Contemporary Music Days

Alternative Stage Founding Donor

Major Sponsor of the Greek National Opera

The Contemporary Music Days festival, curated by composer Ioannis Angelakis, brings to the Alternative Stage an unprecedented – by Greek standards – lineup of eighteen concerts, including six new commissions from Greek composers and a multitude of premieres and reruns. This diverse programme titled Multiple Presents maps contemporary musical creation, spanning from acoustic and electronic music to hybrid and stage works, through the coexistence of renowned ensembles and artists, newly formed groups, and emerging soloists and composers.

“Contemporary Music Days was born out of a dual need: on the one hand, to create a steady place dedicated to contemporary musical creation, and on the other, to reexamine what “contemporary” means today. It was not meant to signal a mere time category but to serve as a way to relate to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries: to modernism, the avant-garde, ruptures, and continuities that still shape our experience of sound. In this line of thinking, the Contemporary Music Days festival does not propose a single aesthetic or a linear narrative but rather an open field of coexistence in which different readings of the past and present are continually recaptured. Special emphasis will be placed on tributes to György Kurtág (marking his 100th anniversary), Georges Aperghis (celebrating his 80th anniversary), and György Ligeti (commemorating the 20th anniversary of his death), which bring emblematic works of contemporary music back to the foreground, not as historical references but as contemporary touchstones from which the new commissions draw material, inspiration, and artistic vision. The collaborations with the ERT Choir and the Greek Composers’ Union enhance the logic of an expanded ecosystem in which contemporary music is shaped by networks of people, ensembles, and institutions,” notes Ioannis Angelakis.

■ ΤΕΤΤΤΙX: Five Paths | 25 October 2026

Works by: Nikos Galenianos, Yannis Kyriakides, Michalis Paraskakis, Eleni Ralli, Jani Christou

Musical direction: Konstantinos Terzakis

ΤΕΤΤΤΙX: Michalis Paraskakis (voice), Ana Kifou (flute), Eirini Amantiadou (clarinet), Rea Pikiou (bassoon), Charis Pazaroulas (double bass), Panagiotis Zavras (percussion), Sissi Makropoulou (harp), Mislav Režić (electric guitar), Katerina Konstantourou (piano), Stamatis Pasopoulos (accordion)

Niki Lada soprano, Daphne Heretakis, prerecorded voice, Kristia Michael, Emilianos Stamatakis voice | Pantelis Lykoudis saxophone, George Krimperis trombone, Rrezarta Kruja violin

The ΤΕΤΤΤΙX ensemble presents a programme focused on places, whether real or invented, to which we return through memory or resort through imagination. The programme features five works, each corresponding to one of the five paths the ensemble has taken since 2017, when it first set out on its journey. Nikos Galenianos’ Eva’s Dream, based on John Milton’s Paradise Lost, is an allegory of one’s own paradise. Yannis Kyriakides’ The Musicians of Dourgouti begins with the musical life at Dourgouti (today known as Neos Kosmos) in the 1950s. In Michalis Paraskakis’ Certain Sensations Are Slumbers, a confined woman makes sounds that allow her to experience times and places beyond her actual circumstances. Elena Ralli’s Hide Behind the Curtain seeks routes and trails of communication between musicians and space. In Jani Christou’s Six T.S. Eliot Songs, the poet photographs his past, with the poem Mélange adultère de tout serving as a self-sarcastic wandering through the places he has been

■ Sayings and Cracks – Tribute to György Kurtág| 29 October 2026

Fanie Antonelou voice, Giorgos Konstantinou piano

The centerpiece of the performance, Sayings and Cracks, is György Kurtág’s The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza, Op. 7 (1963-1968), a milestone work in postwar Hungarian music. In an extremely condensed forty-five-minute score, Kurtág composes a unique concerto for voice and piano: twenty-four short movements organized into four cycles – Confession, Sin, Death, Spring – in which the sayings of the 16th-century persecuted Hungarian preacher Péter Bornemisza become an almost explosive physical and mental experience.

