUN – THEATRE

July 21­, 23, 24 / 21:00

July 22 / 18:30 Duration 90′

Noemi Vasileiadou

Pitted prunes

The farmer’s street market: the most genuine public space ritual par excellence. A liminal site that spells theatre more than the theatre itself. A space of exchange entirely predicated on human interaction—perhaps one of the last of its kind.

Pitted prunesis a requiem for the last remnants of a soon-to-be bygone era, a reflection on production and consumption, but, above all, a performance that insists on growing from the soil—seeds and all.

STATHMOS THEATRE—THEATRE CYCLEROOTS

July 21–23 / 21:00

July 24 / 17:30 Duration 90′

Konstantinos Ntellas

The Old Women Who Pick Nettles

How is the elderly femalebody connected to folk sorcery, cooking, and ritual practices? Threemaleperformerstake on therolesofthreewomen, bringing to life the narrative of the ageing female body, both personal and collective.

The story begins in Thessaly, a region where tradition portrays women as “witches,” inheritors of secret knowledge passed down from Medea and experts in the practice known as “drawing down the moon” or otherwise “milking the moon.” The three figures of the play recall harmless grandmothers and potent healers, at once familiar and archetypal. They speak of their lives, recounting the hardships they endured, the wisdom they received from their ancestors, and the knowledge they imparted to the next generations. Bearing the triple role of the labourer, housekeeper, and mother, these women contributed actively to their families’ livelihoods and the local community, yet they remained invisible for years—even to researchers who deemed women’s accounts unreliable and unworthy of historical record.

ODEON OF HERODES ATTICUS

Performance start time: 21:00

OPERA / NEW PRODUCTION

1, 3, 5, 6, & 8 June

Greek National Opera—Pier Giorgio Morandi—Andrei Şerban

Turandot

By Giacomo Puccini

Inspired by the magical universe of fairy tales and set to a libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, Turandot, Giacomo Puccini’s final work, premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1926 under the musical direction of Arturo Toscanini—nearly almost a century ago. As the opera remained unfinished at the time of Puccini’s death, the third act was completed by his student, Franco Alfano, while composer Luciano Berio proposed a second variation of the final act in 2001.

THEATRE / RERUN

June 18&19

National Theatre of Greece—Athens Epidaurus Festival—Lykofos Cultural Organisation

Katerina Evangelatos

Hippolytus by Euripides

Euripides’ Hippolytus, directed by Katerina Evangelatos, was a profound success for the National Theatre of Greece at Epidaurus in 2023. Following a tour at notable stages across Greece and Cyprus, as well as its appearance at the renowned Hong Kong Arts Festival—one of Asia’s most prestigious and long-standing cultural events—in March 2025, this acclaimed production returns for two performances at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This rerun is the fruit of a collaboration between the country’s leading cultural institutions, the National Theatre of Greece and the Athens Epidaurus Festival, with the support of the cultural organisation Lykofos.

CLASSICAL MUSIC CYCLE June 21 World Music Day

ERT National Symphony Orchestra—Michalis Economou

Sounds of the world

Every year, on June 21, we celebrate World Music Day with the annual concert of the ERT National Symphony Orchestra. Under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor and music director Michalis Economou, the orchestra will take us on a journey through ten different magicalworlds. During this musical voyage, audiences will experience some of the greatest masterpieces of the global symphonic repertoire, including Ravel’s Boléro, Smetana’s symphonic poem The Moldau, Elgar’s triumphant Pomp and Circumstance March, and many more.

Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857)

Orchestra overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila Ρουσλάνος και Λουντμίλα

Aram Khachaturian (1903–1978)

Adagio of Spartacus

Bedřich Smetana(1824–1884)

The Moldau

Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945) 

Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D Major, Op. 39, No.1 έργο 39, αρ. 1

Richard Wagner (1813–1883)

Rienzi overture Ριέντσι

John Adams (b.1947)

Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Yannis Constantinidis (1903–1984)

Dodecanesian Suite No. 1 αρ. 1

Arturo Márquez (b.1950)

Danzón No. 2

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

Boléro

With the participation of ERT Choir Conductor Michalis Papapetrou

June 22

Raining Pleasure

Greece’s most successful English-speaking band of the past few decades, Raining Pleasure, has carved out a unique path in the country’s music scene. Following a period away from the spotlight, frontman Vassilikos, X-Jeremy on guitars, and Jay on drums announced their reunion in 2024, returning to remind us why they became one of the leading acts in Greek pop and indie/alternative rock scenes.

23 June

Stranglers

With a mythical career spanning nearly 50 years and a distinctive, instantly recognisable sound, the Stranglers have forged a musical universe of their own. One of the longest-running bands in modern music, they began their journey in 1974, boasting a resume of countless future-proof songs and multi-million-selling albums. The timeless hits of the Stranglers have rightfully earned them a place in the pantheon of the global punk-rock scene, with “Golden Brown” standing as their crowning achievement—a true “English rose” of British culture and undeniably one of the most significant and commercially successful songs in rock history. Renowned for their downright explosive appearances—from their salad days, supporting Ramones and Patti Smith to their recent sold-out tours—the Stranglers command an audience that follows them with unrelenting passion. Their special relationship with Greek fans dates back to their legendary 1985 performance at the Rock in Athens festival at the Panathenaic Stadium, marking one of the most loyal and enduring artist-audience connections in modern rock history. Contrary to their own words in “No More Heroes”—one of their most infectious anthems—the Stranglers remain enduring musical heroes!

26 June

Michael Kiwanuka

Among the most celebrated names in contemporary music, Michael Kiwanuka—the true wunderkind of modern soul and beyond—returns to Greece to present the defining moments of his remarkable career in his first-ever appearance at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

The British musician first captured the industry’s attention with his 2012 debut album, Home Again, while his sophomore record, Love & Hate, solidified his status both artistically and commercially.

Drawing inspiration from both his African heritage and the British music scene, Michael Kiwanuka masterfully blends modern sensibilities with classic influences, moving effortlessly between soul, folk, and rock ‘n’ roll. A Mercury Prize-winner, Michael Kiwanuka has seen his songs climb to the highest chart positions and resonate deeply with audiences worldwide. With beloved tracks like “Love & Hate,” “Black Man in a White World,” and the epic “Cold Little Heart”—immortalised as the theme song of the hit series Big Little Lies, starring Nicole Kidman—Michael Kiwanuka is poisedto pull a magical evening out of thin air, set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Roman amphitheatre.

