Music Connects the Onassis Stegi and the Panteion University vol. 7

Thursday 3 March

20:30

Music exchanges between Greece and France

Ioanna Vrakatseli: mezzo soprano
Myrto Akrivou: piano
Amalia Kountouri: flute

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937, FR), “Cinq mélodies populaires grecques” (1904-06), for voice and piano

Dzovinar Mikirditsian (b. 1979, GR/LB/AM), “Tamzara” (2022)*, for voice, flute, and piano, commissioned by Onassis Stegi

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001, GR/FR), “Six chansons” (1950-51), for piano

François-Bernard Mâche (b. 1935, FR), “Trois Chants Sacrés,” for solo voice and tambourine – “n. 3 Maponos” (1990)**

Iannis Xenakis, “Zyia” (1952), for mezzo, flute, and piano

21:30

(D)ommage à Xenakis

Giorgos Konstantinou: solo piano

Τom Wolgers (b. 1959, SE), “Ηοmmage à Le Corbusier” (1987), for electronics
Giorgos Konstantinou (b. 1978, GR), “Fragmented Light Grid,” after “Herma” by Iannis Xenakis (2016)
Giorgos Koumendakis (b. 1959, GR), “Le Cormoran de Iannis Xenakis,” from the cycle “Mediterranean Desert” (2000)
Salvatore Sciarrino (b. 1947, IT), “De la nuit” (1971)
Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), “à R.” (1987)
Robert Coleman (IE), “Hommage à Xenakis” (2016)**, for electronics

Friday 4 March

20:30

Music and Mathematics

Aeris Trio
Dionysis Kokolis: trumpet
Christos Salvanos: horn
Andreas-Rolandos Theodorou: trombone
Featuring Giorgos Theodoros Rarakos: tuba

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001, GR/FR), “Keren” (1986), for solo trombone

Fani Kosona (b. 1969, GR), “Shadow falls between” (2020)*, for trumpet, horn, and trombone

Iannis Xenakis, “Linaïa-Agon” (1972), musical game for three wind instruments (horn, trombone, and tuba)

21:30

Feldman – Xenakis

ARTéfacts Ensemble
Spyros Tzekos: clarinet
Theo Vazakas: percussion
Panagiotis Ziavras: percussion

Myrto Nizami (b. 1994, GR/NL), "Beneath, underbreathe," for clarinet and percussion (2022)*, commissioned by Onassis Stegi

Alexandros Markeas (b. 1965, GR/FR), "Trois clins d'œil rythmés" (2006), for clarinet and electronics

Sarah Nemtsov (b. 1980, DE), “Implicated amplification” (2014)**, for bass clarinet and electronics (three effects pedals and amplification)

Minas Borboudakis (b. 1974, GR/DE), "Unisono" (2003)**, for two percussionists

Morton Feldman (1926-1987, US) "Bass Clarinet and Percussion" (1981), for bass clarinet and percussion (two performers)

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001, GR/FR), "Concret PH" (1958), for tape

The first concert reveals elective musical affinities between Greece and France. Inspiration from traditional music is the common thread between Ravel, (early) Xenakis and Stegi’s commission to Dzovinar Mikirditsian, who, for the first time, is being performed in the country of her origin. François-Bernard Mâche, traveling further back in time, confers a musical substance to a dead Gallic language.

Pianist Giorgos Konstantinou had a vision of a free association collage in the program “(D)ommage à Xenakis,” ‘weaving’ fragments from Chopin’s “Nocturnes” around the emblematic “Herma.” A second work by Xenakis, dedicated to Ravel, converses with that by Sciarrino, while works by Koumendakis, Coleman, and Wolgers are looking from different points at the Xenakian universe.

The Aeris brass trio reveals the virtuosity of Xenakis’s soloistic works, but also the special connections between music and mathematics: “Linaïa-Agon” incorporates Game Theory into a strategic musical confrontation, whereas a new trio by composer and mathematician Fani Kosona incorporates tools from the field of Topology.

A video of a public conversation between Morton Feldman and Iannis Xenakis inspired the concept of this program, where the latter’s most hushed work is heard as an aftermath of Feldman's trio for bass clarinet and percussion. Aspiring composer Myrto Nizami was commissioned by Onassis Stegi to write for the same instrumental combination. Minas Borboudakis has taken full advantage of Feldman’s symmetry between the two percussion settings, while Alexandros Markeas and Sarah Nemtsov explore the full range of the clarinet’s dexterity.