In Stylianos Dimou’s new piece, Through the Cracks of Bornemisza, commissioned by the GNO Alternative Stage, a direct dialogue with Kurtág’s work is developed. Nine miniatures, alternating between acoustic and mixed electroacoustic writing, are interpolated within the “cracks” of the work’s movements, while four prerecorded recitations by a soprano in Greek translation serve as introductions to the distinct cycles.

■ Sonic Complexities – Tribute to György Ligeti| 30 October 2026

P 4 2: Beata Pincetic– Christos Sakellaridis

On the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of Hungarian composer György Ligeti’s death, the piano duo P 4 2 (Beata Pincetic– Christos Sakellaridis) explores his peculiar sound world through works for one and two pianos. In Ligeti’s music, complexity is not imposed; it emerges organically: recurring and constantly shifting motifs gradually transform into a labyrinth with its own unquestionable inner order – a vibrant and inexhaustible musical language reminiscent of fractals. This language interacts with Vasiliki Legaki’s Fractus Impetus – a debut piece for piano duo and electronics commissioned by the GNO.

■ Tasos Rosopoulos: Songs About a Return | 31 October 2026

Music, samples, programming: Tasos Rosopoulos • Tassis Christoyannis voice, Korina Vougiouka guitar, Alexandros Botinis violoncello

Tasos Rosopoulos’ song cycle Songs About a Return, for voice, guitar, violoncello, and electronics, creates a single musical narrative about desire and the painful process of return. It is a journey that starts with nostalgia but gradually transcends its geographical destination, turning decay and the changes brought by the passage of time into an absolute measure of experience. The cycle’s text draws on poems, translations, distinct words, and quotes by Kostas Ouranis, Giorgos Koropoulis, Dionysis Kapsalis, Giannis Varveris, Tellos Agras, Homer, and an anonymous 16th-century Cypriot poet, as well as Wilhelm Müller and Heinrich Heine.

■ ERT Choir, Greek Composers’ Union: Poetic soundscapes | 1 November 2026

Works by Maria Gouvali, Kostas Pantelidis, Evangelos Kokkoris, Nikos Panagiotakis, Yiannis Drositis, Roxani Chatzidimitriou, Fani Kosona, George Dousis

Musical direction: Michalis Papapetrou • ERT Choir • Thanos Margetis piano

The ERT Choir collaborates for the first time with the Greek Composers’ Union, turning its focus to contemporary Greek choral works and the pursuits of modern-day composers, as well as to the way in which they converse with the traditional choral repertoire. The concert will feature works by members of the Greek Composers’ Union that explore the human voice beyond established boundaries of expression. The composers treat the choir as a multidimensional sound body, utilizing expanded vocal techniques, multilayered textures, and complex sound structures that redefine the 21st-century choral sound. Conducted by Michalis Papapetrou, the ERT Choir will perform works based on emblematic texts by prominent authors of Greek and world literature, including Dionysios Solomos, Odysseus Elytis, Tasos Leivaditis, Andreas Karkavitsas, William Blake, and William Butler Yates.

■ Re: Trace Kurtág – International Composition Competition | 1 November 2026

Concert featuring award-winning works and the presentation of prizes

Musical direction: Maria Bazou • EnA – Enosis Atelier

A new international composition competition will begin this year, on the initiative of the Greek Composers’ Union and with the support of the Greek National Opera: the Re:Trace competition, each edition of which will spotlight a prominent figure from the international musical creation scene. In 2026, the music world celebrates the 100th anniversary of the emblematic composer György Kurtág, an artist who has redefined musical expression through the groundbreaking economy and power of silence. On this occasion, the competition’s inaugural edition is dedicated to the composer, focusing on the fundamental qualities of his aesthetic: the beauty of fragments, the intensity of momentary gestures, and the view of music as a relic of memory.

The final concert featuring the award-winning works, as well as the award ceremony, will be held at the GNO Alternative Stage. The programme will include works by the competition’s six finalists, performed by the newly-formed ensemble of the Greek Composers’ Union, EnA – Enosis Atelier, under the baton of conductor Maria Bazou.

