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tant Greek composers of his era to create songs
which decisively influenced the development of
post-war Greek music. These songs are works of
poetry; they describe life’s struggles and expecta-
tions, its beauty and love…for decades they have
had a place in our hearts. The great singer Maria
Farantouri (who started her unique career with
Blood Moon
, which featured lyrics by Gatsos and
music by Theodorakis) presented an anthology
of these songs with Alkinoos Ioannides, a singer
and composer, who performed new songs he has
written for Gatsos’s lyrics alongside older, well-
known songs.
As Maria Farantouri told the audience, the concert
was a “greeting to the teacher and a small gift in
return to the feelings he has offered us through his
lyrics”. The audience had the opportunity to hear
Gatsos’s masterpieces in song cycles by Manos
Hadjidakis, Mikis Theodorakis, Stavros Xarcha-
kos, Dimos Moutsis, Christodoulos Chalaris and
Alkinoos Ioannides.
Gatsos’s lyrics, which were mostly written for
music, included those inspired by internationally
renowned plays such as
A Streetcar Named Desire
by TennesseeWilliams and
Blood Wedding
by Fe-
derico Garcia Lorca and internationally renowned
films such as
America-America
by Elias Kazan
and
Rebetiko
by Kostas Ferris.
“Manos Hadjidalis’s last singer”, Vasilis Gisdakis,
participated in the concert, as did an ensemble of
distinguished soloists under the direction of Miltos
Logiades.
Waltz
(10 September, Rialto Theatre, Lemesos; 12 Sep-
tember, Larnaka Municipal Theatre; 15 Septem-
ber, Strovolos Municipal Theatre)
In a destroyed landscape, buried in the ground, the
characters of
Waltz
strive for happiness; their sole
companions their own selves. They carry the bur-
den of their bodies, fighting in a last attempt to find
their long lost truths. They desperately want to re-
call what it is like to love, to dream, to reconcile
with the past, with the dreams and desires that re-
main unfulfilled and the people who have “gone”.
Through this painful process they meet their lives,
again, and bid them farewell with a smile.
Lonely and isolated, the characters of
Waltz
em-
bark on a journey into the unconscious in a des-
perate pursuit of happiness. This journey traverses
both dreams and nightmares. Gradually another
world emerges comprising dreams made up of
light and shade; a circus inhabited by secret desires
and muted fears, where nobody goes unpunished.
Driven by their dreams, by fragments of memory,
the travellers confront hidden sides of conscious-
ness, in an effort to find that long-forgotten gaze,
the feelings they knew in childhood, but lost as
they grew up. The world of
Waltz
was inspired
by the glittering world of the circus and its poetic
melancholy.
X-It Dancetheatre
, Athens, Greece, was founded
in 2003 by Photis Nikolaou. The company has
presented numerous productions since 2003, in-
cluding
Spiegel Im Spiegel
(Nobody Festival, Ni-
cosia, 2010),
Amen
(Larnaca, 2010/ Athens, 2009/
Athens, 2008),
La Vie Impossible
(Athens, 2008),
Production Credits
Performers
: Maria Farantouri, Alkinoos Ioan-
nides, Vasilis Gisdakis
Orchestra
: Flute: Marilena Dori, Clarinet: Marie-
Cecile Boulard, Horn: Antonis Lagos, Trumpet:
Socrates Anthis, Violin: Miltiades Papastamou,
Cello: Yiorgos Kaloudis, Bass: Kostas Konstanti-
nou, Oud: ThomasKostas, Guitar: StellaKypraiou,
Piano: IrinaValentinova-Karpouchina, Percussion:
Michalis Diakogeorghis, Kostas Meretakis
Lighting
: Maria Venetaki
Sound Designer
: Demetris Bourboulis
Conductor
: Miltos Logiades