In order to honour the International Day of Nelson Mandela, the South African Embassy in Athens along with Aspen Greece and the Friends of South Africa, will contribute 67 minutes of voluntarily work at the Primary School of Agia Marina in Nea Makri. A school that was deeply affected by the second most deadly wildfire of the 21st century, taking 102 lives.

The day Nelson Mandela was born, July 18th, was announced as Nelson Mandela International Day in 2009 by the United Nations. It recognizes the efforts of the former South African President on human rights and peace.

So every year, on July 18, people are encouraged to volunteer somewhere and help the community for at least 67 minutes. The number 67 represents the number of years that Nelson Mandela devoted fighting against any kind of oppression.

The playful character of the Pink Panther, the charming and mysterious James Bond, the cool private detective Peter Gunn, and the adrenaline-filled Tom Cruise back in the days when he was pulling off some “Missions Impossible” are being revived via compositions that bring to mind curiously half-open doors, small-time crooks, unsolved cases, and...hilarious blunders. On Thursday, July 18, the Athens Big Band, under the artistic direction of Sami Amiris, will put together a unique concert program taking us from the golden era of big bands through today. Accompanying scores for popular works of the Seventh Art and original compositions by, among others, Duke Ellington, Sammy Nestico, Ηorace Silver, John Clayton, Henri Mancini, and Matt Harris will call to mind all-time great movie scenes and beloved characters.

As it goes without saying that the love stories on the big screen have given us some of the greatest pieces of music of all times, an emotionally charged atmosphere is to be anticipated also on Friday, July 19, when the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra will perform the best movie soundtracks of the world cinema. Where do I begin? From the iconic love song from “Love Story” and “My Heart Will Go On”, the theme song from the Oscar-winning film “Titanic”, which we have all found ourselves quietly singing once or twice, to the dramatic ballet “Les amants de Teruel” by Mikis Theodorakis. Orchestral excerpts transferring us to the setting of Les Misérables and the years of Attik when the film “Hirokrotimata” was made, will be performed in new arrangements for symphony orchestra by Eleftherios Kalkanis, Louiza Antypa, Ilias Aggelou, and Giannis Tavlas with the participation of two up-and-coming soloists, the soprano Vanessa Kalkani and the tenor Stavros Salabasopoulos, under the instructions of musical director Eleftherios Kalkanis.

Two summer nights filled with cinema, atmospheric melodies and sheer emotion! The Orchestra Nights are just around the corner, free to attend! Are you gonna miss out on this one?

---

In Athens this August?

Join Portes Magazine editors for a unique book launch!

Numbered, and printed in Greece on quality matte paper that teases the touch and perfectly matches the publication’s dreamy pastel tones, Portes Magazine's 100+ pages journey readers, perfectly weaving the present with the past through curated stories and select images highlighting the interesting, innovative and inspirational. 

The publication’s minimal, yet sophisticated design pays tribute to the beauty of ancient and modern Greece through articles, photography, poetry, recipes and crafts. 

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, opens its "home" to the general public and invites you to get to know the Propylaea, one of the most iconic places of remembrance of the Greek capital. Part of Athenian Trilogy, the most well-known and important Neoclassical buildings’ cluster in the city centre,the building of Propylaea founded in 1839, in drawings of the Danish architect Hans Christian Hansen.

Its halls constituted spaces for education, association, and protest. In its premises you can find the Greek Parliament, the National Library, numerous museums and workshops. In the interior and its precinct you can visit a series of ceremonial events (statues and column erections, anniversaries celebrations, etc.), while in the city geography, it constituted the eminent place of action, demonstrations and mergers.

The building decoration, with more characteristic mural in the interior façade of Propylaea, is one of the most important iconographic programs of the Greek 19th century. The architecture and painting served a narrative framework that closely connected the historical periods of Greek national history, while the sculpture program focused on recent history: Statues of important persons of Modern Greek history and columns of fallen in wars, works of Greek sculptures.

The tours include acquaintance with the Athenian trilogy and the visit to the Propylaea building. The tour duration is about 60' and will be made by Art historians of the Department of History and Archaeology , Michalis Giochalas and Pavlos Gkoygiannos, under the scientific supervision of the Associate professor of history of art in the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Athens Dimitris Pavlopoulos.

