ergon ensemble
contemporary music, athens
madness
24, July 2017
at REX Theatre / Kotopouli Stage
Artemis Bogri, soprano
Holger Falk, baritone
Kasper De Roo, conductor
ERGON ENSEMBLE
Featuring: Nikos Nikopoulos (flute)
Kostas Tzekos (clarinet)
Babis Taliadouros (percussion)
Panagiotis Tziotis (violin)
Andonis Prachinakis (cello)
Christos Sakellaridis (piano)
Direction-Set and costume design: Paris Mexis
DIrector's Assistant:
Anna-Moscha Kamposou
Lighting design: Sakis Birbilis
Sound design: Katerina Vamva
Artistic direction: Alexandros Mouzas
Program
Peter Maxwell Davies
Eight Songs for a Mad King
Thomas Larcher
My Illness Is the Medicine I Need
Iannis Xenakis
Cassandra
Ergon Ensemble returns to the Athens Festival with a performance on the theme of madness. Paris Mexis directs three classics of the contemporary music repertoire, performed by the rising soprano Artemis Bogrithe and the much-vaunted baritone Holger Falk, under the baton of the permanent associate of the team, internationally acclaimed conductor Kasper De Roo.
The program includes 3 compositions closely associated with the theme of madness.
Iannis Xenakis’ Cassandra (1987) for baritone and percussion, which forms part of the composers’ remarkable opera, Oresteia, Thomas Larcher’s My Illness Is the Medicine I Need, a piece for soprano, piano, violin, and cello (2002/2013), based on inner monologues of mental patients and Peter Maxwell Davies’
Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969), for male voice and ensemble, an exploration of the mental illness of King George III.
