MARE NOSTRUM: Concert featuring Mediterranean music

Mare Nostrum
Concert featuring Mediterranean music

 Musical direction: Jordi Savall

Musical ensemble Hespèrion XXI
& Greek National Opera Intercultural Orchestra

 Artistic curation: Jordi Savall, Harris Lambrakis

 24 September 2025 ∙ Starts at: 21.00
Odeon of Herodes Atticus

 A production of the Learning & Participation Department
of the Greek National Opera

Tickets starting from 10 euros

Tickets can be purchased at: www.ticketservices.gr, the GNO Box Office at the SNFCC (2130885700 daily 9.00 – 21.00), and the Athens Festival Box Offices.

The renowned Jordi Savall and his celebrated ensemble Hespèrion XXI join forces with the Greek National Opera Intercultural Orchestra on Wednesday, 24 September 2025, at 21.00, at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. In one of the final shows before the Herodium closes for a three-year period of repairs, the Greek National Opera presents a unique concert titled Mare Nostrum—a grand celebration of the Mediterranean curated by Jordi Savall and Harris Lambrakis.

The programme of the concert Mare Nostrum offers a musical journey that showcases the Mediterranean as a shared meeting place for diverse cultures, religions, and encounters. Sephardic melodies, Arab-Andalusian tunes, Byzantine hymns, Ottoman, and Christian traditions all intertwine, shaping a colorful musical mosaic that highlights the role this sea has played as a cross-temporal hub of diverse cultures.

Jordi Savall is one of the most remarkable musical figures of our time because he has succeeded in transforming early music from a “museum genre” into a vibrant and moving experience for millions of people across the world. For five decades, he has brought out forgotten treasures from the Middle Ages to classicism, treating art as a means to promote cultural encounters and dialogue. As a viola da gamba virtuoso, maestro, and researcher, he has recorded over 230 albums and received a Grammy award along with numerous other international distinctions. In 2009, he was appointed Ambassador of the European Union for Intercultural Dialogue, and he has also been named “Artist for Peace” by UNESCO. As The Guardian reported: “Jordi Savall testifies to a common cultural inheritance of infinite variety. He is a man of our time.”

In 1974, together with Montserrat Figueras, Lorenzo Alpert, and Hopkinson Smith, he founded the Early Music ensemble Hespèrion XX in Basel to showcase the repertoire from before the 19th century using historical criteria and original instruments. Later, the ensemble was renamed Hespèrion XXI to signal the transition into the 21^st century. Having released over 60 albums and with numerous appearances at international festivals, Hespèrion XXI  has become a key reference for understanding and highlighting music from the Medieval period to the Baroque era.

This longstanding journey of seeking, experimenting, and engaging with different traditions finds its natural continuation in the encounter with the GNO Intercultural Orchestra. As Harris Lambrakis remarks: “It is upon this combination that Jordi Savall and his ensemble Hespèrion XXI’s collaboration with the GNO Intercultural Orchestra will be based. The title Mare Nostrum sets the tone: The Mediterranean will be portrayed as a shared sea, which each people (rightfully) considers its own –  a sea that unites us rather than divides us.”

The GNO Intercultural Orchestra was founded in 2018 with the idea that music serves as a common ground and a space for equal encounters. It consists of musicians from diverse nationalities and cultural backgrounds. Its repertoire ranges from world music traditions to contemporary compositions and improvisation, confirming its intercultural character.

Joining them on the stage of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus will be the renowned Greek performer of traditional and Byzantine music, Katerina Papadopoulou, in collaboration with notable musical figures, including Domna Samiou, Pantelis Thalassinos, Nikos Papazoglou, Nikos Xydakis, and the distinguished French singer Marc Mauillon, who stands out for his impressive ability to alternate between tenor and baritone repertoires, as well as for his performances in some of the most important operatic roles.

All of them together will take us on a journey through the musical traditions of the Mediterranean, with a rich programme filled with melodies of reconciliation and coexistence, connecting religious and secular music, the East and the West, and sophisticated elements with folk influences.

The GNO intercultural education activities are sponsored by Piraeus Bank, as part of the Corporate Responsibility programme EQUALL – For a Society of Equal People.

The concert is held with the support of the Departament de Cultura of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Institut Ramon Llull, the Region of Attica, and the Regional Development Fund of Attica.

Mare Nostrum ∙ Concert featuring Mediterranean music
Musical direction: Jordi Savall

Musical ensemble Hespèrion XXI & the GNO Intercultural Orchestra
Artistic curation: Jordi Savall, Harris Lambrakis

24 September 2025 ∙ Starts at: 21.00
Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Hespèrion XXI
Guillermo Pérez (organette), Efrén López (medieval lute, hurdy-gurdy), Dimitri Psonis (santur, percussion, bells), Jordi Savell (vielle)

Intercultural Orchestra of the Greek National Opera

Simos Papaspyrou (ney), Omar Abozekry (ney), Harris Lambrakis (ney), Chrystos Syngelos (oud), Seray Yalçın (oud), Stavros Papakyritsis (oud), Giannis Christakopoulos (accordion), Effie Psiachoulia (African kora), Manolis Christodoulou (qanun), May Angelaki (Cretan lute), Rezarta Krougia (violin), Myrsini Pontikopoulou (violin), Sofia Zafeiriou (violin), Cid Carmo (tarhu, violin), Savvas Koudounas (Constantinopolitan lyre, violin), Anastasia Papageorgiou (Constantinopolitan lyre), Lambrini Gioti (nyckelharpa, singing), Martha Papadogianni (cello), Alba Lymtsiouli (cello), Stavros Makris (contrabass), Eirini Alisa Tsakiroglou (piano), Giannis Tikof (guitar), Stathis Koutouzos (percussion), Mohammed Fadhil (percussion), Alexandra Balandina (percussion), Maro Panagi (percussion)

Performers: Katerina Papadopoulou, Marc Mauillon

A production of the Learning & Participation Department of the Greek National Opera

Ticket prices:
VIP Zone 1: 50 euros, VIP Zone 2: 35 euros
Zone A: 25 euros, Zone B: 20 euros, Zone C: 15 euros
Upper tier: 10 euros
Students, children: 5 euros
Disabled individuals: Free

Tickets can be purchased at: www.ticketservices.gr, the GNO Box Office at the SNFCC (2130885700 daily 9.00 – 21.00), and the Athens Festival Box Offices.

 
Sponsor of Intercultural Education Activities

Supported by

Lead Donor of the GNO Learning and Participation Department