The opera Prometheus Bound by Panagiotis Karousos at Megaron - Athens Concert Hall

 
The Club for UNESCO of Piraeus and Islands and the International Action Art

Present the Opera Prometheus bound by Aeschylus with music and libretto by Panagiotis Karousos at Megaron - Athens Concert Hall.
Thursday, May 7, 2026 | 8:00 PM - Free admission
Music Library of Greece "Lilian Voudouri" of The Friends of Music Society at the Athens Concert Hall. The performance is dedicated to World Greek Language Day.
Greetings: Ioannis Maronitis, President of the Club for UNESCO of Piraeus and Islands
Starring:
Prometheus: Nikos Flakas, bass-baritone
Io: Irini Konsta, soprano
Ocean: Hlin Leifsdottir, soprano
Via-Athena: Rea Voudouri, soprano
Ocean-Hermes: Thanasis Lianos, tenor
Sea Nymph: Sofia Mantzakou, soprano
State: Giannis Darios, tenor
Participating actors:
Goddess Hera: Despina Mirou
Leader: Tissa Vasilaki
Amphitrite: Vasiliki Iosifidou
Hephaestus: Konstantinos Kalavrytinos
Musical direction: Harry Giann, piano
Musical Ensemble "Rapsodes" Christiana Manou, piano
Rehearsal coordination-supervision: Rhea Voudouri
Stage director: Irini Konsta
Artistic director: Panagiotis Carousos

A few words about the opera:
The opera "Prometheus Bound" by Panagiotis Karousos connects ancient Greek tragedy with opera.
Starting from the Prosody and the accentuation of the words of the ancient Greek language, the separation of sounds based on the Monochord and the harmony of the spheres of Pythagoras, which is the basis of all Western music, with the opera Prometheus Bound we pass through all the musical movements of classical music up to our days. However, as all works are characterized by a basic element, so in this opera the voices of the performers have a primary role. The musical writing tied to the classical forms of the arias is based on the melody that refers us to bel canto and verismo. The orchestration is based on Wagnerian forms with the brass instruments in the main motifs and a rich dramatic sound of warm romanticism.
However, beyond the established values ​​of ancient Greek literature, the timeless messages and the laws of opera that the work respects, this opera leads us to the future of humanity, which is the discovery and understanding of the Universe.
History of the work:
Prometheus was first presented in Montreal, Canada, at the Place des Arts, and was performed intermittently in French until 2006. The work is based on the homonymous tragedy by Aeschylus "Prometheus Bound" translated by Griparis. In 2008, it was staged in New York and Washington, USA, under the direction of conductor Grant Gilman. In Greece, Prometheus was performed at the Municipal Theaters of Cholargos, Corinth, Chalkida, Salamis, Kallithea, Argostoli, Ithaca, the Parnassos Concert Hall, the Old Parliament, the Veakeio Theater, the Polychoro of the Municipality of Athens, the Theater of Ancient Messina, the Ancient Agora, the National Archaeological Museum and the Small Theater of Ancient Epidaurus, and the Prisons of Socrates, Hill of the Muses (Filopappou). In March 2014, the opera "Prometheus Bound" starring Vasilis Asimakopoulos was presented at the Queens' Mamie Fay Auditorium and at the UN at the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, representing Greece at UNESCO. It was the first time in the history of Greek opera that a work traveled from Greece to America. Under the direction of conductor Eleftherios Kalkanis, it was presented on the Third Program of ERT and at the "Parnassos" Concert Hall. In 2016, it was presented at the Sorbonne University in Paris (Richelieu Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne) with the following protagonists: Vasilis Asimakopoulos, Irini Konsta, Vanessa Kalkanis, Kassandra Dimopoulou, Philippos Modinos, and Victoria-Fioralba Kiazimi on piano, and in 2017 at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet.
In 2024, the opera was presented at the Municipal Theater of Piraeus and at the Theatre of the NO, the first English-speaking theater in Athens in a series of performances in English.
In 2025, it was presented at the Educational Group - Greek-English Education.
The opera was also presented for a number of years in schools with an approved program of the Institute of Educational Policy (IEP), of the Ministry of Education, for Secondary Education with an introductory seminar "Prosody as a connecting link between opera and ancient Greek tragedy". The melodic power of Prometheus has made great personalities speak with enthusiasm, including the Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau, while in a presentation of the work on the Third Program of ERT it was described as divine

