“Music and songs for the films of Theo Angelopoulos”
A concert co-organized by the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra lead the audience on a musical journey to the most important films by the late director Theo Angelopoulos. The concert “Music and songs for the films of Theo Angelopoulos”, held in the context of the tribute hosted by the Festival to the great Greek filmmaker, consisted of compositions by Eleni Karaindrou and took place on Friday, November 9, at the packed Thessaloniki Concert Hall .
A surprise moment awaited the audience in the beginning of the concert, when the Orchestra’s artistic director Alexandre Myrat started conducting an orchestra that remained silent. “Theo Angelopoulos loved silence, as well as the intensity of Karaindrou’s compositions”, said Mr. Myrat afterwards, explaining that the orchestra had performed the famous silent composition “4’33’» by John Cage. “You were an amazing audience“, the latter added, after the four minutes, thirty-three seconds duration of this remarkable piece of music.
But surprises did not end there. “The staff of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, honouring the memory of the great director, welcome you with the sound of silence”, said the Head of the orchestra’s employees association Mr. Charalampos Cheimarios. He added that “this is not the sound of an uncomfortable or passive silence, but the sound of a silence that is full of intensity, vibrant and screaming on behalf of those who are grieving and feel pain and outrage, fighting to overcome the bleak reality they were condemned to by others through no fault of their own. Lethal laws have passed through parliament, launching a pogrom against the average man, who is condemned to live in poverty, despair and disgrace, while destroying any notion of the welfare state”. Representing the Orchestra’s musicians, Mr. Chimarios had also a scathing remark about the “silence of those sitting idly in their sofas”, since this attitude “allows the existence of unworthy politicians, union leaders and radical elements”. “We also have in mind the guilty silence of appeasement; we had been passively witnessing things, and the prize we got was maybe a bank loan to take a fancy vacation. Now that the boat is sinking, it is time we became again responsible for our own actions. We should take a few seconds of silence from the hullabaloo of our everyday lives and listen to the pleading of the homeless, the immigrant or the drug addict. We, the musicians, are here, operating as both receptors and transmitters of all that is happening in society. Through the concerts of the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, we draw our own red line and resist, armed with music and solidarity. This is the only solution. We have set sail for a long journey. Where this journey might lead us, to Ithaca or Cythera, we will only find out on the way. What we do know, however, is that we will not allow anyone to insult our dignity”, stressed Mr. Chimarios.
In the concert that followed, the Orchestra’s musicians, under the direction of Alexandre Myrat, performed the well-known and loved themes composed by Karaindrou for the films of Theo Angelopoulos during their long, creative collaboration of 28 years. Karaindrou played the piano, alongside soloists Vangelis Christopoulos (oboe), Natalia Michailidou (piano), Dinos Chatziiordanou (accordion), Aristotelis Dimitriadis (mandolin). Singer Dimitra Galani performed the songs, while the concert also featured the jazz trio Human Touch (David Lynch, saxophone, Stavros Lantsias, piano, and Yiotis Kiourtsoglou, bass). The concert’s programme consisted of a selection of themes from the last eight movies by Theo Angelopoulos: Voyage to Cythera (1984), The Beekeeper (1986), Landscape in the Mist (1988), The Suspended Step Of The Stork (1991), Ulysses’ Gaze (1996), Eternity and a Day (1998), The Weeping Meadow (2003) and The Dust of Time (2008).
Through the jazz improvisations of the Human Touch trio and the melodic yet imposing performances of the Orchestra, the audience had the pleasure of enjoying the following compositions: "Farewell Theme”, “Canteen’s rock”, “Valse of the bride”, “Tearful Eyes” and “Improvisation on the farewell theme” from the movie The Beekeeper, “Journey theme” from the movie Landscape in the Mist, “Dance” from Ulysses‘ Gaze, “By the sea”, “Depart” and “Eternity theme ” from Eternity and a Day, and “Waltz by the River”, “Seeking”, “Dance theme” from the movie The Dust of Time. After the end of the programme, the audience offered Karaindrou and the musicians a long ovation, which brought the composer three times back on the stage.
The tribute to Theo Angelopoulos is one of the actions of the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival financed by the European Union’s Regional Development Fund for Central Macedonia, 2007-2013 .
