Each year, the Athens Festival, which has been going since 1955, gathers together the best artistic forces of Europe and Asia. Performances are held at ancient Greek amphitheatres, for instance, the Herodes Atticus Odeum, in Athens, and at the amphitheatre in Epidaurus, as well as at modern venues (there are altogether ten Festival venues!). Throughout the Festival, which runs from May to September, there are concerts and performances of musical and dramatic works, exhibitions, workshops and seminars on art.
This year there will be performances by the Paris and Lyons National Operas, and a concert by the Maggio Musicale Orchestra (Florence), conducted by Riccardo Muti, with Rene Fleming. High points of the ballet program will be performances by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Anna Laguna, Mats Ek.
The Bolshoi Theatre appeared at the Festival in 2005, with a performance in Athens of Eimuntas Nekrosius’s Macbeth.
This year it will be presenting Alexander Sokurov’s Boris Godunov, presented with great success at last year’s Ljubljana’s Festival.
The Bolshoi’s Tour Program
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
July 14
Bolshoi Orchestra and Chorus Concert
Part I
Sergei Prokofiev
Waltz suite for orchestra, opus 110 (1946)
Violin concert no. 2 in G minor, opus 63 (1935)
Simos Papanas, violin
Part II
Sergei Prokofiev
Alexander Nevsky, cantata for mezzo-soprano chorus and orchestra, opus 78 (1939)
Yelena Manistina (mezzo-soprano)
Conductor — Alexander Vedernikov
Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall (Alexandra Trianti Hall)
July15 and 16
Boris Godunov
Conductor — Alexander Vedernikov
Boris Godunov — Mikhail Kazakov
Xenia — Anna Aglatova
Fyodor — Sergei Belyaev/ Alexandera Trybitsina (vocal)
Xenia’s Nurse — Yevgenia Segenyuk
Prince Shuisky — Maxim Paster — July 15, Mikhail Gubsky — July16
Andrei Shchelkalov — Yuri Laptev
Pimen — Alexander Naumenko
Pretender — Roman Muravitsky — July 15, Vsevolod Grivnov — July16
Marina Mnishek — Yelena Manistina
Varlaam — Valery Gilmanov
Missail — Alexander Zakharov
Innkeeper — Oxana Kornievskaya
Simpleton — Vitaly Panfilov
Nikitich — Vladimir Krasov
Mityusha — Nikolai Kazansky
Police officer — Vladimir Ognev
Rangoni — Pyotr Migunov — July15 , Vadim Lynkovsky — July16
Court Boyar — Alexander Arkhipov