“UNESCO awarded composer Panagiotis Karousos comes to
London for an exclusive concert with arias from Prometheus Bound and Olympic
Flame, chamber music and more.”
Tuesday 23rd of June 2016, 7:00pm
Parry Rooms, Royal College of Music, Prince Consort
Rd, London, SW7 2BS
Presentation: Aida Dellal Hersham
Production: Fawley Court Concert Hall
At this
concert Panagiotis Karousos will present for the first time in England some of
his best chamber music compositions, art songs and arias from his operas.
This very special concert will start with a poem written
from Queen Elizabeth I of England, (Written on a Wall at Woodstock). The
composer set to music the poem and dedicated especial for the occasion to Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her 90 birthdays.
Queen Elizabeth I of England
Written on a
Wall at Woodstock
Oh Fortune, thy wresting wavering state
Hath fraught with cares my troubled wit,
Whose witness this present prison late
Could bear, where once was joy's loan quit.
Thou causedst the guilty to be loosed
From bands where innocents were inclosed,
And caused the guiltless to be reserved,
And freed those that death had well deserved.
But all herein can be nothing wrought,
So God send to my foes all they have thought.
The
program includes three major romantic era English poets, William Shakespeare
(sonnet 109), Lord Byron (Maid of Athens), and Percy Bysshe Shelley
(Ozymandias).
The
rest of the program: Piano Trio No.1 "D'amour", Romance
for Violin and Piano, Divertimento for Cello and Piano, Guillaume Apollinaire:
Automne, Johann W. Goethe: Nachtgedanken "Night Thoughts", Alphonse
de Lamartine: La Harpe des Cantiques, Rachel Bluwstein: To My Country, Jorge
Luis Borges: Son los ríos, Prometheus aria from the opera “Prometheus Bound”,
Deianira’s aria from the opera “Olympic Flame”, Duet from the opera “Olympic
Flame”.
Artists:
Irene Konsta, soprano, Vasilis Asimakopoulos,
bass, Monika Dhamo, violin
Mirela Ruci, cello, Paraskevi Kleisoura, piano.
Panagiotis
Karousos is Greek-Canadian composer who brings to his music the philosophy and
spiritualism of the Greek classics. He
is the most impotent living opera composer of Greek origin.
He did
many concerts in Canada and USA with his Symphony No.1 “Liberty”, and Symphony
No.2 “Olympic”. His Piano Concerto was presented under UNESCO Canadian Auspices
at Montreal’s Maurice Richard Arena to an audience of 5000 people. The opera
Alexander the Great presented in Montreal at the Montreal Notre Dame Basilica,
in Chicago Illinois conducted by David Stech, in North Carolina Theatre under
the direction of Grant Gilman, and in Toronto at P.C. Ho Theater Cultural
Center of Toronto with the Sneak Peak Symphony Orchestra of Toronto University
and soloists under the direction of maestro Victor Cheng. The opera Prometheus
represented in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC. From 2013 he did major
presentations of Prometheus in Ancient Greek Theaters (Epidaurus, Messina,
Ancient Agora), and the National Archaeological Museum of Greece. In 2014
Prometheus presented with bass Vasilis Asimakopoulos in the United Nations and in
Mamie Fay auditorium of New York under the auspices of UNESCO. His Symphony
No.4 “Earth” premiered with City of Athens Symphony Orchestra with maestro
Eleftherios Kalkanis. His Liederabend and chamber music was presented in Berlin
from pianist Theodosia Ntokou and musicians from Berliner Camerata with
impressed reviews in 2015.
In 2016
he presented the opera Olympic Flame at Lincoln Center in New York with
soloists and orchestra under the direction of Jestin Pieper, and Prometheus at
La Sorbonne University in Paris with Greek soloists.
The Greek National
Radio Television did many profiles on him and broadcasted live his works with
some of the most talented artists of opera and classical music.
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