Birch trees

Birch trees is a sound art performance of a ritual character. Two hand-made singing bowls are the work’s basic pillars. Through the use of improvised musical objects, their rich sound frequency band comes into the light, disintegrates, recomposes itself, and is reformed, leading to diverse timbral paths. Voice is placed at the centre between the two actions, in a soundscape free to be experienced from any point in the space. — Y. M.

Performance schedule

Holy Tuesday - 19 April

19.00 Birch trees: Anyone who now...

20.00 Birch trees: Once, someone...

21.00 Birch trees: And someone else...

Holy Wednesday - 20 April

19.00 Birch trees: And someone else...

20.00 Birch trees: Anyone who now...

21.00 Birch trees: Once, someone...

Heartfelt thanks are due to the S.I. Zacharopoulos Publishing House for granting us permission to use excerpts from the anthology Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Aris Dikteos. 

Yiannis Maramathas

He is a composer and performer of contemporary classical music and a sound artist. He has also been involved in dance and video art performances. He started his music studies while he was a student at the National Technical University of Athens. After graduating from the Department of Shipbuilding & Mechanical Engineering, he completed the Ionian University’s postgraduate programme on musical composition and performing arts. From 2018 to 2021 he studied at the Royal College of Music, London, completing a postgraduate programme on composition with distinction. His works have been presented in Athens and London. He has collaborated with the Hellenic Ensemble of Contemporary Music, the New Perspectives ensemble, the Ionian Festival Ensemble, etc. The first opera he composed was commissioned by the Royal College of Music, London, and the opera company Tête à Tête. His latest commissions include sound art performances and collaborations with English musical ensembles.

Bath House of the Winds

The Bath House of the Winds, also known as the Abid Efendi Hammam at 8 Cyrrhestou street, stands close to the Roman Agora and the Horologium of Andronicus of Cyrrhus. It is the only public bathhouse of Athens surviving to the present day. It dates back to the first period of the Ottoman rule in Greece (15th-17th c.) and it operated as a bathhouse until 1965. Today it falls under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and it is part of the Museum of Modern Greek Culture, which is responsible for its new use as a museum dedicated to the cleanliness, care and beautification of the body throughout the ages. As a construction, the Bath House of the Winds underwent many changes over its centuries-long history. During the Ottoman era it was a single bath and served men and women alternately. At its later construction stage, around 1870, it was turned into a double bath, offering services to men and women in separate divisions. Later on, an auxiliary building was added to it, including individual baths, known as “European” baths. The monumental space of the Bath House of the Winds is imbued with centuries-long memories and sensations. It is a special place of cultural convergence, a timeless meeting point of people and cultures, a space of purification and relaxation of bodies and souls.

First Sacred Music Festival info leaflet available to read and download here