■ The Revolt of the Double Bass: From Myth to Reason | 4 November 2026

Works by Oswald Amiralis, Sofia Gubaidulina, Kaija Saariaho, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Beat Furrer, and  excerpts  from films by Georges Lautner and Bernard Lowles

Emily Tsimidaki soprano, Spyros Arkoudis trumpet, Oswald Amiralis double bass, Marinos Tranoudakis percussion, Ersilia Mikrou harp

The concert presents works in which the double bass moves beyond its traditional role as an accompaniment instrument to take center stage, as a carrier of speech, reflection, and dramatic presence. Through its deep expressive power, a new sound body is formed, capable of delivering a distinct musical narrative. Tradition is not annulled; it is transformed. The double bass abandons the shadow of accompaniment and steps into the spotlight of musical thought – where sound becomes a field of existential pursuit and poetic meditation.

■ Places, Memories, Sirens – Violoncello recital| 4 November 2026                            

Works by Thomas Adès, Felix Mendelssohn, Euripides Bekos, Frank Bridge

Arne Zeller violoncello, Jacopo Giovannini piano

The programme carves out a path through landscapes of memory and imagination. In Felix Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 2 for violoncello and piano, clarity and romantic vibrancy prevail, while Frank Bridge’s Sonata moves into more inward, enigmatic, and emotional territory. In Thomas Adès’ Lieux retrouvés, natural and urban landscapes are transformed through memory, while the upcoming debut of Euripides Bekos’ piece, Thelxinoi, commissioned by the GNO Alternative Stage, draws inspiration from the mythical Siren and her mesmerizing voice. Despite their different starting points, these four works cross paths in their pursuit of places that exist simultaneously in the world, memory, and imagination.

 * The concert will be held as part of the Greek National Opera’s collaboration with the Budapest International Cello Competition, which awarded its 2025 Top Prize to Arne Zeller.   

 ■ The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Revisited – Concert / Film screening | 5 November 2026

Music: Nikos Karagiannis

Celluloid Ensemble: Nikos Karagiannis violin Ι, Marianthi Karagianni violin ΙΙ, Stelios Papanastasis viola, Nikolas Prevezianos violoncello     

The milestone film of German expressionism, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), will be screened at the GNO Alternative Stage, with original music by Nikos Karagiannis and live musical accompaniment by the Celluloid Ensemble quartet. The composer seeks to create a new dialogue with Robert Wiene’s iconic film, adding a contemporary musical dimension to its black-and-white cinematography. Through live performance, the work will reconstruct the film’s atmosphere, heighten its dramatic tension, and guide audiences through the distinctive and evocative universe of expressionism.

■ Flowers We Are – Tribute to György Kurtág| 6 November 2026

Works by Kostas Zisimopoulos, György Kurtág, Johann Sebastian Bach / György Kurtág

Alexandra Papastefanou, Nikolaos Laaris piano

On the occasion of György Kurtág’s 100th anniversary, this concert illuminates the unique musical universe of one of the most important postwar composers. A poet of silence, gesture, and musical abstraction, Kurtág continues to enrich his emblematic piece Játékok (Games) – an open-ended cycle of short musical fragments that resemble personal diaries or sound imprints of memory and emotion – more than fifty years after its 1973 debut. At the heart of this programme lies the cycle Flowers We Are…, consisting of fifteen miniatures for solo piano, four hands, and two pianos, in which simplicity becomes a profoundly emotional experience. Alongside them, Johann Sebastian Bach’s fifteen unmatched chorale transcriptions reveal Kurtág’s enduring dialogue with the spirituality of Bach’s music. The programme is completed by a new work by Kostas Zisimopoulos that engages in a direct conversation with Kurtág’s fragile and allusive world, commissioned by the GNO Alternative Stage.

■ Stephanos Thomopoulos– Mediterranean Desert: Dialogues with Nature | 7 November 2026

Works by Giorgos Koumendakis, Claude Debussy, Gérard Pesson, Domenico Scarlatti, Maurice Ravel

Stephanos Thomopoulos piano

The concert unfolds Giorgos Koumendakis’ pianist world, as captured in the cycle Mediterranean Desert and other works from different creative periods. Stephanos Thomopoulos’ performance illuminates this journey as a single narrative, in which nature, memory, and the soundscape coexist in a continuous musical dialogue. At its heart lies the cycle Mediterranean Desert, where animals, plants, and organic elements of the Mediterranean landscape turn into sound objects and small musical forms. The concert’s programme engages in a creative dialogue with milestone works of the piano tradition that serve as both reference points and counterpoints: Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, Claude Debussy’s La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral), and Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas. The concert concludes with a contemporary piece by Gérard Pesson, placing contemporary European musical output in the same reflective context.

