Prompters

Alternative Stage Founding Donor

Major Sponsor of the Greek National Opera

A co-production

Under the auspices of the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens

The original concert Prompters, conceived, arranged, and conducted by Alexandros Gkonis, blends music by François Couperin and Claudio Monteverdi with Eugenio Montale’s poetry and a new score composed by Alexandros Gkonis himself, in a tribute to the musicality of speech and the prosody of music. A tribute to the musicality of speech and the prosody of music, the concert The Prompters is coming to the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage at the SNFCC for two unique performances on 18 and 19 October 2025, in co-production with Big Olive.

“With this concert, we honour the people who, through their work, have ensured we have an everlasting companion. We sing the music in the same way we whistle it while going down the stairs; we articulate speech in the same way we hum it while walking in the street; and we want to remain faithful to this demanding carefreeness,” notes Alexandros Gkonis.

The concert’s programme is composed of two parts. The first part of the concert bridges French Baroque vocal chamber music with 20th-century poetry.  The third motet from composer François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres (Readings of Darkness) and Italian Nobel laureate Eugenio Montale’s poem “All' Amico Pea” (“To my friend Pea”) are combined into a single work. Blending these two diverse narratives into a single musical piece, one maestro, two singers, one actress, and a string quartet carve out a path for unprecedented coexistence and conversation.

The second part of the concert includes ten pentatonic madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi and five additional poems by Montale (translated into Greek by Nikos Aliferis). Fifteen brief and self-luminous pieces, each following the previous, take audiences on a journey from rich Baroque sounds to a more elegant and delicate musical whisper, which harmoniously blends with the recitation.

“Montale’s nobleness of thought and sweet cynicism, alongside Monteverdi and Couperin’s exquisite music, create a co-existence that we believe should be presented to a wider audience as a unified piece. The three of them were charismatic individuals. They remain highly captivating and difficult to resist, and it is always a pleasure to dedicate our time to them”, remarks Alexandros Gonis.

The set has been visually curated by Konstantinos Pittas. 

Performing are the sopranos Marietta Sarri and Irini Bilini-Moraiti, along with actress Katrina Patsiani.

Featuring a string quartet: Rrezarta Krujia (violin Ι), Dimitris Kouzis (violin ΙΙ), Faidon Vryniotis (viola), Sofia Efkleidou (violoncello).

A few words about Alexandros Gkonis
Alexandros Gkonis was born in Athens. He studied cello at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory and political sciences at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He continued his musical studies in the Netherlands and at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, focusing on conducting and composition. Since 2012, he has been consistently active in the fields of theatre and music. As a composer and musician, he has collaborated with the National Theatre of Greece, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, the Greek National Opera, the ERT Musical Ensembles, the Municipal and Regional Theatres of Kavala, Serres, and Crete, Porta Theatre, the New Greek Theatre of Giorgos Armenis, Vasilakou Theatre, Rabbithole Theatre, and others. He has participated in the Philippi-Thasos Festival, the Chania Open Sails Festival, and “All of Greece, One Culture,” among others. He has performed at the Korzo Theatre in The Hague, Splendor Amsterdam, the Eindhoven Concert Hall, TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, and the Parnassos Literary Society, among others.