Ties

Ties, the curved lines in musical notation which connect two adjacent notes of the same pitch indicating that they are to be played as a single note, serve as the inspiration for the title of a concert in which the virtuoso of the lute and Constantinopolitan lyre, Sokratis Sinopoulos, plays alongside other highly respected Greek traditional instrumentalists and vocalists. There are two types of "ties" in evidence here: the actual and the notional. The first link individuals who have generally emerged from the musical space demarcated by the traditional origins of the instruments they play and left their mark on Greek music.

Appearing on stage in pairs, Sokratis Sinopoulos and his guests thus reveal ties rooted in a mastery of their instruments but also in a kinship of spirit. The notional ties are those linking old to new, the struggle to preserve tradition with the need for creative continuation. The program seeks to balance the contrasting forces at work in these notional ties, including versions of instrumental pieces and songs from the Greek traditional repertoire, but also contemporary and experimental works which, powered by the creative impulse of both the participants and contemporary musical reality, take the Greek or other related musical tradition as their starting point.