■ Scheherazade – Song recital | 7 November 2026

Works by Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Yannis Constantinidis, Christos Papageorgiou, Maurice Ravel, Cemal Reşit Rey, Tasos Rosopoulos

Miranda Makrynioti voice, Michalis Papapetrou piano

The ERT Choir’s choirmaster and conductor, Michalis Papapetrou, and opera singer and GNO collaborator, Miranda Makrynioti, present a song recital inspired by the cross-temporal artistic dialogue between East and West. The influences of the Eastern Mediterranean folk tradition on sophisticated music, the French Impressionists' perspective on the legendary Scheherazade, and the melodies of the Greeks of Asia Minor form a special programme that includes Greek premieres and rarely performed pieces.

■ Aperghis’ Paris– Tribute to Georges Aperghis | 8 November 2026

Works by Georges Aperghis, Claude Debussy, Iannis Xenakis

Ergon Ensemble: Nikos Nikopoulos flute, Christina Pantelidou oboe, Kostas Tzekos clarinet, Dimitris Dakovanos bassoon, Spyros Laskaridis trumpet, Manos Ventouras horn, Andreas-Rolandos Theodorou trombone, Stefanos Nasos  piano, Christos Sakellaridis piano, Babis Taliadouros percussion, Marios Nikolaou percussion, Kostas Panagiotidis violin, Panagiotis Tziotis violin, Angela Giannaki viola, Dimitris Travlos violoncello, Nikos Tsoukalas double bass

On the occasion of Georges Aperghis’ 80^th anniversary, the distinguished contemporary music ensemble Ergon Ensemble presents a concert dedicated to an artist whose work has moulded the relationship among music, speech, and stage performance. In the works La Nuit en tête, Teeter-Totter, and Triple, voice, movement, and sound are woven together into a musical act in which performers serve as both musicians and personae dramatis. Space, the body, and gestures take on a compositional role equal to that of sound. The “Paris” in the title refers not only to the city but also to a broader musical and artistic imaginary. From Debussy to Xenakis and Aperghis, a tradition emerges that treats sound not as an abstract construct but as a natural, physical, and often theatrical act. In Claude Debussy’s Syrinx, breath and timbre become agents of dramatic expression, while in Iannis Xenakis’ Phlegra, Charisma, and Keren, sound assumes a powerful material dimension and architectural presence.

■ New generation – New routes: Recital for three young soloists | 10 November 2026

Works by Christos Kaklamanis, Franz Liszt, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Minas Borboudakis, Frédéric Chopin, Philippos Tsalahouris, Costas Tsougras, Joseph Haydn

Thodoris Filippopoulos, Michael-Efthymios Chalkias, Christos Kaklamanis piano

The Alternative Stage opens its doors to the younger generation by presenting three exceptionally young soloists who are already shaping their artistic identities. The young performers will measure themselves against emblematic works from the piano repertoire while also engaging with contemporary pieces by Greek composers: Thodoris Filippopoulos will perform a work by Philippos Tsalahouris; Michael-Efthymios Chalkias will perform a piece by Costas Tsougras; and Christos Kaklamanis will present a work by Minas Borboudakis, as well as a debut performance of one of his own piano sonatas.

Admission will be free upon priority vouchers.

■ Greek Percussion Group: Contemporary percussion music| 11 November 2026

Works by Georges Aperghis, Giorgos Vavoulas, Minas Borboudakis, Stamatis Pasopoulos, Christos Hatzis

Greek Percussion Group: Marinos Tranoudakis, Panagiotis Ziavras, Thodoris Vazakas, Kostas Seremetis

The newly-established Greek Percussion Group will make its debut at the GNO Alternative Stage, presenting a multifaceted programme of contemporary percussion music with works by Greek composers. Spanning from Georges Aperghis’ physical and stage work Retrouvailles to Christos Hatzis’ meditative soundscape Quantum Transitions, the programme features a sequence of shifting sound states. The concert also includes Unisono by Minas Borboudakis and NIGRÁ by Stamatis Pasopoulos (premiere), as well as a new work by Giorgos Vavoulas, commissioned by the GNO Alternative Stage, thereby confirming the vibrant dynamics of contemporary percussion output.