MUSIC

28 June

Athens State Orchestra - Loukas Karytinos - Emanuel Ax Works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn 

Έργα Μπετόβεν και Μέντελσον 

The display of virtuosity always elicits admiration and awe, but it is the profound spirituality and expressiveness of a performance that has the power to spark thoughts and emotions that transform us. Thesoloistswho possessbothofthesevirtues in their highest form have always been just a handful—and American pianist Emanuel Ax surely ranks among them.

This year, we have the rare fortune to applaud the talents of the exceptional performer for the second time, following last year’s concert alongside Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Υo Ma in front of an ecstatic audience. For this performance, Ax will join forces with the country’s leading symphonic ensemble, the Athens State Orchestra, in Beethoven’s imposing and dramatic Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, a work that steadfastly remains among the most celebrated concerts of the repertoire. Under the baton of its artistic director and acclaimed conductor Lukas Karytinos, the Athens State Orchestra additionally presents the majestic incidental music by Felix Mendelssohn on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Soloist Emanuel Ax

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture (Op. 21) and incidental music (Op. 61)

Myrsini Margariti soprano

Artemis Bogri, mezzo-soprano

Conductor Lukas Karytinos

Featuring the female ensemble EquábiliVocalEnsemble (Tutor—Direction: Agathangelos Georgakatos)

29 June

Air

The iconic French electronic duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel has kept European and international audiences on their toes with their forward-thinking creations since the 1990s. It is, therefore, a truly special occasion that they arrive in Athens for a one-night-only performance as part of their Moon Safari tour.Among the most celebrated groups of the European electronic scene, Air was formed in 1995 and skyrocketed to fame with their 1998 album Moon Safari, featuring timeless hits like “Sexy Boy” and adored deep-cuts like “Kelly Watch the Stars,” “All I Need,” and “Remember.” While they have released a string of albums since then—including 10 000 Hz Legend and Love 2—Moon Safari remains the pinnacle of their success, selling over two million copies worldwide.

1July

Max Richter

An early architect of contemporary orchestral and neoclassical music, Max Richter returns to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus following his triumphant 2022 performance. A versatile artistic persona—pianist, composer, orchestrator, and producer—the British artist has had a decisive impact on contemporary music through his groundbreaking work.

DANCE GREEK DEBUT

4 July

Sydney Dance Company 

Impermanence 

On July 4, we welcome Sydney Dance Company and the Zaïde Quartet to the Herodesion in the performance Impermenance, choreographed by Rafael Bonachela with original music by Bryce Dessner. This deeply moving performance, which focuses on the ephemeral nature of things and the mutability of what we take for granted and eternal, whether tangible or intangible, has been performed on international stages in New York, London and elsewhere, receiving rave reviews, following its premiere in Sydney in 2021: “Bonacella’s exquisite choreography combines contemporary ballet, yoga and modern movement, as executed with the group’s striking athleticism and fierce grace” (TimeOut).

6 July

The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra– Andrés Orozco-Estrada – Hilary Hahn 

Works by Brahms and Dvořák

In its first-ever appearance at the Roman Odeon, the Münchner Philharmonikerjoins forces with world-renowned violin soloist Hilary Hahn under the baton of charismatic conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

The Colombian maestro is celebrated for his singular performances, which stand out for their energy, elegance, and potency. His impressive track record has seen him serve as a principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Since the 2023/2024 season, he has been the principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and this year, he will be appointed General Music Director for the city of Cologne.

She has collaborated with the greatest orchestras, been entrusted with new works by the most esteemed contemporary composers, and received numerous international and prestigious awards.

Η περίφημη ορχήστρα του Μονάχου θα ερμηνεύσει τη Συμφωνία «του Νέου Κόσμου» του Ντβόρζακ, έργο-ορόσημο του ρομαντικού ρεπερτορίου, ενώ η Αμερικανίδα βιολονίστρια θα ξεδιπλώσει τη δεξιοτεχνία της στο απαιτητικό Κοντσέρτο για βιολί του Μπραμς.

Conductor Andres Orozco-Estrada

Soloist Hilary Hahn

July 8

Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall—Nicola Piovani

The Sound of Cinema

A charismatic and kaleidoscopic composer, the Oscar-winning Nicola Piovani has lent his singular touch to more than two hundred soundtracks for films by directors such as Federico Fellini, Marco Bellocchio, Mario Monicelli, the Taviani brothers, Nanni Moretti, and Roberto Benigni, among others. Born in Rome into a family of musicians, he was immersed in the world of spectacle from a tender age. As a young man, Nicola discovered the grand art of cinema through Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and Federico Fellini’s 8 ½. At just 23 years old, he met Manos Hadjidakis in Rome through the liaison of Irene Pappas and worked as his assistant on John Crowther’s The Martlet’s Tale, starring Katina Paxinou. Their partnership, in his own words, taught him the importance of intellectual freedom, which profoundly affected his subsequent musical path. Balancing nostalgia and hope, Piovani’s music is timeless and self-luminous, yet it remains inseparable from the story it accompanies. At times light-hearted and dance-like, at others romantic and sombre, his music uniquely encapsulates the impressions and imagery of the narratives it supports, giving them a second life beyond the silver screen. For the composer, emotion is paramount, taking precedence over a director’s aesthetic. His inspiration often comes from the unspoken feelings reflected in an actor’s expressions. Drawing material from his prolific body of work, the programme’s orchestral suites take us on a journey through the worlds of three giants of Italian cinema.

The Taviani Suite includes music from the films Fiorile (1993),Il sole anche di notte, (1990)—for which Piovani won the Nastro d’argento in 1991, the oldest film award in Europe—La Notte di San Lorenzo(1982), his first collaboration with the Taviani brothers; and Good MorningBabilonia (1987), which features a jazz-inflected score. From the Benigni Suite, the Athens State Orchestra performs music from La Vita è Bella (1997), an ode to the triumph of love in the face of unimaginable horrorthrough the heart-wrenching story of an Italian Jew in a concentration camp. In the film score that earned Piovani an Oscar award, the musical themes convey a sense of tragedy but also humour inherent in Benigni’s universe, endowing it with melodies of unspeakable beauty. Finally, his collaboration with the maestro of Italian cinema, Federico Fellini, is captured in the titular suite, consisting of three sections. In the film Interview (1987), a magical game of mirrors unfolds as a Japanese TV crew tries to film Fellini at work, only futilely. In La voce della luna (1990), Fellini’s swansong, an elderly musician plays his oboe for the very last time before burying it in the ground, believing that by doing so, he is silencing music itself. Only no one can lock music away. The trilogy concludes with the musical themes of Ginger and Fred (1986), which follows two once-popular dancers of the interwar period who are reunited twenty years later for a TV show. The film serves as an allegory for the cynicism in the modern-day entertainment industry, with Piovani’s music paying homage to composer Nino Rota.