For the tours there is price of 3€ for adults, 2 € for students or unemployed, 1€ for children (up to 6 years old) and for persons with disabilites the entrance is free of charge. (includes special information brochure).

For reservations visit the Guided Tour Calender here.

On Thursday 15 August 2019, at 9 p.m., the Acropolis Museum invites visitors to its entrance courtyard on a musical journey under the August Full Moon. Exceptional artists Eirini Toumpaki, Andreas Lafis, Maria Anamaterou, and Sotiris Karistinos and their orchestra will perform beloved songs by great Greek songwriters and composers (Kostas Makedonas, Lavrentis Mahairitsas, George Dalaras, Haris Alexiou, Dionysis Savvopoulos).

On this day, the Museum will be open from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight (entry will be free from 8 pm onwards), and visitors will be able to enjoy the permanent exhibition galleries as well as the temporary exhibition ‘Chisel and Memory. The contribution of marble craftsmanship to the restoration of the Acropolis monuments’.

The restaurant on the second floor will be open during the same hours (telephone reservations on +30 210 9000915) and also the ground floor café.

Moreover, on the same day visitors will have the opportunity to participate in presentations at the archaeological excavation titled ‘Walking in the ancient neighborhood of the Acropolis Museum’, as follows:

English: 12 noon & 5 p.m.
Greek: 1 p.m. & 7 p.m.
Duration: 45 minutes
Participation: Limited to 20 visitors per session.
For registration, please refer to the Information Desk at the Museum entrance on the same day. First-in first-served.
Price: Only the general admission fee to the Museum is required (10 euro).

“Join Life / Like a Virgin” is a collaborative exhibition showing a one-by-one juxtaposition of the small-format collages of Leto Moustakaki and the photography of Nikos Stamatopoulos, long time family friends. After years of being separated, they were reintroduced to each other’s perspective through their art and discovered many common themes throughout their respective collections, despite the different mediums. Leto feels her work is a commentary on Nikos’ and Nikos feels his work is a commentary on Leto’s, so it is left to the viewer to decide the parallels and messages in each pair. Join us on Tuesday, 10th September at the FokiaNou Art Space for the opening “Join Life / Like a Virgin”, with cocktails served on FokiaNou’s rooftop terrace. The exhibition will run through Wednesday, 25th September.

Leto Moustakaki was born in Athens where she lives and works. She grew up in Sparta, where she was involved with photography and mosaics. She studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts, graduating in 2014. She also attended stained glass lessons of Tiffany's method, drawing lessons for a year and sculpting for four years at the Art Workshops of Agia Paraskevi. Sound is now part of her artistic research.

Born in Sparta in 1986, Nikos moved to Athens at the age of 18 to study acting. In 2012, when he left Athens, his artistic focus moved away from acting while still utilising his body and his ability to challenge ideals as he started taking photos. His style evolved as he moved between London, Santorini, Singapore, Bali, and now Malta, with a central theme of pushing boundaries, pulling inspiration from vintage porn. Nikos has gained a large following in the queer community for his provocative snapshots that play on color, spontaneity, and often erotic content in cheeky context. Nikos' art has been published by a number of queer art magazines and has shown at Queer Art Festival: Civil Disobedience 2016- 2018 in Athens, Greece and at He 2017: Questioning and Queering "Masculinity" in Los Angeles, California.

Opening: Tuesday 10 September 2019, 19.00
Duration: 10-25 September Hours: Wednesday to Saturday 17.00-20.00

Art Athina 2019 returns for the 24th year in a brand new venue in the heart of Athens. The biggest annual cultural event of Greece will take place between Saturday 14th to Monday 16th of September at Zappeion Mansion.

Art Athina 2019 is organized under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mister Prokopios Pavlopoulos, who is set to inaugurate the fair on Friday, 13th September at 19:30.

Art Athina 2019 involves participation from 36 Greek and international galleries. Its new host, Zappeion Mansion, is strongly associated with Culture, Sports and recent Greek History. It constitutes the first building to be erected for the purposes of the modern Olympic Games, while it is also considered a milestone of Greek Neoclassical architecture. One specific section of this year’s fair, VIDEO, will find a home under the Athenian night sky, within the oldest cinema of Athens, Aegli Zappeiou.

