On 25 March the National Gallery of Greece will host Nikos Xydakis, who will present the performance entitled DIONYSIOS SOLOMOS “TO SIR GEORGIOS DE ROSSI”, a musical poetic sketch, composed and performed by the artist himself, accompanied by a nine-member orchestra.

The performance at the National Gallery illuminates the relationship between music and Solomos, as Nikos Xydakis himself notes:

“I think this deep song is saved in Solomos – this voice that breaks….and in the end his poetry ends up scattering, becoming fragments”. This is a musical reading made from notes, a collection of dreams (dreaming is frequent in Solomos, after all) and sounds. Dreams between sleep and waking. With the evocative presence almost always of Solomos as we know him painted. With the black priestly garment. With the high forehead, the flaming hair, the look half sad half contemplative. But in a blurred representation, in rain and mist sometimes in a glow, in a light, and sometimes powder-smoked… A little light and distant in a great dark and wistful…”.

The Musicians

Nikos Xydakis| composition, performance

Alexandros Kapsokavadis| guitars, lute, lafta, song
Yannis Kyrimkiridis| piano
Stefanos Dorbarakis| Qanun, song
Yorgos Kontogiannis| lyra
Manousos Klapakis| percussion
Dimitris Varelopoulos| guitar, song
Sofia Efclydi| cello
Dimitris Tsekouras| double bass
Fotis Mylonas |flute, song

Orchestra Supervisor: Alexandros Kapsokavadis

Sound Recording: Yorgos Karyotis

Lighting Design: Nikos Syrigos

National Gallery Greece, Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Vas. Konstantinou 50, Athens