Panagiotis Karousos' concert was successfully held in the event hall of the "Marianna Vardinoyannis" Cultural and Educational Center of the UNESCO Club of Piraeus and the Islands.

 

The concert of the internationally renowned composer Panagiotis Karousos took place on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, with great success and a large crowd, at the events of the "Marianna Vardinoyannis" Cultural and Educational Center of the UNESCO Club of Piraeus and the Islands in Piraeus. The excellent soprano Rea Voudouri, the excellent tenor Nikos Vassilikos, and the solo pianist Christiana Manou were applauded.

Tenor Nikos Vassilikos performed in a dynamic manner the song “To Markos Botsaris” based on the poetry of Dionysios Solomos, the well-known soprano Rhea Voudouri performed the songs: Maid of Athens (Lord Byron), “Melina”, “Maria Callas of our hearts”, Artemis”, “To Mikis Theodorakis” and “Spring Symphonie” by Yannis Ritsos. The piano was accompanied by the piano soloist Christiana Manou who, at the request of the audience, played solo works by the composer Panagiotis Karousos at the reception given after the beautiful concert.

Ioannis Maronitis, President of the UNESCO Club of Piraeus and Islands and of the World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Associations and Centers (WFUCA) for Europe and North America, gave a welcome speech.

At the same time, an art exhibition by the international organization International Action Art and artist awards were held. The Themistocles Educational Organization Choir also sang under the musical direction of Tota Gerogianni.

THE OPERA ILIAD BY PANAGIOTIS KAROUSOS AT THE MEGARON - ATHENS CONCERT HALL

 

CLUB FOR UNESCO OF PIRAEUS AND ISLANDS

INTERNATIONAL ACTION ART

OPERA ILIAD OF HOMER

MUSIC AND LIBRETTO BY PANAGIOTIS KAROUSOS 

In the role of Beautiful Helen, the leading lady of the National Opera, famous soprano MARIA KOKKA

Monday, December 8, 2025 | 8:00 PM - 

Free admission

Yiannis Marinos Hall of the Friends of Music Association at the Athens Concert Hall

Participating:

Beautiful Helen: Maria Kokka (soprano)

Andromache: Rea Voudouri (soprano)

Hekavi: Voula Amiradaki (soprano)

Thetis: Irini Konsta (soprano)

Briseis: Margarita Ginosati (soprano)

Achilleas: Dimitris Alexandridis (tenor)

Paris: Panagiotis Diplaros (baritone)

Priamos: Pavlos Maropoulos (bass)

Musicians: Stavroula Menti (concertmaster - first violin), Antonis Giamvrias (flute), Maya Bakela (bassoon), Konstantinos Tzouvalis (trombone), Elli Dadira (double bass), Antonis Marinos (trumpet), Yannis Tzouvalis (drums - percussion).

Piraeus Youth String Orchestra

Musical direction: Giannis Protopapas, conductor

Participating the Musical Ensemble “Rhapsodes” 

Greetings: Ioannis Maronitis, president of the Club for UNESCO of Piraeus and Islands

The performance is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of UNESCO 1945 - 2025