One of the oldest art fairs in Europe, Art Athina has been active since its establishment by the Panhellenic Art Galleries Association in 1993 and is organised by the Hellenic Art Gallery Association and produced by Be Best production company.

The program is as follows:

Main: The central section of the exhibition spreads in the main spaces of Zappeion Mansion, where local and international galleries present their booths.

Video: The screening is curated by Art Athina Artistic Director, Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos. It involves video works selected from Daata Editions, a platform that commissions artist videos, sound, poetry and web to a new generation of artists who work with moving image and sound, Deste Foundation as well as independent Greek and international artists. The screening will take place at Aegli open–air cinema on Monday, September 16th at 9pm

Talks: For a second year, independent curator Katerina Nikou, invites significant individuals from the international art community – museum directors, curators, art historians – to join Art Athina 2019’s TALKS program. Central axis of this year’s program is the question “The Future is Now?”.

Live: A performance program by visual artists fueled by the participating galleries of Art Athina 2019 and will take place throughout the duration of the Art Fair in multiple sites at Zappeion Mansion. It is a three-day programming initiative, curated by Sozita Goudouna, that showcases “New Visual Performance” experimentation and liveness and their implications for cultural production. 

Educational Program: The program is addressed to students of the Athens School of Fine Arts, visual artists and theoreticians, and aims to inform, inspire, and prepare their introduction to the art world. Students are invited to meet with the artwork, learning the process from production to exposure. The programme consists of two sections, visits to studios of artists and visits to galleries.

Art Athina Workspace: Art Athina continues for a second year the international two-month artist residency, with the support of the Municipality of Athens and Athens Culture Net. Through Art Athina Workspace two artists, Neil Raitt from the United States and Dale Lewis from Britain were invited to spend four weeks in Athens seeking inspiration in the city and creating the works that were presented at the international program of Art Athina Summer Pop Up.

Art Athina Open Studios: For one Saturday each month, from January to May 2019, Art Athina invites the Young Patrons of the Museum of Cycladic Art to studio visits with artists represented by the participating galleries of the fair. Art Athina Open Studios offers a unique opportunity to the Young Patrons to meet the artists in their working environment and familiarize with their practice.

The galleries participating in the 24th Art Athina:

a. antonopoulou.art (Athens), Agathi Kartalos (Athens), Alibi (Athens), Alma Contemporary Art Gallery (Athens- Trikala), Anna Pappas Gallery (Μελβούρνη), Argo Gallery (Athens), Αrt Appel Gallery (Athens), Arusha Gallery (Scotland), Astrolavos Art Galleries (Athens), Cheapart (Athens), Citronne Gallery (Athens), Crux Gallerie (Athens), Donopoulos International Fine Arts (Thessaloniki), ekfrasi-yianna Grammatopoulou (Athens), Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery (Athens), Eleni Koroneou Gallery (Athens), Epsilon Art Gallery (Loutraki), Evripidis Art Gallery (Athens), Gallery “7” (Athens), Gallery Art Prisma (Pireaus), Gallery d’ Arte (New Jersey) Genesis Gallery (Athens), i-D Projectart (Athens), Ikastikos Kiklos Sianti (Athens), Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center (Athens), Kalfayan Galleries (Athens-Thessaloniki), kaplanon5 art gallery (Athens), Mihalarias Art (Athens), N, Papatzikou Gallery (Veria), PeriTechnon Karteris (Athens), Renatino Gallery (Cyprus), Skoufa Gallery (Athens), Skoufa Gallery Mykonos (Mykonos), Τechnohoros  Art Gallery (Athens), The Breeder Gallery (Athens), Zina Athanassiadou Gallery (Thessaloniki). 

Tickets are 8€. For unemployed, students and elders it is 5€ and entrance is free for children, people with disabilities, students of the Athens School of Fine Arts.

---

 

 

Following its successful debut last year, Taste of Athens returns to the city ready to praise once again the Athenian fine dining scene!

As part of the international platform of Taste Festivals- held in more than twenty cities around the world - and having by its side Diners Club International and Fine Drinking by World Class, Taste of Athens promises its visitors a unique gastronomy journey!

