1961 by Kornilios Semamsis & Haris Frangoulis (2026)

lighting design

1961, by Kornilios Selamsis, directed by Haris Frangoulis with text by Giannis Asteris, is a musical work for two voices and six instruments. It tells the story of the unusual love story between Aristea and Fiore.

Presented as part of the Athens Epidaurus Festival at the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus, the work is shaped by the ruin and by our relationship to what is no longer there. It sets out on an excursion into a past that belongs to the dead, to the shadows. The piece is built from a series of sonic and linguistic gestures, weaving together texts and musical fragments drawn from the era of its title (words, songs, fragments of existing songs) into a new musical composition. This work was born from the creators’ sleep among the ruins bequeathed to them.

The performance was part of SYSTEMA – For the Greek Performing Arts, a collaboration between the Athens Epidaurus Festival, the National Theatre of Greece and the Kalamata International Dance Festival to promote contemporary Greek works abroad.

Composition: Kornilios Selamsis

Libretto: Giannis Asteris

Direction: Charis Frangoulis

Set design: Kostas Lampridis, Eleni Papanastasiou

Costumes: Ioanna Tsami

Lighting: Stephanos Droussiotis

Sound design: Brian Coon

Assistant directors: Kostis Glykantzis, Katerina Kranidi

Vocal coaching Apostolos Kitsos

Performed by

Maria Arzoglou, Maria Skoula

Musicians:

Artemis Vavatsika, accordion

Katerina Konstantourou, piano

Sissy Makropoulou, harp

Dafni Mengou, clarinet

Maria Skandali, cello

Kazuyo Tsunehiro, percussion

Production management: Katerina Kourti

Production by Apparat Athens / Nikolas Hanakoulas

In collaboration with the Higher Private School of Dramatic Art TECHNON EKATO, with the participation of second-year students:

Maria Voutsina

Nefeli Georgiadou

Katerina Givalou

Elpida Dede

Arianna Zarmakoupi

Leda Karagianni Karagiannopoulou

Vicky Krasaki

Christina Boukakioti

Lydia Petropoulou

Maria Sofia Piperidi


Melina Seimeni

Ariadne Christoforidou

photos by Karol Jarek

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