One painting and sculpture group exhibition, six music concerts and one children's narrative performance are combined harmoniously again this year in the eight events included to the program of Megaro Gyzi Festival 2012, for the 6th year under the artistic direction of Yannis Papaconstantinou.

The festival will take place from August 1st until 23rd at Megaro Gyzi Cultural Centre, one of the few 17th-century old family mansions (near the cable-car entrance in Fira, Santorini).

Free admission to all events.

For the analytical 16-paged bilingual  program of the Megaro Gyzi Festival 2012 please click the cover (for the brief program click the banner).

Communication Sponsors of the Festival:

Communication Sponsor of the painting & sculpture exhibition:

Communication Sponsor of the jazz concerts:

"MEMORIES"

The Megaro Gyzi Festival 2012 raises curtain on Wednesday August 1st with the opening of the painting and sculpture group exhibition, titled “Memories”, which brings together eight acclaimed Greek artists. The six participating painters are: Chryssa Verghi, Tassos Dimos, Petros Karavevas, Andreas Kontellis, Christos Pallantzas and Elena Papadimitriou, while the two participating sculptors are Aggelika Korovessi and Aggelos Panayiotidis.

An exhibition of artistic works, where the light, the sea, the sun, the nature, the landscape, the still lifes, but also the portraits, the female presence, the nude and the erotic mood, are all subjects put together to synthesize the "Memories" of this group exhibition in August, an artistic journey to emotion, memory and free coherence. The painting works of the exhibition are combined with the solid sculptural shapes and forms, with sculptural compositions where olive tree, leaves, wreaths, fish, swallows, space, time, sound, movement, balance form an aesthetic effect of high sculptural technique

The exhibition is organized and curated by Yannis Papaconstantinou, Artistic Director of Megaro Gyzi.

Opening of exhibition: 1st August 2012, 21:00
Duration of exhibition: 1 - 23 August 2012

click for the exhibition΄s invitation

click for the exhibition΄s poster

The festival's musical journey begins on 4/8 with the unique piano triet AXA: One Piano, Six Hands. Three pianists on one piano, six hands that explore the limits "of the enigmatic box with the long strings", as the composer Alfred Schnittke once described the piano. The German Anne Salié, the Greek Xenia Kourkoumeli and the Ukrainian Alina Pronina had each one a remarkable career with significant studies and awards, before they form the piano triet “Some handsome hands” in Germany in 2004, which has been recently renamed to "AXA: One Piano, Six Hands". The ensemble has given concerts around the world and has won major awards in related international events. The three pianists combine classical and contemporary music, providing the audience with an original experience for the eyes and the ears.

Anne Salié (Germany), piano
Xenia Kourkoumeli (Greece), piano
Alina Pronina (Ukraine), piano

click for the concert΄s poster

"Rainbows, Moons and Bicycles"

The festival continues on 7/8 with an unexpected music surprise from the singer Elly Paspala and the pianist Takis Farazis, a piano-voice program, titled "Rainbows, Moons and Bicycles", from two artists who will travel us to past and present English language love (and not only) songs, reviving the charm of another era in today's dream! The unique singer Elly Paspala, sometimes tender, sometimes explosive, along with the virtuoso pianist Takis Farazis, awakens memories of our loves that we have lived and live. The past and the present of the English language love songs by two great Greek artists!

Elly Paspala, vocals
  Takis Farazis, piano

click for the concert΄s poster

“Is it true or I dreamed?”

A children's narrative performance with stories and traditional tales for children and adults, titled “Is it true or I dreamed?”, is unfolded on 10/8 by the storyteller Sassa Voulgari, whose style has influenced the younger generations of storytellers. Sassa is well known for her involvement with the traditional art of storytelling for the last twenty years, collaborating particularly with main museums as Benaki, Cycladic Art, Goulandris Natural History and many more. Her extensive experience leads to a different and more improvisational approach to her material, experimenting with a more modern form of performance. 

Sassa Voulgari, educational psychologist - story teller

click for the performance΄s poster

Start time: 20:30

Duration of performance: 60-70΄

"To the hatches of the time"

Notis Mavroudis, celebrating five decades in the music, offers us on 13/8 a unique journey "To the hatches of the time"! We will enjoy timeless songs by Notis Mavroudis from different eras, driven by two guitars, with colors, thrills and whispers. His companion is Morfo Tsaireli and Christos Konstantopoulos (vocals), George Tossikian (guitar) and Manos Avarakis (harmonica & wind instruments). Seeking to communicate through songs that marked our sensitivity over time ... through the hatches of the time!        

A special recital of classical music for violin and piano takes place on 17/8 by DUO EDAN, the two outstanding virtuoso soloists from Vienna, the Hungarian violinist Édua Zádory and the Ukrainian pianist Anastasiia Dombrovska. Édua and Anastasiia formed a duo with passion, personality and an astonishing homogeneity, where the boisterous and confident interpretation of Zadory is in perfect artistic harmony with the fiery and impetuous playing of Dombrovska.

Édua Zádory, violin
Anastasiia Dombrovska, piano

click for the concert΄s poster

The journey continues on 20/8 with Takis Barberis Group in a special coexistence between East and West, where jazz music meets magically funk and rock but also the Indian, Balkan and Greek music. Takis Barberis on guitar, one of the most important Greek jazzmen, interprets both older and new unreleased compositions of him accompanied by Manos Saridakis on piano, Yiorgos Georgiadis on bass and Michalis Kapilidis on drums.

Takis Barberis, guitar
Manos Saridakis, piano
Yiorgos Georgiadis, bass
Michalis Kapilidis, drums

click for the concert΄s poster

"POINT TWO"

The program of Megaro Gyzi Festival 2012 is concluded on 23/8 with “Point Two”, a meeting of two Greek musicians "of the world", the leading internationally vibraphonist and composer Christos Rafalides, founder of the renowned jazz group "Manhattan Vibes", and the significant bassist and composer Petros Klampanis, with guest the top percussionist Bodek Janke. Through the prism of their experiences, they will perform their own compositions and adaptations of "The Great American Songbook". A balanced dynamic hearing between lyricism, passion, knowledge and skill is what is promised by the three jazz musicians from New York.

Christos Rafalides, vibraphone
Petros Klampanis, bass
Bodek Janke, percussion & drums

click for the concert΄s poster