From September 19th to 22nd, Taste of Athens creates a festive atmosphere at Zappeion Megaron and brings together fourteen of Athens’ top restaurants, great F&B brands, and Michelin star chefs. In a pop-up version, the restaurants will serve a special tasting menu including some of their signature dishes at special prices (3, 6, 9 and 12 euros).

World-Class Chefs from Greece and abroad will be performing at the Festival, sharing recipes, masterclasses and inspiring speeches that will inspire the audience. Within an interactive environment and a delightful ambiance, visitors will discover the secrets of wine tasting, explore new gastronomic trends as well as sophisticated F&B products crafted by leading suppliers and premium Greek producers.

Join Taste of Athens and its numerous immersive, educational and entertaining experiences!

The participating restaurants:

SPONDI | Angelos Lantos
HYTRA | Tasos Mantis
VAROULKO SEASIDE | Lefteris Lazarou, Giannis Parikos
BALTHAZAR | Christoforos Peskias
FUGA | Dimitris Katrivesis
VEZENE | Ari Vezene
BIRDMAN | Ari Vezene
COOKOOVAYA | Spyros Liakos, Vangelis Liakos, Pericles Koskinas, Manos Zournatzis
PSOMI & ALATI | Yannis Lucacos
ΦΒΚ | Dimos Balopoulos
MR PUG ATHENS | Giorgos Venieris
ERGON | Lefteris Athanasopoulos, Panagiotis Xanthis
SENSE RESTAURANT | Alexandros Charalampopoulos
ARTISANAL | Dimitris Dimitriadis

Taste of Athens Info:

▪ Taste of Athens will be held from 19 to 22 September 2019, at the Zappeion Megaron.
▪ Every day of the festival will feature two separate four-hour sessions: 12:00 - 16:00 and 18:30 - 22:30.
▪ You can find the full program of daily events and details on the participants HERE!.
▪ The ticket prices for each four-hour session are:
   
o Standard: 20€ (early-bird: 18€ until 20.08)
The ticket includes one dish voucher of 3€, access to the Chefs Theatre, Entertainment Stage, Cooking Masterclasses και Exhibitors’ Village.

o VIP: 50€ (early-bird: 40€ until 20.08)
▪ Includes access to a specially designed VIP Lounge in the garden and restaurant of Aegli, the Chefs Theatre, Entertainment Stage, Cooking Masterclasses και Exhibitors’ Village as well as
▪ welcome drink & oyster treat,
▪ dish voucher of 9€ and
▪ free parking with valet service.

▪ For Diners Card International cardholders and groups, special offers are available and for children up to 6 years of age the admission is free.
▪ Tickets are available through https://athens.tastefestivals.com/en/tickets and Viva.
▪ Tickets will also be available at the ticket booth located at the entrance during the festival’s running hours.

XpatAthens is proud to be a Media Sponsor Of Taste Of Athens 2019

---

 

British comedy icon and legendary Monty Python member John Cleese is coming to Athens on 20 September 2019 to perform at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus for the first time.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is hosting – for the first time in Greece – one of the leading and most internationally acclaimed comedians of recent decades. World renowned John Cleese will perform at one of the most imposing theatres worldwide as part of his tour Last Time to See Me Before I Die. Through a montage of popular clips and live comedy sketches, Cleese will share highlights from his career with a Greek audience for the first – and possibly ‘last’ – time.

A British institution with a distinctive style and a career spanning over 50 years, Cleese is considered to be one of the top and most influential comedians in recent times.

The performance is taking place on the occasion of the British Council’s 80th-anniversary celebrations in Greece.

About John Cleese

John Cleese is a legendary comedy actor and performer, a New York Times best-selling author, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a very, very tall person. Born in a sleepy English town called Weston-Super-Mare in 1939, Cleese began writing as well as performing comedy sketches at Clifton College in Bristol and was a member of the Footlights Dramatic Club while a law student at the University of Cambridge.

