1^st part
Music for Harp Ensemble

The section of the concert dedicated to four harps presents three contemporary compositional approaches connected with Thessaloniki, through works by Michalis Lapidakis, Dimitris Andrikopoulos, and Naya Myserli. It is presented in collaboration with the Contemporary Music Lab AUTH, directed by Dimitri Papageorgiou.

2^nd part
Composers of Thessaloniki and the National School

Works by Emil Riadis, Ioris Margaritis, Marios Varvoglis, Nicolas Astrinidis.

Performers: Maria Bildea, harp; Angelica Cathariou, mezzo soprano; Galatea Daskalaki, piano; Agapi Fasoula, harp; Marilena Liakopoulou, piano; Naya Myserli, harp; Anna Miliou, harp.

Thessaloniki was an influential hub for Byzantine ecclesiastical chants and hymnography. It produced and nurtured legendary Byzantine composers like Ioannis Koukouzelis, who profoundly shaped Orthodox choral music. Historic Byzantine churches throughout the city serve as live acoustic venues for Byzantine choirs.

The Basilica of Saint Demetrius is the main sanctuary dedicated to the patron saint of Thessaloniki. A World Heritage monument dating back to the 7th century, it is one of the city's most important Byzantine landmarks.

As the patron saint of Thessaloniki, Demetrius ("the Myrrh-Gusher") is honored with hymns written by early Byzantine composers. The concert contains representative pieces connected to Thessaloniki, both in terms of musical composition across different historical periods and the devotional life of the city within the Orthodox Church.

It displays the rich sonorities of the Byzantine eight-mode system (oktoechos) through different genres and categories of chant, including syllabic, syllabo-melismatic, and highly melismatic musical textures, offering a panoramic view of Byzantine melopoeia through the centuries.

Chants interpreted by the Choir “Thessalonian Hymnodists”, directed by Prof. Ioannis Liakos, and by the Byzantine Women Choir “St Anysia” of the Greek Association for Music Education, directed by Prof. Maria Alexandru.

Performed by Theodora Iordanidou

Giorgos Sakallieros, Sonatine (13')
Ballade 1994. Quasi Rondo
Dimitris Maronidis, Les Signaux du Vent for flute and electronics (7')
Michalis Lapidakis, Ein andrer Hauch I (7')
Dimitri Papageorgiou, Waiting Long Enough for Our Last Breath (8')
Gundega Smite, somnio (in)somnium (6')
Zesses Seglias, lonesingness/flussingness (4')
Costas Tsougras, Lament for Theodore (4')

This matinée presents works for solo flute by contemporary composers based in Thessaloniki, highlighting diverse compositional voices and aesthetic approaches within the city's current musical landscape. The program brings together recent repertoire that explores the expressive and sonic possibilities of the modern flute and the bass flute as solo instruments. The works are connected through ongoing artistic research related to contemporary music practices.

Moving between the conscious and the subconscious, the program touches upon deeply human experiences of contemporary life such as alienation, loneliness, insomnia, psychological fragility, the erosion brought by time, and the experience of loss and farewell. Across these narratives, the concept of breath emerges both as a fundamental condition of sound and life, and as a potential space of resonance and suspension, transition, and final release.

Historically Informed Performance (HIP) and Embodied Artistic Research through AI-Assisted Reconstruction: An Experimental Active Archive Approach

This interdisciplinary project brings together Psaltic Art, Musicology, Byzantine Studies, and Architectural Acoustics to realize the concept of the Active Archive: the ritual no longer remains silent in the folia of the manuscript but returns to life as an acoustic and visual experience.

The third installment of the series achieves a multi-sensory digital embodiment of the Rite of the Furnace, strictly guided by the 15th-century liturgical rubrics of Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica. Historically Informed Performance by a specialized choir is uniquely integrated with the Acoustic Fingerprinting of the Hagia Sophia in Thessalonica, the very site for which Symeon described the rite.

This sonic foundation is further unified with AI-Assisted Reconstruction, incorporating filmed ritual gestures and historical attire reconstructed from hagiographic prototypes. The presentation demonstrates how advanced digital tools can function as an Active Archive, breathing life into silent manuscripts and recreating a lost acoustic and visual universe.

Scientific and Artistic Direction
Dr Evangelia Spyrakou, PhD Candidate Spyridon Ploumpis
(University of Macedonia, Department of Music Science and Art)

AI Design – AI Development
Dimitris Batistakis
Dimitris Chatzigeorgiou, Evangelia Spyrakou
(University of Macedonia, Department of Music Science and Art)

Audio Post-Production
Kostas Kontos

Hagia Sophia Video 2026
Maria Iatropoulou