July 10

Chamber Orchestra of Europe—Constantinos Carydis—Francesco Piemontesi

Works by Koukos, Liszt, Purcell, Berlioz

It is safe to say that Constantinos Carydis has secured a distinguished place among the constellation of Europe’s leading conductors. A true musical visionary, the Greek maestro—who has previously led the Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared at the Edinburgh and Salzburg Festivals, the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Covent Garden Royal Opera House in London, and the Vienna State Opera—fascinates both audiences and the musicians he conducts from the podium. His performances always bear the unmistakable imprint of his artistic personality: unexpected without being self-conscious, modern without overstating their sophistication, and profoundly musical, they accommodate a bold approach to programming that fearlessly bridges British baroque, French Romanticism, and contemporary Greek music. While they may surprise audiences upon first contact, they ultimately leave them enthralled.

This year, Carydis takes the podium of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus alongside the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (which enchanted audiences last year under Simon Rattle’s direction) for the world premiere of a work by his mentor, Periklis Koukos. A composer of international calibre and a former Artistic Director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival (2000 to 2003), Koukos has developed an instantly recognisable and admirably consistent musical language among his peers. A titan of orchestration, his award-winning compositions—including Conroy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Manuel Salinas—have been performed by esteemed European orchestras and conductors.

July 11

Youssou N’ Dour &Le Super Étoile de Dakar

A true torchbearer of African music, Youssou N’Dour has been an iconic presence on the global music scene for decades. A multi-award-winning artist with remarkable international collaborations, the Senegalese artist is one of the prime exponents of African sound and a legendary figure in world music.

At his concert at the Roman Odeon, he will be joined by the legendary Le Super Étoile de Dakar, the ensemble that has supported him since the early 1980s and one of the most authentic representatives of Senegal’s mbalax sound.

13 July

Mikis Τheodorakis—Odysseas Elytis

Axion Esti 

2025 has been proclaimed by the Ministry of Culture as the “Year of Mikis Theodorakis”, as 100 years have passed since the birth of the great composer. As part of this honourable celebration, the Athens Epidaurus Festival presents the magnificent Axion Esti, the poetic composition by Odysseus Elytis set to music by Mikis Theodorakis. A doubly emblematic work of contemporary Greek culture, Axion Esti is a popular oratorio for a folk singer, cantor, reader, mixed choir, folk instruments and symphony orchestra. Six decades after its first live performance (19 October 1964, Rex Theatre – Marika Kotopouli) we will enjoy a brilliant concert with top performers, worthy of the radiance of our national composer. Giorgos Dallaras is the folk singer and Dimitris Platanias performs the parts of the cantor, while Dimitris Katalifos recites the readings of the “Passion”. They are accompanied by the Choir of the Municipality of Athens, the ERT Choir and the Athens State Orchestra under the direction of Myron Michaelides.

15 July

Mahler Chamber Orchestra – Yuja Wang

Works by Beethoven, Chopin, Stravinsky, TchaikovskyThe Mahler Chamber Orchestra, one of Europe’s most dynamic orchestras, returns to the Herodesion 15 years after its last appearance at the Festival in 2010, conducted by the then up-and-coming Konstantinos Karidis. In this year’s concert, soloist and maestra will be the great Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, who enchanted us with her performance in 2019 at the Roman Conservatory.

17 July 

KISMET – Dave Holland / Chris Potter / Kevin Eubanks / Obed Calvaire

An emblematic figure of jazz with a legendary career, British double bassist and composer Dave Holland comes to Athens this summer, with his close collaborator Chris Potter and their new quartet Kismet, for a unique evening at the Herodesion that is expected to be a true jazz mystery.

19 July

Ντανιίλ Τρίφονοφ

Piano recital—

Works by Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Barber

One of the most fabulous pianists of our era, 34-year-old Daniil Trifonov commands an astonishingly rich repertoire, spanning from Bach and his sons to Thomas Newman’s music for the film American Beauty, from the composers of his motherland Russia to the Argentinean Alberto Ginastera, from works of Chopin and Liszt to Czech masters Dvořák and Smetana, from Schubert’s lieder to the Spanish Federico Mompou. Whether performing with the world’s leading orchestras in sublime piano concertos (who can forget his appearance at the Athens Epidaurus Festival in 2021 as a soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, together with the Athens State Orchestra?), collaborating in chamber music projects (such as his extensive tour this season with Leonidas Kavakos across major U.S. cities), or giving solo recitals (scheduled in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Greece in the 2024-25 season), Trifonov captivates audiences with his impeccable artistry and emotional depth. Often, his recitals feature works yet to be added to his already rich discography—pieces that serve as fascinating personal artistic statements.

ΟΠΕΡΑ / ΑΝΑΒΙΩΣΗ

July 26, 27, 29, 30

GreekNational Opera—Derrick Inouye—Katerina Evangelatos

Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi

Katerina Evangelatos’ bold directorial eye brings to life the story and the cycle of violence described by Verdi in the Italian countryside of the 1980s. She illuminates the contradictory, dark persona of Rigoletto through a society suffocating under the weight of religiosity, conservatism and prejudice, a society that deeply devalues women and in which organized crime prevails. The National Opera Orchestra is conducted by Derrick Inuy. 

This production was first performed with great success at the Herodes Atticus Conservatory in 2022. Its revival three years later at the same venue completes the 2024/25 artistic season of the National Opera House.

ANCIENT THEATRE OF EPIDAURUS

27, 28 & 29 June

Athens Epidaurus Festival – National Theatre Greece 

Ulrich Rasche

Antigone

by Sophocles

In recent years, Epidaurus has forged a distinct artistic identity through a series of world premieres, achieved either through co-productions with leading international institutions (Schaubühne, Schauspielhaus Bochum, and Residenztheater), by hosting acclaimed international theatre companies (such as the Comédie-Française under Tiago Rodrigues) or by commissioning prominent European directors to stage classic works of Ancient Drama, such as Frank Castorf’s Medea in 2023 and Timofey Kulyabin’s Iphigenia in Aulis in 2024, both of which featured Greek actors.

This year, Ulrich Raschereturns to the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus following his striking 2022 presentation of Aeschylus’Agamemnon in a co-production with Munich’s Residenztheater. This time, he will helm direction for Sophocles’Antigone, collaborating with a stellar cast of Greek actors. A co-production between the Athens Epidaurus Festival and the National Theatre of Greece, the performance will be presented in Epidaurus for just three nights only.