Cleese’s first professional writing venture was with The Dick Emery Show and later on with the satirical television show The Frost Report (1966) featuring David Frost. His success on the Frost shows led to a small role in Interlude (1968), his first film appearance. Along with writing partners and co-stars Graham Chapter, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Michael Palin, he co-founded the legendary Monty Python troupe, who created the surreal sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Subsequently, Monty Python became a global phenomenon. Cleese starred in four Monty Python films that include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), which is still widely regarded as one of comedy’s most influential films. His next television endeavour was the all-time classic comedy series Faulty Towers (1975–79), which was hugely popular and received the 1980 BAFTA Award for Best Entertainment Performance. Cleese went on to crack the USA with A Fish Called Wanda in 1988, earning an Oscar nomination for his script and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

In 2014, Cleese’s memoir So, Anyway … was released by Crown Publishing and debuted at #9 on the New York Times Best Sellers List. He also has a keen interest in psychotherapy and has written two best-selling books with analyst Robin Skynner: Families and How to Survive Them (1983) and Life and How to Survive It (1993). In addition, Cleese became affiliated with Cornell University in New York in 1999, serving as A.D. White Professor-at-Large and later as Provost’s Visiting Professor. His public talks at the university covered a wide range of topics and formed the basis of the book Professor at Large: The Cornell Years (2018). The British comedian has also launched his own YouTube channel, where he hosts ‘seen, unseen, and should never be seen

“Oresteia” welcomes the international audience – along with the Athenian citizens- in an iconic open-air venue of the city. The large-scale production folds the summer season tour in Attica and will be  presented with English surtitles, inviting everyone to an encounter with Ancient Greek Drama.

An innovative concept from the National Theatre of Greece: the only extant example of an ancient dramatic trilogy, Aeschylus’ Oresteia, in a single production by three directors staging their work for the first time at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. Agamemnon directed by Io Voulgaraki, The Libation Bearers directed by Lilly Meleme, and The Eumenides directed by Georgia Mavragani.

Libation Bearers
The action of the second part of The Oresteia takes place ten years after the end of Agamemnon. This is the bloody, beating heart of the trilogy. The ground has already been prepared for the arrival of Orestes, the young avenger who must follow the ancient law of duty and take blood for blood. The dead father seeks vengeance and his presence in the play is just as powerful as it is in Agamemnon, although in a different way. The landscape in The Libation Bearers is bleak and threatening. The illicit lovers who, with blood-stained hands, seized power from the legitimate king, now preside over a regime of brutality, terror and fearful silence, as the country is plunged into darkness and chaos.

The old world has reached a tragic impasse and is morally, socially and politically bankrupt. The appalling act that Orestes is to commit is required by the gods and the very universe. Violence begets violence and the Furies demand blood vengeance for Agamemnon’s death. The bright light of the new justice that will reconcile the old world with the new is still a long way off, and the road that must be traveled to reach it involves great suffering. But there is no other choice. The repetition of horrific violence becomes a ceremony of purification for an entire society that will reconcile the old world with the new one that is dawning is still a long way off, and the road that must be traversed before it can be reached is extremely painful.  There is no other choice. The repetition of the horrific violence becomes a ceremony of purification of an entire society that will travel from darkness to light.

Orestes is at Delphi, having been pursued there by the Furies. He prays at the sanctuary of Apollo, seeking the god’s protection, and is told to go to Athens, where he begs at the feet of the statue of Athena. The enraged Furies follow him, spurred on by the ghost of Clytemnestra. His fate will be decided at the highest court of Athens, the Areopagus, where he and the Chorus of Furies argue their cases. The result is a hung jury, and Athena, who has the casting vote, finds Orestes innocent. He praises Athens and announces that the city and his homeland shall henceforth be bound together in an unbreakable alliance. Athena honors the Furies and declares them the kindly ones, or “Eumenides”. 

The trilogy ends with the restoration of balance amidst an atmosphere of reconciliation, bringing an end to a tragic conflict which human beings were unable to resolve. It is significant that the trilogy was written shortly after 462 BCE when the system of government changed and one of the reforms was that cases of murder were now tried at the Areopagus

Summer Tour | Tickets:
15€ General Admission
12€ (students, over 65 years old, unemployed, Disabled & Groups)

Two Day Admission Ticket – Discount
25€ General Admission
22€ (students, over 65 years old, unemployed, Disabled & Groups).