Hymn to Liberty

Item

Title

Hymn to Liberty

Date

27 June 2021

7 July 2021

23 July 2021

2 August 2021

28 August 2021

29 August 2021

5 September 2021

13 September 2021

Date Issued

2021

Abstract

All the important events of the Greek Revolution are summarised in the 158 verses of the work “Hymn to Freedom” written by Greece’s national poet, Dionysios Solomos, in 1823 and which were uniquely set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros. These are the core of a very special work that combines music with storytelling and toured in Greece in the summer of 2021, orchestrated by the conductor and artistic director of the Dodoni International Festival, Theodoros Lebesis. The direction is signed by Lefteris Giovanidis, while the actor Tassos Iordanidis holds the role of narrator. This particular musical performance concerns Mantzaros’s first version and begins with the national anthem. The fresh proposal of the conductor Lebesis, who wrote the new orchestration for a chamber orchestra with four lyric singers and a male choir, keeps the style of the time. During the play, Iordanidis intervenes in the role of narrator, with references to historical texts inextricably linked to the lyrics of Solomos.