For those who witnessed Agamemnon, the ecstatic energyof the performers as they moved ceaselessly atop a vast motorised revolving stage,accompanied by live music, remains indelible. Now, Rasche takes his radical stage language even further, using the unrivalled translation of N. Panagiotopoulos to bring the timeless figure of Antigone to life. The performance will inaugurate the Festival’s programme on the final weekend of June and is poised to leave the most profound artistic imprint on the anniversary year of 2025.

4 & 5 July         ΠΡΕΜΙΕΡΑ

Poreia Theatre – Dimitris Tarlow

Electra

by Sophocles

Poreia Theatre returns to Epidaurus, with Artistic DirectorDimitris Tarlowmaking his directorial debut at the Argolic theatre with Sophocles’ Electra.

In a world plagued by totalitarianism and social injustice and an era where violence and revenge are often portrayed as “necessary evil,” Sophocles’ Electra takes on an eerie relevance. Far from being merely a tale of vengeance, this tragedy becomes a mirror that reflects humanity’s moral dilemmas and, foremost, the eternal conflict between justice and ethics.

11 & 12 July       ΠΡΕΜΙΕΡΑ

National Theatre of Northern Greece – Cyprus Theatre Organisation Michael Marmarinos

ζ – η – θ

The guest

A return to the sources: a visit to three Odyssey rhapsodies

In the afterglow of two performances that were destined to linger in memory, NEKYIA—presented with the Japanese theatre troupe NOH in 2015—and Sophocles’ Trackers in 2021, Michail Marmarinos revisits the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus with another riveting dramaturgical proposal, this time in collaboration with the National Theatre of Northern Greece and the Cyprus Theatre Organisation. In this new work, he orchestrates a return to the sources through a journey to three rhapsodies of the Homeric epic, confirming once more that the boundless mystery of oral Storytelling (the cavernous mystery of Theatre itself) continues to thrillingly propel us “to where history still happens”.

19 July

Utopia – Theodoros Kourentzis 

Gustav Mahler 

Songs on the Death of Children (Kindertotenlieder) 

Symphony No. 4

Each concert announcement by Teodor Currentzis stirs high expectations and waves of anticipation as the charismatic conductor’s performances guarantee profound artistic experiences for the audiences of music lovers worldwide. Indeed, those who filled the Odeon Herodes of Atticus in the summer of 2023 for Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony, conducted by Teodor Currentzis and performed by Utopia, witnessed a concert that remains indelibly etched in their memory. After all, this is not the first time that the profuse musical personality of Currentzis has engaged with the emblematic Austrian composer and “fellow” conductor. However, this evening will involve something unprecedented.

Where else could one have the unique opportunity to attest to the grandeur of the Mahlerian oeuvre—one that challenges the listener’s intellectual and emotional cosmos through its existential reflections and metaphysical agonies—while immersed in that particular emotional atmosphere that the otherworldly landscape of Epidaurus evokes? Moreover, when the musicians in the theatre’s cavea are guided by the baton of Currentzis, this can only guarantee a thrilling result—truly “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude,” as Aristotle himself epitomised.

Στο δεύτερο μέρος της βραδιάς, η κοντράλτο Eve Maud Hubeaux θα ερμηνεύσει τα σπαρακτικά Songs on the Death of Children (Kindertotenlieder) (Kindertotenlieder), τον κύκλο τραγουδιών που συνέθεσε ο Μάλερ (1901-1904) σε φόρμα ορχηστρικών λίντερ, μελοποιώντας πέντε ποιήματα του Φρίντριχ Ρίκερτ.

25 & 26 July ΠΡΕΜΙΕΡΑ

Athens Epidaurus Festival—Lykofos Cultural Organisation

Yannis Chouvardas 

Oedipus

The story of a transformation: from darkness to light

Celebrating fifty years of unwavering theatrical presence, Yannis Houvardas translates, adapts, and directs Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus into a unified work on stage. Under the guidance of the seasoned Greek director, an ensemble of distinguished actors and contributors will recount, with the accompaniment of live music, the shattering story of Oedipus—starting from the end and moving backwards to the birth of his tragic fate.,Now blind and in the twilight of his years, Oedipus, together with his close relatives, arrives at ancient Colonus—a place of mystery scattered with sacred burial monuments. There, through divine intervention, they will access the sacred secrets and finally learn the reasons they have undergone such tormented lives. Throughout this transition, the characters, alongside Oedipus, relive the devastating events of “Rex” and witness the hero’s final elevation and ascension to the heavens as they once again approach the divine spirit, as detailed in Oedipus at Colonus.

1 & 2 August

Athens Epidaurus Festival—La Colline – théâtre national 

Wajdi Mouawad

The Oath of Europe / Le Serment d’Europe

Lebanese-Canadian author, director, and actor Wajdi Mouawad—Artistic Director of La Colline – théâtre nationalin recent years—became known to the Greek audience primarily for his screenplay for the Oscar-nominated foreign-language film Incendies (directed by Dennis Villeneuve in 2010), based on his titular theatrical play. This ominous travelogue of Lebanon, which unfolds through a traumatic family story amid a country caught up in the maelstrom of civil war, shares a profound affinity with ancient tragedy, Mouawad’s principal source of inspiration: the schism at the heart of family, the struggle between genders, uprooting, the dire reality bequeathed from the previous generation to the next, and the search for catharsis are themes that resurface in his plays, many of which are directly informed by Ancient Drama heroes/heroines. Politically charged and in direct dialogue with contemporary history, Mouawad’s theatrical work touches upon Myth in the same breath, seeking to illuminate the archetypal dimensions of the human condition regardless of place and time. At the same time, it delves into the search for identity beyond racial, religious, and familial boundaries, while his bold lyrical language lends the characters a distinctly contemporary sensibility, as we witnessed in his most recent play, Birds of a Kind, presented last year at the National Theatre.

Mouawad first appeared at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in 2011 with the international co-production Des Femmes, a modular adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, Electra, and Women of Trachis that featured a French-Canadian troupe.

As one of the most compelling dramaturgs worldwide, he returns to the Festival this year as a newcomer to Epidaurus with a new work inspired by the heroines of Ancient Drama. Commissioned as part of the Contemporary Ancients Cycle, the performance will be presented on the first weekend of August by a multinational cast in a multilingual format—an international co-production set to become a highlight of the summer.