■ Magna Grecia: A Place | 12 November 2026

In collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Atene

Works by Alessandro Annunziata, Gianluca Cangemi, Giacomo Cuticchio, Dimitris Nikolaou, Nikos Skalkottas

Guido de Flaviis soprano saxophone, Stathis Mavrommatis alto saxophone, Michele Gerardi tenor saxophone, Nicola Mogavero baritone saxophone

The concert is inspired by the saxophone quartet repertoire of contemporary Greek and Italian composers. The central thread is composer Dimitris Nikolaou, a Greek-born naturalized Italian who has devoted an extensive, multilayered body of work to the saxophone, including numerous quartet compositions. Around him unfolds a web of pieces for saxophone quartet by prominent contemporary artists, including Alessandro Annunziata, Giacomo Cuticchio and Gianluca Cangemi, some of which were written specifically for this ensemble. The programme is also enriched by an original transcription of three dances by Nikos Skalkottas for saxophone quartet.

■ 19 years of ARTéfacts ensemble | 13 November 2026

Works by Dimitris Andrikopoulos, Alexandros Drosos, Panayiotis  Kokoras, Kornilios Selamsis, Nicolas Tzortzis, Manos Venturas, George Mitropoulos

Laertis Kokolanis violin, Marios Dapergolas viola, Spyros Tzekos clarinet, Guido de Flaviis saxophone, Pavlos Antioniadis piano, Kostas Seremetis percussion, Thodoris Vazakas percussion • Video design, supervising director: Louizos Aslanidis

This concert brings together works by Greek composers that have been written for the ARTéfacts ensemble over the past fifteen years, forming a polyphonic landscape of contemporary musical styles, aesthetic directions, and stage atmospheres. Ranging from the physicality and meticulous processing of sound to humour, irony, and the disruption of the conventional concert format, the compositions in this programme capture different ways of perceiving sound and distinct connections to the present.

Through works linked to some of the ensemble’s earlier journeys – spanning from THIVA Km102 to Music for the New World and Manos Ventouras’ sarcastic O Parágontas (Τhe Player) – the concert sheds light on a steadfast artistic stance: approaching contemporary music with precision and high demands, but without inflexibility or self-righteous pomposity. Some of these works were initially showcased abroad and will be heard for the first time in Athens, while others will return in new readings, forming a programme that treats contemporary music as a vibrant experience – direct, unpredictable, funny, and humane.

■ A Fragment Concert — A Concert in Fragments: Tribute to György Ligeti and György Kurtág| 14 November 2026

Works by György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Ismini Beck

Conductor: Nicolas Vassiliou • Marietta Sarri soprano, Ioanna Vrakatseli mezzo-soprano, Vangelis Maniatis baritone • Ergon Ensemble: Nikos Nikopoulos flute, Kostas Tzekos clarinet, Manos Venturas horn, Kostas Panagiotidis violin, Dimitris Travlos violoncello, Nikos Tsoukalas double bass, Babis Taliadouros, Marios Nikolaou percussion, Christos Sakellaridis, Stefanos Nasos piano

This programme explores the delicate line where language ceases to signal meaning and begins to be heard. In the works of György Ligeti and György Kurtág, speech is deconstructed into vocal traces, gestures, and pure sonic energy: from the surreal theatricality of Nouvelles Aventures to the dark operatic universe of Le Grand Macabre, and to the extreme minimalism of Kurtág’s songs, language is fragmented and reshaped as sound. Interpolating between the pieces will be a world premiere of Ismini Beck's new work, Building Through Fragments, commissioned by the GNO Alternative Stage. This piece consists of four small “islets” that serve as intermediate breaks, reflections, and transitions within the soundscape.

The production will feature the Ergon Ensemble conducted by Nicolas Vassiliou, with performances by Marietta Sarri, Ioanna Vrakatseli, and Vangelis Maniatis.