"Here, Greek children, liberate your country" sounded Aeschylus' "Persians".
"Here, Greek children, free your country" said Yiannis Vogiatzis, performing passages from Aeschylus' Persians and as the reverberation of his voice shook the theater at Delphi the audience burst into applause. July 21st is a day that will be etched in everyone's memory, since the ancient theater of Delphi opened after 37 years of silence, for a one and only show with favorite artists, under the auspices of the Athens Festival and the Ministry of Education and Culture.
At the "doors" of the theater, as Vassilis Papavasiliou called the theatrical and musical event, Yiannis Vogiatzis interpreted passages of ancient drama from Aeschylus' Persians, Nikos Karathanos, who is also the director of the show, by Euripides' raging Hercules, Helen Kokkidou from Sophocles' Antigone, Lydia Koniordou performed Iphigenia's Monologue and the introduction from Medea, Olia Lazaridou recited Orphic hymns, Vassilis Papavasiliou read excerpts from the work Bread and Wine, Reni Pittaki performed excerpts from Ornithes and Marissa Triantafyllidou from the dance of Aeschylus' Agamemnon.
The opening of the show was made by the New Greek Quartet, composed of Giorgos Demertzis (first violin), Dimitris Xandrakis (second violin), David Bogorad (viola) and Angelos Liakakis (cello), and presented Maurice Ravel's "Five Greek Melodies"., with the participation of soprano Lenia Zafeiropoulou and Mozart's "Quinteto for Clarinet", with the participation of Dionysis Grammenos Zafeiropoulos, who performed pieces from "36 Greek Dances" by Nikos Skalkotas.
The performance organized following the initiative of former minister Tatianna Karapanagiotis, in order to highlight one of the most important monuments of antiquity, watched approx 800 spectators, since the theater was full, except where there were no safe seats.
"At first I had a doubt, it seemed to me that the motive was pre-election, but when I went to the theater the space defeated me" said the president and artistic director of the Athens Festival George Loukos at the press conference for the presentation of the event.
The ancient theater of Delphi is among the ancient Greek theaters that are preserved in good condition. It is located inside the sanctuary of Apollo, specifically in its northwest corner, in contact with the precincts of the mosque.
The 1927 Angelos Sikelianos and Eva Palmer-Sikelianou revived the Delphic Festivals, in the context of which Prometheus Bound was taught, the first since ancient times, performance in the ancient theater of Delphi.
The 1930, at the second and last Delphic Festivals Prometheus Bound was presented again, together with the Iketides of Aeschylus. A limited number of performances were then given, from the National Theatre, the Art Theater and other troupes.
The budget of the project of the restoration of the theater of Delphi which is to be included in the NSRP of the Region of Central Greece, is 1,3 million. euros and should be completed by the middle of it 2015.
Source : tovima.gr