8 & 9 August

Μaria Protopappa

Andromache

by Euripides

We are transported far from the great city-states, deep into the Greek countryside: to Thessaly, Phthiotis, and, finally, Thetideion—to the house of Neoptolemus, Achilles’ son. The fierce, ruthless, and irreverent hero of the Iliad, the one who cemented the victory of the Greeks at Troy, now proves incapable of fulfilling his roles as a father, husband, and leader. He flees in search of a cure at Apollo’s oracle in Delphi. His war-fuelled frenzy has tainted his marital bed, his house, and his city. Before the eyes of the woman he irreparably wronged, he will receive the retribution known as “the punishment of Neoptolemus.” The country, the province, now decimated, is represented by a grotesque Chorus of women—abandoned, fearful, resigned, and bewildered.

In an inversion of the heroic Iliad, Euripides in Andromache lays bare the arrogance of the Greeks and the illusion of their cultural superiority. The pre-war promises of a united and mighty nation are dispelled amid a landscape ripe with decay, ageing, fear, and envy. The burden of responsibility falls not only on the architects of destruction but also on those who placed their beliefs in them and played a part in the collapse of values through their complacency. It is the next generation that must pay the price.

RE-OCCURRENCE

22 & 23 Αugust

National Theatre Greece – Theodoros Terzopoulos

Oresteia 

by Aeschylus

Aeschylus’ iconic trilogy, Oresteia, directed by Theodoros Terzopoulos—in the first collaboration of the internationally celebrated director and teacher with the National Theatre—stands as one of the most remarkable achievements in recent Greek theatre history. Following its triumphant tourat select locations, this landmark performance returns to the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus on August 22 & 23, drawing the curtain for this year’s Epidaurus cycle.

In the hands of Theodoros Terzopoulos, Oresteia becomes a performance of profound intellectual and philosophical depth that, through its astonishing energy, broadens the boundaries of art and, ultimately, recounts the history of humanity itself. Both a political gesture and a multidimensional spiritual experience, the play was enthusiastically embraced by the thousands of spectators who witnessed it, as well as by national and international media.

Following its premiere at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus in 2024, its tour across Greece and Cyprus, and its presentation in Vicenza, Italy, where it inaugurated the 77th Ciclo di Spettacoli Classici at the historical Teatro Olimpico, this unique performance returns to the place where it commenced its fascinating journey to offer all of us the opportunity to relive it one more time.

EXHIBITION SPACE OF THE FESTIVAL

27 June– 23 August

Antigone. Law and Disobedience

Periodical Exhibition

On the occasion of the world premiere of Ulrich Rasche’s Antigone—a co-production of the Athens Epidaurus Festival and the National Theatre of Greece—the exhibition space of the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus hosts a new temporary exhibition titled Antigone. Law and Disobedience.

Open to the public alongside the performances at the Argolic theatre, the exhibition traces the transformations of one of ancient drama’s most iconic works—a play that has profoundly shaped Western modern consciousness—through its multiple iterations over the seventy-year history of the Epidaurus Festival.

Rare and precious documentsfrom the Athens Epidaurus Festival, along with materials from other cultural organisations and theatre companies in Greece and abroad—including photographs, costumes, set models, music scores, and audiovisual material—bring to life key instances of the Epidaurus history. Further, the exhibition traces the palimpsest of theatrical performance through a historical lens, inviting visitors to reflect on Antigone’s enduring themes, such as the notion of law and disobedience as both personal and political choices, the tragic internal contradictions of justice, the conflict between customary and political law as well as between family and state, and the agonising personal dilemmas in times of civil unrest.

27 June– 23 August

“The Little Trackers”

Children’s creative workshop in Epidaurus

Little Trackers, the successful theatre education programme that familiarises children with the wonderful and mysterious world of ancient myths, is back again this year! While parents and grown-ups attend the performances at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, children engage in a creative exploration of the very same play on a whole other level!Led by a team of experienced theatre educators and specialists in music and movement, the program offers a rich and immersive artistic experience tailored to young audiences.

Fridays and Saturdays

during the performances

at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus

For children 5-10 years old As part of the International Network of Ancient Drama

LITTLE THEATRE OF ANCIENT EPIDAURUS ΑΡΧΑΙΑΣ ΕΠΙΔΑΥΡΟΥ 

Performance start time: 21:30

4 & 5 July

Olia Lazaridou

A lonely Thebes

by Kyriakos Charitos

Inspired by Sophocles’  Antigone

Memory is nothing but language. In the long-forsaken countryside, a voice searches for a girl once called Antigone. The city awakens and begins to remember, shifting in and out of dreams. Its pieces flicker with life, lingering fleetingly before dissolving into dust again.

Award-winning writer and screenwriter Kiriakos Charitos (recipient of the State Award for Children’s Literature 2023) forges a folk fable inspired by the myth of Antigone, directed by Olia Lazaridou. Eschewing the linearity of a work that the audience knows by heart, Thēbae Desertaemoves both forwards and backwards, possessing the form of a murmur and the shape of a song.

Oscillating between verse and prose, the narration remains in close rapport with the music performed live on stage. Actors and musicians assemble a dreamlike band that, at times, speaks, sings, or chants, transporting us to a land strewn with fragments of memory, like other burial offerings.

The performance is conceptually linked to the inaugurating Festival production at Epidaurus (Sophocles’ Antigone, directed by Ulrich Rasche).Antigone του Σοφοκλή σε σκηνοθεσία Ulrich Rasche).

11 & 12 July

Christos Stergioglou – Alexandros Drakos Ktistakis

CRIES

Christos Stergioglou—Alex Drakos Ktistakis

What music lies inside “the thought of the refugee, the thought of the prisoner, the thought of the man reduced to merchandise,” as the poet Giorgos Seferis wrote in The Last Stop?From the wailing of Hecuba, soon to become a slave after the fall of Troy in Euripides’ The Trojan Women? Or from the woes of people who have experienced slavery throughout their lives?

Questions like these served as a guiding light in an intricate research process that sought to bridge ancient and modern poetry with music, leading them into uncharted territory. In the process, a unified musical work was born—one that addresses timeless and universal human concerns.

Οι CRIES είναι μια παράσταση που, με άξονα τη σκλαβιά, τον ξεριζωμό και τη μετανάστευση ανά τους αιώνες, διερευνά τα σημεία τομής και την οργανική συγγένεια ανάμεσα στην ποίηση, το Αρχαίο Δράμα και το μέλος, τη μουσική.

