Today’s Letter has a story and an announcement. Let’s tell the story first: 100 years ago, a tremendously influential artist was born, destined to change the way we experience and understand primarily our folk music. Yet, he also wrote other things: symphonies, operas, symphonic poems, sonatas, chamber music works, and so much more. These other works he wrote were mostly good, but they didn’t achieve the same popularity as his folk songs. After all, art music, or classical music as it’s commonly called, isn’t heard and loved as much as folk music.
He achieved recognition in difficult times, was persecuted for his ideas, and loved for his ideas. He would have wanted all his works to be heard again and again. Through his notes, he sang of youth, love, pain, his homeland Crete, and became a symbol. He lived long enough to hear most, if not all, of his works. And he became so well-known that everyone called him by his first name, Mikis.
This year, we celebrate the work of this great and influential musician with an exhibition at the Megaron Concert Hall, and I invite you to come and see it, as admission is free! You will discover that an archive can be many other things besides a collection of documents, objects, and manuscripts. They can be living history. Ms. Erato Koutsoudaki, Valia Vraka, and Stefania Merakou did a great job highlighting it. And allow me, just this once, to praise our own efforts for the wonderful exhibition we created. See more here https://tinyurl.com/mpszeuvr
Equally wonderful is the touring exhibition that began its journey from Chania, specifically from the KAM exhibition center located in the port. If you find yourself there or in other cities of the Region where the exhibition will travel, don’t miss it, because you will realize how important the digital management of memory is today. After all, we are all within digital media, and you are reading me on a screen right now.
Now for the announcement: we’re planning to start our meetings, and we’ve set the place and time for the first one. We will meet on December 9th at 8:00 PM at Blue Haus, Themistokleous 80, on Exarcheia Square, to get to know each other and talk about music, wine, and whatever else fascinates us in life! The people who read this column and Classicalmusic.gr in general are a beautiful community that deserves to meet and converse.
Come and chat with us in person!
https://www.facebook.com/events/872262162138161
