SUMMER DANCES WITH TCSO

SUMMER DANCES WITH TCSO

Sunday 10.6.2018

21:00

Αmphitheater of the Town Hall

The Thessaloniki City Symphony Orchestra in summer mood promises to travel the audience of our city through familiar melodic, classical, Greek and foreign dances.

In this journey, the conductor the famous of Thessaloniki composer is Alkis Baltas with works by great composers such as Brahms, Dvorak, Haydn, Strauss and others.

The concert will take place on the outside amphitheater of the Town Hall on Sunday, June 10, 2018 at 21:00 and is a friendly participation of the Culture and Tourism Directorate of the Municipality of Thessaloniki in the program of the parallel events of the 37th Thessaloniki Book Festival.

Thessalonikh City Symphony Orchestra

The TCSO was founded in 1987 under its original name of ‘’Municipal Orchestra’’ and its first artistic director was Kosmas Galileas.  It consists of acclaimed musicians and is actively involved in the city’s musical events.  Besides performing their own regularly scheduled concerts the orchestra also puts on educational concerts,  it appears in co-productions  with  renowned  artists, it has performances with other orchestras, it participates  in festivals and international competitions, and it has performed concerts all over Greece and abroad, as well.  From 1993-1998 the artistic direction was undertaken by conductor Dimitris Agrafiotis and from 1999-2005 by conductor Byron Fidetzis.   Starting in 2013 the artistic coordinator of the orchestra was cellist Christos Gribas.  From 2001 and through today the position of permanent conductor is held by Haris Iliadis.  The role of artistic coordinator for the orchestra has been taken over by conductor Liza Xanthopoulou as of April 2018.

Throughout the years of its existence the TCSO has had the pleasure and honor to host great soloists and conductors such as:  D. Sgouros, G. Demertzis, L. Kavakos, M. Tirimos, G. Vakarelis, G. Lazaridis, S. Katsaris, V. Repin, F.J. Sellheim, L.L. Galati, R. Moog, L. Oistrach, R. Syracuse, V. Trethiakov, K. Kelly, G. Schuller, C. Struder, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Vanessa Mae, among others.  For many years the orchestra has performed the opening concert (and subsequent concerts) in the ‘’Dimitria Festival’’ which is an annual weeks-long extravaganza of cultural events and activities in Thessaloniki. 

The TCSO has also collaborated with G. Dalaras, F. Pliatsikas, E. Reboutsika, Glykeria, Th. Mikroutsikos, D. Savvolpoulos, E. Karaindrou, K.  Makedonas, M. Farantouri, E. Arvanitaki,  and G. Gakis and the Troublemakers.  The orchestra has appeared at the Athens Concert Hall, the Lycabettus Theater, as well as in numerous cities throughout Greece (Veria, Larisa, Naoussa, Mesolongi, Drama, Igoumenitsa,  Kavala, Serres, Volos, Preveza, Kastoria, and Corfu, to name a few) and outside of Greece at the Ancient Theater of Ephesus and in Cyprus.  It has made recordings of Vivaldi’s ‘’Four Seasons’’ with soloist L. Kavakos and maestro Kosmas Galileas and Haydn’s ‘’The Creation’’ under the direction of  Byron Fidetzis in the year 2000.  The TCSO has also performed many operas including  ‘’The Marriage of Figaro,’’  ‘’Don Giovanni,’’ and ‘’Abduction from the Seraglio,’’(Mozart)  ‘’Il Campanello Di Notte,’’  (Donizetti), ‘’The Medium’’ (Menotti), ‘’Gianni Schicchi’’ and ‘’Turandot’’ (Puccini), ‘’Momo’’ (Alkis Baltas), ‘’Il Trovatore’’and ‘’La Traviata’’ (Verdi), ‘’Salome’’ (R. Strauss), ‘’Die Fledermaus’’(J. Strauss), ‘’Carmen’’ (Bizet), ‘’Orpheus in the Underworld’’ (Offenbach) and   in February of 2016 the TCSO performed  for the first time in Greece the opera ‘’The Puritans’’ by V. Bellini.   In addition to its work in opera the orchestra has also performed the ballet ‘’Sleeping Beauty’’ (Tchaikovsky) and the major oratorios ‘’The Passion of St. Matthew’’ ( Bach) and ‘’Missa Solemnis’’  (Beethoven).

Finally, in recognition of TCSO’s valuable contributions towards the promotion of Greek composers’ works, internationally famous composer and Boston University professor, Th. Antoniou, dedicated his first symphony to the orchestra which had its world premiere on January 19, 2003.  The Thessaloniki City Symphony Orchestra supports established as well as newly emerging Greek  musicians  and contributes substantially to  the cultural life of Greece.