Opera Iliad – program

1. Introduction

2. Hymn - Invocation to the Muse

3. Briseis & Chryseis - Farewell Chryseis

4. Beautiful Helen, Hecuba & Priam (Tercet 1)

5. Achilles (aria I) - Afthiton kleos

6. Thetis Aria - Zeus, look at me

7. Achilles & Thetis - Oh mother Thetis

8. Agamemnon Aria - In the homeland of Greece

9. Beautiful Helen (aria I) – I will become a famous song

10. Paris (aria) - The gifts of the gods

11. Beautiful Helen & Paris – O fairest of nations

12. Andromache (aria) – When you go out to battle

13. The Shield of Achilles (choral)

14. Beautiful Helen & Hecuba duet - Sparkling

15. Hecuba (aria) Hector my child

16. Beautiful Helen, Andromache & Hecuba (Tercet 2)

17. Achilles (aria II) – Let discord perish

18. Beautiful Helen (aria II) – Now all is over

19. Priam (aria) - Give me back the child my

20. Achilles & Priam Duet - Oh Achilles, divine

21. Oh Homeland! (Glory to Greece)

WOFA - WORLD FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION

WOFA - WORLD FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION WONDERFUL FESTIVAL MOOD AT THE FIRST EDITION OF SARANDA MUSIC FEST 17 – 21 October 2025 marked the successful realization of the first edition of the International Music & Dance Festival – SARANDA MUSIC FEST. Organized by WOFA – World Festival Association in cooperation with the Municipality of Saranda, the event brought together cultures, colors, rhythms, and traditions from across Europe to the beautiful seaside town of Saranda, Albania. 🎶 Participating Ensembles The festival featured outstanding performances by the following groups: Folk Dance Ensemble TANTSUSELTS SOLEKE – Tallinn, ESTONIA Ensemble TEISMA – Riga, LATVIA Ensemble SLOGA DJENOVICI – Herceg Novi, MONTENEGRO Group of Granddaughters of Bistritsa Grannies – Bistritsa, BULGARIA Ensemble of the Municipality Culture Center – Saranda, ALBANIA Mixed Choir ZAISA – Kaunas, LITHUANIA Mixed Choir CHERNOMORSKI ZVUTCI – Balchik, BULGARIA Each group brought unique energy and authenticity to the stage, delivering captivating performances that thrilled audiences each evening. 🌟 Festival Highlights 17 October: The festival kicked off with a welcome meeting for group leaders, where the organizers presented the full festival program. 18 October: An integration party was hosted at the beautiful 4-star Hotel Andon Lapa, featuring its own private beach and spa. The event fostered friendships and cultural exchange among participants. 19 October: A vibrant parade on the Saranda promenade led into the main festival day. Each group performed in front of a large audience, including local residents and international tourists. At the end of the performances, all participants received certificates and gifts from the organizers as a token of appreciation. 20 October: Groups had free time to visit Saranda and Ksamil  During their spare time, the groups enjoyed excursions to Ksamil, the Butrint amphitheater, and even a boat trip to Corfu Island in Greece—adding even more magic to their stay. 💃 Celebrating Diversity Through Dance and Song The variety of traditional dances and choral pieces performed created a rich cultural mosaic that lit up Saranda’s promenade and left lasting impressions on everyone who attended. You can reserve your participation on the festival for next year on the links of WOFA! You can write us on: info@wofafestivals.com With over 400 festivals in 70 destinations worldwide, WOFA continues to unite people through the universal languages of music and dance. 📌 Reserve your next cultural adventure on the links:

www.wofafestivals.com/ www.festival-association.eu

We invite you to Visit and Apply for more of 300 quality festivals around the world on official website: http://festival-association.eu www.wofafestivals.com World Festival Association Quality is our priority. We build bridges from nation to nation! HOW TO APPLY? Choose the festival that you want to participate than Fill up Application Form and Submit and we will contact you You can also send us e-mail directly to us: You received this email because you signed up on our website. Contact: info@wofafestivals.com office@wofafestivals.com

ZEUS laser at the University of Michigan

 

For just 25 quintillionths of a second, the ZEUS laser at the University of Michigan became the most powerful laser ever fired in the United States, delivering a staggering 2 petawatts of power. That brief pulse generated more than 100 times the electricity output of the entire planet, marking a bold leap forward in American high field science.

The Zettawatt Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System, housed at the Gerard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, roughly doubled the peak power of any other laser in the country. In its inaugural 2 petawatt experiment, ZEUS fired a laser pulse into a chamber filled with helium gas, stripping electrons from atoms to create plasma. The electrons then accelerated behind the laser pulse through a technique called wakefield acceleration, reaching velocities near the speed of light.

Later this year, ZEUS will conduct its signature experiment by colliding those accelerated electrons with a second laser beam traveling in the opposite direction. From the perspective of those near light speed electrons, the apparent laser power will reach zettawatt scale, equivalent to conditions found in black hole jets and gamma ray bursts. This allows scientists to recreate cosmic scale phenomena right here on Earth.

Beyond astrophysics, ZEUS promises practical applications in medicine, including advanced cancer treatments and improved soft tissue imaging. The National Science Foundation funded facility operates as a user center, awarding experiment time to research teams nationwide. At just 16 million dollars to build, ZEUS delivers particle accelerator level energies in a gymnasium sized space, making cutting edge physics far more accessible.

