Online festivals

THE PASSAGE TO SPRING

1st Online festival ''Exit Spring''

23'

From 14/03/2021 to 31/12/2021

Description

The Passage to Spring is a music performance set up by four musicians of the Greek National Opera Orchestra: flutist Zach Tarpagos, clarinettist Panagiotis Sioras, hornist Angelos Sioras and percussionist Panagiotis Ziavras. The rebirth encompassed in the rite of spring, the journey from the innerness of winter to the joy of creation, the recreation and versatility of spring, are the foundations of the performance’s dramaturgy. As the passage from the Divine Passion to Resurrection symbolses the passage from winter to spring, the passage from the exceptional circumstances of confinement leads to the rebirth of the contact of musicians with each other and with the audience. The performance is based on J. S. Bach’s cantata BW7 177 Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I Call to You, Lord Jesus Christ) and chorale BWV 299 Dir, dir, Jehova, will ich singen (To You Jehovah, I Will Sing), “Spring” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Friedrich Wildgans’ Three Improvisations, opus 19a, Nathan Daughtrey’s trio Burn3 and Christopher Lowry’s composition Livewire!.

The passage from the spaces where the complex mechanical installations of the GNO are kept to the top of the stage tower and the costume construction workshops, intermingles with the dramaturgy of these music masterpieces.

The 1st Online festival titled "Exit: Spring", curated by GNO Artistic Director Giorgos Koumendakis, was presented from 17 May to 30 June 2020 and included eleven new music, opera, operetta and music theatre video-performances created during the pandemic, as well as one recorded dance performance. All festival video-performances revolved around the themes of the anticipation of spring, the rebirth of nature and the coming of the new. The festival was made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.