Fragments of ancient tragedies, verses from demotic, modern Greek, and world poetry, as well as original texts, merge into an original music score that bears the signature of AlexDrakos Ktistakis. The work is performed by the Alex Drakos Quartet, engaging in a vivid onstage dialogue with charismatic performers such as Christos Stergioglou—director of the performance, among others—and baritone opera singer Georgios Iatrou. 

18 July

Hellenic Film Academy –Athens Epidaurus Festival

Electra 7 

A collective film inspired by  Sophocles’ Electra 

Another unexpected partnership on the occasion of the Athens Epidaurus Festival’s seventy-year celebration takes centre stage! This time, the Festival joins forces with the Hellenic Film Academy to produce a film inspired by Sophocles’ Electra. Part of the fruitful Contemporary Ancients Cycle, which now extends to the realm of cinema, the film, scripted by Panayotis Christopoulos, will consist of seven chapters—just as the Festival counts seven decades!—each one directed by a different filmmaker. Seven distinguished film auteurs, both women and men, with a track record in Greek and international film festivals, were selected to represent the diverse landscape of contemporary Greek filmmaking and contribute their unique perspectives to this imaginative cinematic relay. These are in alphabetical order: Sofia Exarchou, Christina Ioakeimidi, Babis Makridis, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, Elina Psykou, Alexander Voulgaris, and Neritan Zinxhiria. Executive producer duties are handled by producer Mina Dreki on behalf of Marni Films. Each filmmaker will collaborate with different directors of photography and editors, while a shared team of contributors and actors will unite the chapters.

25 & 26 July

THEATRE 

Giannis Skourletis—bijoux de kant

To the Right of the Creek

by Yannis Palavos

Inspired by Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus

War session 

by Aris Alexandris 

Inspired by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata

The Contemporary Ancients Cycle presents two female monologues inspired by Ancient Drama, directed by Giannis Skourletis, and acquaints us with their creators—Greek authors Giannis Palavos and Aris Alexandris. Commissioned by the Festival, they both turn to the well of ancient myths for guidance and succeed in unearthing their contemporary dimensions through a pair of imaginative and thought-provoking plays.

Author of the short-story collections The Joke (State Prize for Short Story 2013) and The Child, Giannis Palavos relies on Oedipus at Colonus to cast a new light on the archetypal father-daughter relationship.Through the monologue of a woman who traces the life of her father—a wandering folklore musician in the Greek countryside—the play paints the portrait of a man persecuted and outcast, much like his mythical counterpart, with his daughter as his sole refuge.

Having just released his second book, Tria epi Psychis (2024), Aris Alexandris (winner of the State Prize for a Promising Author 2023 for his novel How Ignatius Karathodoris lost everything), on his part, revisits Lysistrata to offer a hilarious monologue on the decline of sex in the digital age, reframing it as an unprecedented and peculiar war—one fought on the battlefield of the human body.

August 2

Seeds (M. & C. Kalkanis) ft. Alcmini

The Other Gaze

How do the arts of poetry and storytelling interact with music to forge a new sonic environment? How potent is a voice singing a capella, and what exactly changes when it converses with sounds and other instruments? Do the timbres of acoustic instruments harmonise more naturally with verses from the past, and what happens when electronic sounds and loops enter the scene? Can poetic recitation or storytelling resonate in our ears like a musical instrument?

Seeds—the duet of Mihalis and Christos Kalkanis—explore the boundaries where music meets poetry, storytelling, and traditional song. With them, Alcmini—among the most promising voices in the realm of traditional song and member of the all-female vocal group Chóres— conveys the spirit of timeless melodies to today.

This performance draws inspiration from nature and memory. Nature, with its gifts, wisdom, complexity, and simultaneous simplicity, is under greater threat than ever before. Yet, it remains our primary inspiration resource and shows us the way forward. Memory is our history, our tradition, our roots—without them, the tree cannot grow tall. Music, poetry, stories, and traditional songs intertwine with nature and memory in this performance, seeking to bring us closer to our roots, closer to ourselves.

August 9

Miltos Logiadis–Aliki Kayaloglou—TheDProject 

A tribute to Astor Piazzolla

Perhaps it was written in the stars when the great Nadia Boulanger advised Astor Piazzola to let his artistic vision roam free—gifting us as such a new word of unspeakable beauty, a world that had not existed before him.

It was in the mid-1940s when Astor Piazzolla first fused Argentine tango with jazz and classical music, drawing from an endless well of inspiration and proposing new combinations of timbres—where passion met dreamlike reverie and virtuosity. In recent years, soloists and ensembles across the world have brought Piazzolla’s music to the stage. Manos Hadjidakis introduced him to Greek audiences in 1991, and from the very first moment, they embraced his music with love.

For this concert, percussion soloist Dimitris Dessyllas has formed The D Project, an ensemble created especially for the occasion. Joined by the legendary Aliki Kayaloglou and conducted by Miltos Logiadis, they step into the enchanting world of Nuevo Tango—a remarkable meeting of distinguished Greek musicians with the work of the great Argentine maestro

August 16

Maria Farantouri—Tasis Christoyannis

Enraptured night—100 years of Mikis Theodorakis

This year marks a century from the birth of one of the most influential composers in Greek history, Mikis Theodorakis. On this bright occasion, Maria Farantouri, the iconic female performer behind the composer’s oeuvre, and Tasis Christoyannis, one of the most distinguished baritone singers of our era, join their voices for a repertoire that highlights the profound lyricism of Theodorakis’ multifaceted musical legacy. As the composer himself once noted: “I like to believe that the bulk of my work—from the simplest song to the most intricate symphonic composition—belongs to a single musical unity.”

August 23

Miltos Logiadis—Antonis Sousamoglou

Songs of the Interwar

Miltos Logiadis and Antonis Sousamoglou present a song palimpsest from the interwar period in Greece and Europe—an era that appeared carefree on its surface, yet it foreshadowed one of the darkest chapters in human history.

In the Greek context specifically, it was a time when the bourgeois song crossed paths with the amanés from Smyrna and the German cabaret, a period where the country was trying to carve out its musical identity in the wake of the Asia Minor Catastrophe while art music flourished in parallel. At the same time, pivotal figures of Greek music, such as Kostas Giannidis, Souyioul, Attik, Nikos Skalkottas, Vassilis Tsitsanis, and Giannis Papaioannou, were co-existing within a common legacy, albeit each one in his own music realm.

August 30

Marina Spanou

Singer-songwriter Marina Spanou presents a unique musical performance infused with theatrical elements at the Little Theatre of Epidaurus, pairing her own compositions—many of which were born in Palaia Epidaurus—with works by contemporary artists who have graced the ancient stage with their works.