Live Qurious

A remarkable piece of Titanic history has resurfaced after nearly four decades

 A remarkable piece of Titanic history has resurfaced after nearly four decades. Researchers rediscovered a stunning bronze statue of Artemis, known as Diana of Versailles in Roman mythology, during a 2024 expedition to the legendary shipwreck site. The two-foot sculpture once graced the mantelpiece of the first-class lounge aboard the doomed luxury liner and was spotted just hours before the expedition ended, barely visible beneath sand and debris on the ocean floor.

RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia-based company with exclusive salvage rights to the wreck, spent 20 days capturing over two million high-resolution images of the site during their first expedition since 2010. The statue was originally photographed in 1986 by Robert Ballard but its location was never marked, making it lost once again until this recent discovery. When the Titanic broke apart after striking an iceberg in April 1912, the statue was torn from its elegant perch and scattered among the debris field 400 miles off Newfoundland, Canada.

In Greek mythology, Artemis was daughter of Zeus and twin sister of Apollo. She served as goddess of the hunt, wilderness, and the moon. The Titanic statue is a replica of the Diana of Versailles housed in the Louvre Museum, itself a Roman copy of a Greek bronze original attributed to sculptor Leochares around 325 BC

The expedition also revealed continued deterioration of the wreck, including a 15-foot section of the iconic bow railing that has fallen to the seafloor

Live Qurious

Historical Footprints

 In the forests near Wawa, Ontario, Canada, a remarkable discovery emerged when a fallen tree revealed a carved rock slab measuring about 1.2 by 1.5 meters.

The slab bears roughly 255 runic characters that form the full Swedish text of the Christian Lord’s Prayer an extraordinary feature written entirely in runes instead of the Latin alphabet.

Alongside the inscription are carvings of a boat carrying 16 figures and 14 mysterious X-shaped marks, whose meanings remain uncertain. Runologist Henrik Williams of Uppsala University identified the text as a 17th-century Swedish version, yet the stone itself likely dates to the early or mid-1800s, possibly carved by a Swedish labourer or missionary linked to the Hudson’s Bay Company.

This is the longest known runic inscription in North America, offering rare insight into immigrant spirituality and the endurance of Norse cultural symbols in remote Canada.

Historical Footprints

Μπέτι Ντέιβις

 Η #Μπέτι_Ντέιβις, που έφυγε σαν σήμερα το 1989, ήταν Αμερικανίδα ηθοποιός που θεωρείται ιερό τέρας του αμερικάνικου κινηματογράφου. Πρωταγωνίστησε σε πολλές κλασσικές ταινίες της χρυσής περιόδου του αμερικάνικου κινηματογράφου, προτάθηκε 11 φορές για Βραβείο Όσκαρ και το κέρδισε δύο φορές για τις ταινίες “Μια επικίνδυνη γυναίκα” το 1935 και “Ζέζεμπελ” το 1938.

Η καριέρα της διήρκεσε περίπου εξήντα χρόνια και το 1977 τιμήθηκε με βραβείο καριέρας από το Ινστιτούτο του Αμερικάνικου Κινηματογράφου. Ήταν η πρώτη γυναίκα που κατάφερε αυτό το επίτευγμα καθώς και η πρώτη γυναίκα που κατάφερε να γίνει πρόεδρος της ακαδημίας των όσκαρ το 1941. Υποδυόταν συνήθως αντιπαθείς ηρωίδες και η τεχνική της έχει αντιγραφεί από πολλούς μεταγενέστερους ηθοποιούς. Το 1981 ένα τραγούδι της Κιμ Καρνς με τίτλο Bette Davis Eyes αφιερωμένο σε αυτήν έκανε παγκόσμια επιτυχία. Το Αμερικανικό Ινστιτούτο Κινηματογράφου την έχει κατατάξει δεύτερη στη λίστα με τις 25 μεγαλύτερες σταρ όλων των εποχών.Μοιράζεται ακόμα και σήμερα μαζί με τη Γκριρ Γκάρσον το ρεκόρ συνεχόμενων υποψηφιοτήτων στα όσκαρ (ήταν υποψήφια για πέντε συνεχόμενες χρονιές απ’ το 1938 μέχρι και το 1942).