“From Bronze to Dust: The Temple Sparta Forgot”

 

Ἀπὸ τὸν Χαλκὸ στὸ Χῶμα: ὁ Ναὸς ποὺ ἡ Σπάρτη Ξέχασε» «Ἐδῶ στεκόταν ὁ πιὸ λαμπρὸς ναὸς τῆς Σπάρτης — σήμερα τρεῖς πέτρες»

Giorgos Geron

AI images Stato Magna Grecia https://www.facebook.com/share/17wSHvsHRG/

Giorgos Geron

“From Bronze to Dust: The Temple Sparta Forgot”

“Here Once Stood Sparta’s Most Radiant Temple — Now Only Stones Remain”

ὁ Ναὸς τῆς Χαλκιοίκου Ἀθηνᾶς στὴ Σπάρτη

Στὶς δύο πρῶτες εἰκόνες βλέπουμε τὴν ἀνασύνθεση τῆς λαμπρότητας. Στὴν τρίτη, τὴ σιωπή: τρεῖς ἐκθεμελιωμένοι λίθοι, ὅ,τι ἀπέμεινε ἀπὸ ἕναν ναὸ ποὺ κάποτε ἔλαμπε ἀπὸ χαλκό. Τὸ χάσμα ἀνάμεσα στὶς εἰκόνες εἶναι τὸ χάσμα ἀνάμεσα στὴν ἀκμὴ καὶ στὴ βίαιη ἀπώλεια — κι ἔπειτα στὴν ἀργὴ λήθη.

Ὁ Ναὸς τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς Χαλκιοίκου δέσποζε στὴν ἀκρόπολη τῆς Σπάρτης. Τὸ ἐπίθετο «Χαλκίοικος» μαρτυρεῖ μεταλλικὲς ἐπενδύσεις ἢ ἀνάγλυφα ποὺ ἔντυναν τὸ ἱερὸ μὲ χάλκινη λάμψη: ἀρχιτεκτονικὴ δήλωση ἰσχύος σὲ ἱερὸ χῶρο, ὅπου ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ τιμούνταν ὡς πολεμικὴ προστάτιδα τῆς πόλης.

Ἐδῶ γράφτηκε καὶ μιὰ ἀπὸ τὶς πιὸ σκοτεινὲς σελίδες τῆς σπαρτιατικῆς ἱστορίας. Ὁ βασιλιᾶς Παυσανίας, κατηγορούμενος γιὰ προδοτικὲς δοσοληψίες μὲ τοὺς Πέρσες, κατέφυγε ἱκέτης στὸ ἱερὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς. Οἱ ἔφοροι, σὲ πράξη ποὺ συνδυάζει πολιτικὴ σκληρότητα καὶ ἱεροσυλία, ἔκλεισαν τὶς θύρες τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τὸν ἀπέκλεισαν μέσα, ὥστε νὰ πεθάνει ἀπὸ ἀσιτία. Ὅταν πιὰ ξεψυχοῦσε, τὸν ἔβγαλαν ἔξω γιὰ νὰ μὴ «μιανθεῖ» ὁ ἱερὸς χῶρος ἀπὸ τὸν θάνατο — μιὰ ὕστατη, ὑποκριτικὴ φροντίδα τῆς καθαρότητας, τὴν ὥρα ποὺ ἡ ἱερότητα εἶχε ἤδη παραβιαστεῖ. Ἡ παράδοση μνημονεύει μάλιστα τὴ μητέρα του Παυσανία, ποὺ πρώτη τοποθέτησε τὸν λίθο στὴν εἴσοδο: ἡ πολιτεία πάνω ἀπὸ τὸ αἷμα.

