Even If You Go Away…

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Dimitra Galani will present a musical performance at the Greek National Opera dedicated to Marianina Kriezi, the lyricist who introduced playful everyday-life innuendos into singing. From the songs ‘Rosa-Rosalia’, ‘Koperti’, and ‘Plateia Amerikis’ to ‘Flight 201’, and from ‘Gyali-Dounias’ and ‘Serenata’ to ‘Ta Isycha Vradia’, Marianina Kriezi always exhibited a distinctive creative freedom, resisting any categorisation of her work.

She was a creator of rare sensitivity, with a restless and playful gaze and a profoundly feminine writing style that served less as an identity for her artistic work and more as a way to perceive the world. She wrote tenderly, ironically, and with subtlety, insisting on emotion and small details that often go unnoticed, with a pure perspective that was at times puckish, but always with a freedom she never lost. In her hands, language became a game, a song, a notice, and an innuendo. Finding poetry where most people see only daily life, Kriezi could turn the meaningless into something precious and meaningful.

Lyrics that became beloved songs in the Greek discography, plays for revues performed at the Eleftheri Skini theatre, poetry collections, radio shows, and an unwavering faith in the power of language and art—all form the creator’s multifaceted identity and her broad creative mosaic. Her name was inextricably linked to the legendary radio show Lilipoupoli, where children’s imagination encountered poetry, music, and singing. She wrote for those who want to be moved, to laugh, to remember, to resist pomposity and cynicism, and to continue winking at their inner child.

Working alongside celebrated composers such as Lena Platonos, Nikos Kypourgos, Dimitris Maragopoulos, Lakis Papadopoulos, and Yannis Spanos, she created an invaluable microcosm that stood apart from the demands of discography and the ephemeral shine of radio hits.

The performance Even If You Go Away…, conceived and curated by Dimitra Galani, is an encounter with this extraordinary universe. Four evenings dedicated to a creator who reminded us that poetry may be hiding within play, that sensitivity is power, and that within us there will always be a child who keeps dreaming. Joining Dimitra Galani onstage to perform Marianina Kriezi’s songs will be Savina Yannatou and Yannis Palamidas. The performance’s songs, arranged by Serafeim Giannakopoulos and Antonis Sousamoglou, cherished and deeply etched in the audience’s memory, will return through a new sonic approach, a ‘reworked’ sound that converses with today, highlighting the lyricism and playful element in Kriezi’s lyrics. The performance will feature a six-member instrumental ensemble. Katerina Petsatodi will serve as supervising director; Lila Sotiriou will be in charge of art direction; Eirini Vianelli will be responsible for the animations that accompany the songs’ stories; and Eleftheria Deko will create the lighting design.