Having formed a deep, personal bond with this place since childhood, Spanou grew up on the theatre’s stone tiers. It was the songs that accompanied the great performances held in Epidaurus that became the soundtrack of her earliest memories. Every summer, she returns to what she calls her dear neighbourhood—a place tied to her adolescence, her first steps into adulthood, her most fervent loves, and, of course, the music that later shaped her very own songworld.

On this Saturday evening, just before the curtain call of August, she invites us to revisit the Epidaurus each of us carries within—the personal sanctuary we return to—and reflect on how simple melodies, born on balconies, spread their wings and find their place on stage, always guided by childhood memories. The theatre’s orchestra will be filled with confessional stories, musical journeys, and flashes of youth. Old theatrical songs will live once more, intertwined with new ones—songs written for these places, the places we return to year after year, where we leave a piece of ourselves behind. Places where we meet our younger selves, race once again against them and perhaps realise that we should listen to them a little more often.

STUDIO RESIDENCY 

June 16–28

Parodos

Polis—Citizen—Politics | The Unsung Hero in Tragedy 

Parodos, the interdisciplinary research programme (studio residency), seeks to grant artists from a diverse artistic spectrum the opportunity to advanceunder ideal conditions their research on the dramaturgy of Ancient Drama in situ. The research process has a practical character and is developed in two stages: the first (research) takes place in Athens and the second (application) at the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus. This year, director Dimitris Karantzas has been tasked with the general coordination and supervision of the programme.

By Venia Pastaka

Art Historian

An exceptional exhibition dedicated to the important painter Panayiotis Tetsis  (1925 – 2016) opens on 10 April at the National Gallery, curated by Efi Agathonikos.

Works from the whole spectrum of his artistic career unfold a life course dedicated to painting. The exhibition includes 160 works, most of which belong to the collection of the National Gallery and have been donated by the artist himself (he has donated a total of 224 works to the Gallery), while 64 come from private collections and foundations.

Panayiotis Tetsis was an academic, an artist, a teacher at the Athens School of Fine Arts, President of the Artistic Committee and the Board of Directors of the National Gallery. A lover of colour, he found an occasion for painting even in the simplest subject. Starting from his saying “What I paint is me”, the visitor is introduced to the artist’s visual world, learns about his early stimuli and follows how his eye was shaped over the years. From the emblematic  Street Market  and the multiple variations of his favourite islands, Hydra and Sifnos, the amazing era of Paris, the portraits of his friends, the views of Athens, the still lifes and flowers of his favourite people, the commissioned works such as the one in Kathimerini and Mont Parnes, the boats and the seas, his prints and watercolours are presented.

The exhibition does not follow a strict chronological order, something he avoided doing when he was alive as he did not recognize periods, since it was not rare for a work he had started in the 1950s to be completed in the 2010s. In this way, a painterly microcosm is created, an immersion in the artist’s psyche that aims to better understand his work and his temperament. Extremely interesting are his famous “Black” works, a visual translation of how the sunlight is translated in terms of colour when it is at its peak, burning the surfaces, as well as the amazing psychographic sculptural portrait of Praxitelis Tzanoulinos, which captures the figure of the important teacher exactly as he was, sweet and noble, for anyone who knew him.

The exhibition presents a series of watercolours by the artist  Veronika Hadjifani Lorenzetti, executed at a scale of 1:1 from live fruit specimens. These works offer a faithful and striking representation of the biodiversity of Cyprus’ fruit. The main objective of the exhibition is to transmit to younger generations the importance of preserving ancient fruit varieties, which represent not only a cultural and national heritage, but also a precious treasure of biodiversity that needs to be protected. These fruits – grapes, figs and other varieties – which bear witness to the economic and social development of Cyprus, are in danger of disappearing and the exhibition aims to raise public awareness of the importance of their preservation.

Botanical art plays a fundamental role in preserving the memory of these varieties, combining aesthetic beauty and scientific value. Botanical illustrations make it possible to accurately depict the morphological characteristics of the various species, contributing to their identification and conservation. The exhibition is a valuable pictorial contribution to the conservation of the biodiversity of the fruits of Cyprus.

Veroniki Hadjifani Lorenzetti was born in Kalavasos, Cyprus and grew up in Larnaca. She studied Commercial Design at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University). She has worked as a freelancer in the fields of advertising and publishing between Milan and Rome. Since 1992, he has devoted himself mainly to physiognostic and botanical painting, always at 1:1 scale and using a stereoscope, carrying out thorough research on the endemic plants and ancient fruit varieties of Cyprus and Italy, as well as other plants. He now lives between Italy and Cyprus and works all over Europe.

Exhibition Opening:   10 April 2025, at 20:00-22:00

Venue:  House of Cyprus-Cultural Centre|   Xenofontos 2Α,   Athens

Exhibition Duration: 10 April – 25 April 2025

Working Hours: Monday, Wednesday| 10:00 – 19:00

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday| 10:00 – 15:00

Curated by: Paola Lorenzetti

Coordinated by:  Maria Ragia

The first work of contemporary art to be permanently exhibited in an archaeological site in Greece is an anthropomorphic sculptural installation by British artist Anthony Gormley, in the exterior of the Archaeological Museum of Delos, following the completion of the first donation by the NEON organization to the Ministry of Culture.

The original work RULE was created by Gormley as a new commission from NEON as part of the SIGHT exhibition held on the island of Delos between May and October 2019. RULE II (2019) is on permanent display at the archaeological site as a reference point for the conversation between classical and contemporary culture.

Delos is the ideal place for such an “experiment”. Although it is now a ruin, the classical past of the place was quite different. A religious centre of the Cyclades and a sacred island of Apollo, Delos was also a bustling, cosmopolitan port. A place where people from all over the Mediterranean coexisted. A place open to contrasts and innovations.

Gormley, like so many others, was fascinated by the energy of the island, which was the driving force behind the design and implementation of the exhibition.

The seated figure, formed by cubes that clearly refers to the digital era, found its permanent place on the outskirts of the archaeological site of Delos. The installation itself, with the “oxidized” iron sculpture next to the white marble figure and the capstone, emphasizes the central idea of the coexistence of the classical and the contemporary, just as it had since the SIGHT exhibition.

Obviously, the artist’s aim was not to accurately capture a historical figure, but to capture the body in space and time. It is an invitation to the visitor to interact with the work. The stillness of the sculpture is “open” to interpretation.