Αἰῶνες ἀργότερα ἦρθε ἡ δεύτερη ρήξη. Στὰ τέλη τοῦ 6ου αἰ. μ.Χ. (587/588), ἐπιδρομεῖς ὑπὸ τὸν Γάλλο Ἀβὰ Φουρμὸντ ἔπληξαν τὴ Λακωνία. Πηγὲς μιλοῦν γιὰ μεθοδικὴ πολυήμερη ἐργολαβικὴ καταστροφὴ ἱερῶν καὶ κτισμάτων. Ἡ καταστροφὴ ἦταν ὑλικὴ καὶ συμβολική.

Κι ἔπειτα, ἡ πιὸ ὕπουλη ἀπὸ ὅλες : ἡ ἐπαναχρησιμοποίηση λίθων, ἡ ἐγκατάλειψη, ἡ ἀσβεστοποίηση μαρμάρων, ἡ ἀδιαφορία. Μιὰ πολιτεία ποὺ ἀπαιτοῦσε ἀπὸ τὸν πολίτη παραίτηση τοῦ ἀτομικοῦ ἑαυτοῦ γιὰ χάρη τοῦ κοινοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ἄφησε τὰ ἴδια της τὰ σύμβολα νὰ χαθοῦν. Οἱ ψηφιακὲς ἀναπαραστάσεις δὲν εἶναι φαντασίωση· εἶναι ἀπόπειρα νὰ ξαναδοθεῖ μορφὴ στὴ μνήμη. Ἀνάμεσα στὸν ναὸ ποὺ «ἀνασταίνεται» στὴν ὀθόνη καὶ στὶς τρεῖς πέτρες ποὺ ἀγγίζουμε σήμερα χωρᾶ ὁλόκληρη ἡ ἱστορία τῆς ἀκμῆς, τῆς προδοσίας, τῆς πυρπόλησης καὶ τῆς λήθης.

Πηγές – Βιβλιογραφία

Παυσανίας, Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις (Λακωνικά)

Θουκυδίδης, Ἱστορίαι (γιὰ τὸν Παυσανία καὶ τὶς κατηγορίες προδοσίας)

Πλούταρχος, Βίοι Παράλληλοι (ἀναφορὲς στὸν Παυσανία)

Θεοφάνης ὁ Ὁμολογητής, Χρονογραφία (ἐπιδρομὲς 587/588 μ.Χ.)

Cartledge, P., Sparta and Lakonia, Routledge

Ἀναφορὲς Ἐφορείας Ἀρχαιοτήτων Λακωνίας γιὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολη Σπάρτης

From Bronze to Ash: The Temple of Athena Chalkioikos in Sparta

The first two images reconstruct splendor. The third records silence: three displaced stones, all that remains of a bronze-clad sanctuary. The gap between them is the gap between civic brilliance and violent loss — and then slow forgetting.

The Temple of Athena Chalkioikos crowned Sparta’s acropolis. Ancient descriptions speak of bronze plates or reliefs that turned the shrine into a metallic emblem of martial piety, where Athena was honored as guardian of the Spartan order.

Here unfolded one of Sparta’s darkest episodes. King Pausanias, accused of treasonous dealings with Persia, fled as a suppliant into Athena’s sanctuary. The ephors sealed the doors and walled him in, condemning him to die of starvation within the sacred precinct. When he was at the point of death, they carried him outside so the temple would not be ritually polluted — a last, hollow gesture of purity after sacrilege had already been done. Tradition even recalls his mother laying the first stone at the doorway: the state placed above blood.

Centuries later came another rupture. In 587/588 AD, raiders led by Aba Furmónt struck Laconia; sources report burning and plundering of sanctuaries and buildings. The site where a king had died as a suppliant was given to the flames once more. From bronze to ash.

What followed compounded the loss: spoliation, abandonment, indifference. Digital reconstructions are not fantasy; they are attempts to restore form to absence. Between the temple we re-imagine and the stones we touch today lies the full arc of rise, betrayal, burning, and forgetting.

Sources & Bibliography

Pausanias, Description of Greece (Laconia)

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (on Pausanias)

Plutarch, Parallel Lives (references to Pausanias)

Theophanes the Confessor, Chronographia (587/588 AD raids)

Cartledge, P., Sparta and Lakonia, Routledge

Ephorate of Antiquities of Laconia, reports on the Spartan acropolis

Ancient Greek Civilization - Αρχαία Ελλάς