Η ταινία του 1948 “Νοσταλγοί μιας ζωής” (June Bride) σημείωσε μεγάλη επιτυχία, έτσι η Ντέιβις ανανέωσε το συμβόλαιό της με τη Warner και με μισθό $10.285 την εβδομάδα, έγινε η πιο ακριβοπληρωμένη γυναίκα στις ΗΠΑ. Ο Τζακ Γουόρνερ όμως της απαγόρευσε την έγκριση σεναρίων και την ανάγκασε να εμφανιστεί στην ταινία “Το μυστικό του δάσους” (Beyond the forest) 1949, την οποία η ηθοποιός θεωρούσε κακή. Εγωκεντρική και φιλόδοξη δεν επέτρεπε στον εαυτό της να είναι ποτέ κάτι λιγότερο από «πρώτη» σε οτιδήποτε………… «Υπήρξα ασυμβίβαστη, ευέξαπτη, άθραυστη, μονομανής, αγενής, άστατη και πολλές φορές δυσάρεστη. Υποθέτω ότι είμαι μεγαλύτερη και από την ίδια τη ζωή».

Κατά τη διάρκεια της δεκαετίας του ’70, η Ντέιβις συνέχισε να δουλεύει και συμμετείχε κυρίως σε τηλεοπτικές παραγωγές, ενώ στις ελάχιστες κινηματογραφικές της ταινίες εμφανιζόταν ως καρατερίστα. Το 1983, μετά την ολοκλήρωση της τηλεταινίας “Right of way” με τον Τζέιμς Στιούαρτ, της διέγνωσαν καρκίνο του μαστού και της έκαναν μαστεκτομή. Δυο εβδομάδες μετά την εγχείρηση υπέστη εγκεφαλικό. Η υγεία της ήταν σε κρίσιμη κατάσταση και όλοι νόμιζαν ότι θα πέθαινε. Εκείνη την εποχή η κόρη της Μπάρμπαρα, έγραψε κι εξέδωσε το βιβλίο “My mother’s keeper”, στο οποίο παρουσίαζε τη μητέρα της αυταρχική κι αλκοολική. Όταν η Ντέιβις συνήλθε, με μικρή παράλυση στην αριστερή γνάθο και στο αριστερό της χέρι, αποκλήρωσε την κόρη της και δεν της ξαναμίλησε. Το 1989, ανακάλυψε ότι ο καρκίνος είχε υποτροπιάσει, ανέκαμψε για λίγο καιρό, πράγμα που της επέτρεψε να ταξιδέψει στην Ισπανία όπου την τίμησαν με βραβείο καριέρας, αλλά κατά τη διάρκεια της διαμονής της εκεί η υγεία της χειροτέρευσε. Όντας αδύναμη να επιστρέψει στην Αμερική ταξίδεψε μέχρι τη Γαλλία, όπου και εισήχθη σε αμερικανικό νοσοκομείο στην πόλη Νεϊγί. Πέθανε στις 6 Οκτωβρίου 1989. Η ταφή της έγινε στο Λος Άντζελες και στην ταφόπλακά της αναγράφεται …”She did it the hard way” (Έκανε τα πάντα με τον δυσκολότερο τρόπο).

Έχει πει:
• Θα παντρευτώ ξανά, αν βρώ έναν άνθρωπο που έχει δεκαπέντε εκατομμύρια δολάρια περιουσία, θα υπογράψει πάνω από το μισό σε μένα, και αφού μου εγγυηθεί ότι θα είναι νεκρός μέσα σε ένα χρόνο.

• Να προσπαθείς το αδύνατο για να γίνεις καλύτερος στη δουλειά σου.

• Πιστεύω πως ο κόσμος είναι μια ζούγκλα και αν δεν είναι λίγο ζούγκλα και μέσα στο σπίτι, ένα παιδί δεν είναι σωστά εφοδιασμένο για να αντιμετωπίσει τον κόσμο.

• Μόνο και μόνο επειδή είναι πεθαμένη δεν σημαίνει ότι πρόκειται να αλλάξει.
(για την Joan Crawford)
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Επιμ: Δ.Ντζαδήμα // www.fractalart.gr

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