Courtyard of the Byzantine Church of Taxiarches in Mesaria
From Baroque to the 20th Century
Music for Stringed Instruments from Vivaldi to Respighi
Tuesday 18 August 08:00 pm
The Andros International Festival presents a special concert for soloists and string ensemble, entitled “From Baroque to the 20th Century”; a musical journey that highlights the timeless continuity of European musical creation through works that marked different eras and aesthetic trends.
At the heart of the programme are Antonio Vivaldi’s iconic “Four Seasons”, one of the most beloved and recognisable works in the history of music. With unique ingenuity and expressive power, Vivaldi captures the sounds of nature, the changes of the seasons and the enduring relationship of humans with the natural world.
The programme is complemented by the atmospheric “Ancient Airs and Dances” by Ottorino Respighi, a work that conveys the charm of early music to the present day, as well as by the dramatic “Dance of the Furies” by Christoph Willibald Gluck, completing a musical journey from the late Baroque to the 20th century.
The soloist of the evening is the award-winning violinist Phoebe Rousohatzaki, who has distinguished herself for her artistic presence and performances in Greece and abroad. The musical direction is in the hands of conductor Ioakim Baltsavias, with many years of international artistic experience and collaborations with important orchestras in Europe and Greece.
They are accompanied by a string ensemble consisting of distinguished musicians with a significant presence in Greek and European orchestras, who meet especially for this production.
In the unique setting of the Byzantine Church of Taxiarches in Mesaria, the concert aspires to offer the audience an evening of high aesthetics, where baroque music converses with the latest European sound, in a space of particular historical and spiritual significance.
PROGRAMME
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) – Dance of the Furies
(Danse des Furies, from the opera Orfeo ed Euridice)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) – The Four Seasons, Op. 8
(Le Quattro Stagioni)
Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936) – Ancient Airs and Dances
(Antiche Arie e Danze)
Soloist: Phoebe Rousohatzaki, violin
Musical direction: Ioakim Baltsavias
Production: Kart Productions
VIOLINS Ι
Tasos Gratsias
Georgia Tsolaki
VIOLINS ΙΙ
Odysseas Korelis
Nasia Prasidi
VIOLAS
Stergios Balamotis
Marina Stalimerou
VIOLONCELLOS
Elli Filippou
Aleksandros Charalambous
General admission: € 20
The proceeds will go to the Andros Volunteer Forest Firefighters Association and the Apoikia Andros Philanthropic Society.
Ioakim Baltsavias – Conductor
Ioakim Baltsavias was born in Volos and studied piano and advanced music theory at the Volos Municipal Conservatory. He continued his studies in orchestra and choir conducting at the Folkwang Academy of Music in Hesse, Germany with a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation, obtaining a distinction. He holds a Master’s degree in Musical Performance and is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Music Studies of the Ionian University.
He has participated in important international conducting seminars with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Salvador Mas Conde, Benjamin Zander and Lothar Zagrosek. He was a permanent conductor of the Hessian Orchestra and the Heinrich Heine Symphony Orchestra, while he has collaborated with important ensembles in Europe and Greece, including the London Soloists, the Plovdiv Philharmonic, the Camerata of Prato, the Camerata Freiburg, the Athens Symphony Orchestra, the Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata – Friends of Music Orchestra, the Contemporary Music Orchestra and the ERT National Symphony Orchestra. Since 2007, he has been collaborating steadily as a conductor with the Volos Symphony Orchestra.
He also composes music for theatre and cinema.
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