THIS IS BRITTEN Comes to National Library of Greece This Weekend

Τhe singular production This is Britten, based on two emblematic song cycles of Benjamin Britten that have been inspired by poems of William Blake and John Donne, is coming to the lobby of the National Library of Greece at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on Saturday 30 September 2023, at 21.00, as part of the round of events Booklover’s Point of the 3d Lyric South Festival.

The production is conceived and directed by Themelis Glynatsis and the song cycles will be performed by internationally acclaimed baritone Dimitri Platanias and distinguished and experienced tenor Christos Kechris. The first song cycle is based on poems written by the “heretic” William Blake, while the second cycle is based on Renaissance poet John Donne’s Holy Sonnets, composed after Britten had visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Benjamin Britten, one of the most important composers of the 20th century, wrote many works in which literature came alive through his exceptionally original music style. The production titled This is Britten consists of two of Britten’s rarely performed emblematic song cycles.

Director Themelis Glynatsis in collaboration with video designers Chrysoula Korovesi and Marios Gambierakis mould a remarkable visual setting especially designed for the lobby of the National Library of Greece at the SNFCC, that will be used as background for Dimitri Platanias and Christos Kechris’ performances of Willam Blake and John Donne’s poem cycles respectively. Accompanying on the piano will be Sofia Tamvakopoulou.

The stage installation aims at conveying to the public, both musically and scenically, the special emotional and philosophical charge of these two cycles, which explore the personal despair of both the poets and the composer, the tormenting religious doubt, but also the constant quest for redemption and liberty. In the end, despite the profuse melancholy they exude, these two cycles, based on poetry of unparalleled beauty and intensity, serve as a testimony to human resistance against existential compromise, violence and death – a fact which renders them deeply revolutionary. 

Concept, direction: Themelis Glynatsis

Projection design: Chrysoula Korovesi, Marios Gambierakis

Performers: Dimitri Platanias, Christos Kechris

Piano: Sofia Tamvakopoulou
 

With: Panagiotis Evangelidis, Alexios Zervanos

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