Both the temporary exhibition SIGHT and the permanent exhibition of RULE II Delos are the result of the collaboration between the NEON Organization, the Ministry of Culture, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades and of course the artist. It paves the way for other similar initiatives and a new approach to archaeological sites and cultural heritage, which can be an inspiration rather than an inaccessible space.

In the heart of the ancient city of Lefkada, the first theatre in the Ionian Islands, a magnificent monument, which due to its position, dominates the ancient city, has come to light. 

Ancient Lefkada, which was founded before the end of the 7th century BC by the Corinthian sea rulers at the northeastern end of the island, was a powerful city-state, which, thanks to its strategic position on the sea routes, the shipping routes to the north and west, as well as its port, experienced great economic and cultural prosperity. The rescue excavations of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Aitoloakarnania and Lefkada, in the context of public or private projects, have revealed extensive archaeological remains, such as parts of the walls, the settlement, the cemeteries and the harbour.

The only systematic excavation on the island, after the major excavations of W. Dörpfeld, was carried out in recent years, with the aim of bringing to light its most emblematic monument, the theatre. Its location is about 3km south of the modern town of Lefkada, on the northeastern slope of the middle hill of Koulmos, on a hillside overgrown with olive trees, with a panoramic view of the channel and the coastal plain, where the ancient town was spread out. Very little was known until the year 2015 about the theatre and came from the test cuts made in 1901 by E. Kruger, W. Dörpfeld’s partner, which are included in his book Alt Ithaka. The sections were recorded after the work was completed and the location of the theatre over time was no longer known, as it was entirely covered by olive groves and makeshift bunkers. The particular geomorphological characteristics of the area and the ancient remains on the surface helped in the re-discovery of the theatre’s location in 1997, by the then competent Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities. In 2015, under the direction of Dr. Olympia Vikatou, concerted efforts for the systematic excavation of the theatre began, which finally succeeded, after the cooperation with the then mayor of Lefkada, Mr. K. Drakontaidis, and the support of the association DIAZOMA. In the first test cuts, at the expense of the Municipality, the first test cuts identified the epi-holes, the orchestra and the retaining wall of the stage.

The systematic excavation began in 2017 by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Aitoloakarnania and Lefkada, with funding from the Region of the Ionian Islands (100.000€) and the Municipality of Lefkada (100.000€), through a Programmatic Agreement with the Ministry of Culture. The excavation started on the property of Mikronis, who gave his consent to start work before the completion of the expropriation process. In just five excavation periods and until 2023, the archaeological dig uncovered the large, impressive theatre. The systematic excavation is directed by Dr. Olympia Vikatou, Director General of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, and then Head of the Ephorate, while the scientific team includes archaeologists Vivian Staikou and Varvara Giza, topographical engineer Georgios Lolos, architect Nikos Hadjidakis and art conservator Aphrodite Tligada.

The excavation was particularly difficult and demanding, since many large olive trees had to be removed, extensive excavations had to be made, newer structures had to be deconstructed and many architectural elements had to be moved. The survey has largely uncovered the hollow, the orchestra and frieze, the lanes, the hollow’s retaining walls, and most of the stage. The state of preservation of the monument, especially in the upper part of the cave, is not good, as a result of human activity either in ancient or modern times and the cultivation of the property. The theatre is oriented NE/SW and is divided by 13 staircases (0,72-0,78m wide) into 12 stands. In the lower part of the hollow, the stalls and the presbytery are preserved in better condition, especially in the central area, as the limestone slabs of their covering, the terraces of the stairs and the aisle slabs are also preserved . The main theatre has 21 rows of seats, and above the 21st row there was probably a frieze. Above the diazome, three rows are formed in the rock and the rest of the theatre is formed in a single slope. It is likely that the epitheatre was not completed. The seating capacity of the theatre in the 24 rows was about 3,500 spectators; when fully developed with the epitheatre, it is estimated that it would have held about 10,000 to 11,000 spectators.

The presidencies were also found to consist of two seats joined together, with a total length of 2.60m. The orchestra, partly carved into the natural rock, is a complete circle with an external diameter of 16.65m and is surrounded by a stone frame, consisting of three rows of stones each height, which at the base of their face have a cymosity and a band at the top. On the outside of the orchestra, at a lower level, was partially investigated, the particularly elaborate in its construction, frieze.

One of the most interesting elements of the research is the discovery of parts of three stone thrones, elaborately decorated with lion’s feet, dolphins, birds, siren etc., which were intended for prominent persons, priests or officials of the city and later of the Acarnanian Community.

The two retaining walls of the cave are preserved at a length of 28 m. and 20.40 m., the north and the south respectively. The stage building, 20.00 m long and about 13 m wide, is preserved at the foundation level of the pillar. Numerous fragments of sandstone columns and parts of the architrave allow the reconstruction of the Ionic façade of the lodge, which had 16 semi-columns. On either side of the Ionic stoa were ramps, 9 m long, leading to the lodge, i.e. the roof of the stoa where the actors appeared. At the beginning of each ramp the passages were closed with gates. The strong retaining wall, located 13 m behind the proscenium and at a much lower level, is the eastern boundary of the stage building.

As for the chronology of the monument, it seems that its construction began in the 4th century BC, like other public buildings, when the city experienced great economic prosperity and flourishing. Construction details, however, suggest that it was also altered later. In Roman times it followed the fate of the rest of the city, which gradually declined, and with the foundation of Nicopolis by Octavian Augustus in 31 BC, a large part of the Lefkadians were forced to settle in the new city. It was probably abandoned after the end of antiquity and much of its material was detached for later constructions, some of which were built on the hollow. Although damaged by time, but mainly by human intervention, the theatre, fully and harmoniously integrated into the geomorphology of the hill, with a panoramic view of the wider area, is undoubtedly the most important and imposing monument that has come to light in ancient Lefkada.

The upper part of the hollow and part of the scene will be investigated after the Ministry of Culture has completed the expropriation, which was planned during the visit of the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni to Lefkada in 2020. Under the Programme Agreement, the theatre restoration study and the stone conservation study have already been prepared, which, if examined by the KAS and approved, then the monument is absolutely ripe, as a project, to be included in a co-funded programme. For the implementation of the excavation thanks are expressed to the Regional Governors Spyridon Galiatsatos, Rodi Kratsa Tsagaropoulou, and Ioannis Trepeklis, as well as to the Mayors Konstantinos Drakontaidis, Charalambos Kalos and Xenophon Verginis, which during their tenure all signed and proceeded to the Programmatic Agreement with the Ministry of Culture.

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