A concert lecture organized under the auspices of the Greece 2021 Committee on the occasion of the bicentennial celebration of the Greek War of Independence (1821-2021), highlighting the role and world legacy of Greek music and songs that empowered the spirit of liberation in the years before and during the Greek Revolution.

Research Oversight
Dr. Tatiana Papageorgiou, Concert-pianist & Musicologist, Assist. Professor, Music Department
Frances Rich School of Fine & Performing Arts, The American College of Greece

Performing Artists
Panagiotis Petrakis (vocal soloist, narrator), Vassilis Dramountanis (vocal soloist, mandolinist), Achilleas Hahamis (vocal soloist), Tatiana Papageorgiou (piano), Aris Koukos (tambouras, bouzouki), George Kontoyannis (lyra), Dionyssis Theodosis (clarinet), Teo Lazarou (contrabass, guitar), Vassilis Gavvaris (percussion)

Accompanied by
Deree Vocal Ensemble

Organized by: Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts,
the Institute for Hellenic Culture and the Liberal Arts and
the Office of Public Affairs, The American College of Greece,
under the auspices of the “Greece 2021” Committee.

When: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 | 19:00-20:30

Where: Pierce Theater, The American College of Greece

Event Format: Hybrid
Free and open to the public

 

To secure a seat, please register HERE.

Parking upon availability.

Required for entrance to ACG premises:
ID card and Certificate of Covid-19 Vaccination (valid 14 days after completion of vaccination – for guests over 60 the vaccination certificate is valid for 7 months) or Covid-19 Disease Certificate (valid for 6 months after the diagnosis).

The event will be livestreamed from ACG’s Pierce Theater on this page.

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About the Event

The celebration of the 200 years since the Greek Revolution of 1821 is a landmark event of historical importance and an opportunity not only to learn from the past, but to divulge the impact of the revolution in the world, revisit current national challenges and draw a roadmap for Greece’s future.

This lecture-concert is one of a series of events organized by ACG under the auspices of the Committee Greece 2021 in honor and celebration of the revolution’s bicentenary.

 

Lecture-concert Abstract

A concert lecture that introduces the idiomatic style and empowering role of music and songs in the years before and during the Greek Revolution of 1821, illustrated live on stage with selections from the original repertoire performed by distinguished guest musicians on traditional instruments and Tatiana Papageorgiou at the piano. Spectators will deepen their listening experience through the live presentation and explanations on the music, lyrics, dance rhythms and original instrumentation, supported by a projection of historical documents and images.

 

PROGRAM

19:00 | Opening Remarks
President David G. Horner, President, The American College of Greece

19:05-19:35 | Lecture “The Empowering Role of Music in the 1821 War of Independence”
Dr. Tatiana Papageorgiou, concert-pianist & musicologist, Assist. Professor, Music Department, ACG Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts

19:35-20:30 | Concert

Part I
Traditional historical and Klephtic songs, preceded by short introductions referring to poetic texts and rhythms. Singers: Achilleas Hahamis and Vassilis Dramountanis

Part II
The contribution of art music composers and their inspiration from heroic figures and historical events. Performance of “O Yero Dimos,” folk song aria by Pavlos Carrer. Singer: Panagiotis Petrakis

Part III
Emblematic poetic texts about the 1821 Revolution, set to music by leading modern Greek composers: Mikis Theodorakis, Yannis Markopoulos, Christos Leontis, Stavros Kouyoumtzis, (“Thourios” by Rigas Ferraios, “Free Besieged’ by Dionyssios Solomos, and “Freedom requires Virtue and Boldness” by Andreas Kalvos).  Singers: Panagiotis Petrakis and Vassilis Dramountanis

20:30 | Closing

 

For more information: College Events – Public Affairs Office, 210-6009800 (1380 and 1570) or [email protected].

 

Image credits: Peter von Hess (1792-1871), Rigas rousing the Greeks to fight for freedom, lithograph, 28×21 cm, Benaki Museum 24094, Copy of Hess Peter von, Befreiung Griechenlands in 39 Bildern entworfen …, Kohler und Comp, Μunich. ©2021, Benaki Museum, Athens

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Speaker’s bio

Dr. Tatiana Papageorgiou is a concert pianist, musicologist, arranger and educator with diverse professional activity. She holds both academic and performance degrees in music from the Athens Conservatoire, the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music and Birmingham City University, culminating in a PhD in Music which focused on Greek music. Her doctoral thesis addresses the question of Hellenicity and Internationalism in the classical music of Mikis Theodorakis, shedding light for the first time on his groundbreaking theory of ‘tetrachords’. Her close collaboration as pianist and researcher with Mikis Theodorakis for over twenty years, has resulted in the unearthing of unpublished, unknown works and their first performances, including Theodorakis’s Second Piano Concerto Helikon, and several of his piano works. As a piano soloist she has performed with orchestras around the world, including the London Philharmonic, the Moscow New Opera Symphony, the Beijing Symphony, the Kiev Opera Symphony, the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra, the Sofia Amadeus Orchestra, and all the major Greek orchestras including the Athens and Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestras, the ERT National Symphony and the Camerata-Friends of Music Orchestra. She has performed extensively in prestigious concert halls around the world, in Europe, North and South America, Israel, Turkey, China and Australia. Her concert appearances, some together with Theodorakis on the podium, and her complete recordings of Theodorakis’s music, have been acclaimed by audiences and critics, rendering her as a leading interpreter of his symphonic music. Among her published works are the arrangements of forty Songs for Piano by the leading German music publisher Schott. Her doctoral thesis is currently in the process of being published in Greek. Tatiana Papageorgiou has been a full-time member of the Deree music faculty at the American College of Greece for over twenty years, teaching music theory, piano performance, film scoring and Greek music.