| Athens - Epidaurus Festival | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | all types |
| Dates | May – October |
| Locations | Athens,Epidaurus,Greece |
| Coordinates | 37°58′15″N23°43′28″E / 37.97084°N 23.72452°E /37.97084; 23.72452 |
| Years active | 1955–present |
| Leader | Katerina Evangelatos (Director 2019-2025) |
Athens – Epidaurus Festival is an annual arts festival that takes place inAthens andEpidaurus, from May to October. It is one of the most famous festivals in Greece.
It is held every year during the summer months (Fridays and Saturdays in July and August), in part in theancient theatre of Epidaurus, on thearchaeological site of the Asclepion.[1] The festival includes musical, theatrical and other cultural events. They include performances of tragedies byAeschylus,Sophocles andEuripides, as well as surviving comedies byAristophanes; some performances consist simply of revivals of ancient myths or contemporary plays written on the basis of ancient dramas.
TheEpidaurus Festival (Greek:Φεστιβάλ Επιδαύρου), also known as theEpidávria (Greek:Επιδαύρια), takes place in theancient theatre of Epidaurus, which has a capacity of 10,000 and is renowned for its special acoustics.[2][3] It was founded in 1955, at the same time as the Athens Festival, thanks to the efforts of the then Minister of the Presidency and future Prime Minister,Georgios Rallis.[1] During its first years of existence, theHellenic Tourism Organisation was responsible for managing the Epidaurus Festival as well as the Athens Festival.[4]
It was officially inaugurated on 19 June 1955 with a performance ofEuripides'Hecuba (directed byAlexis Minotis withKatina Paxinou in the role of the same name)[5][6][7] and devoted itself to performances of ancient tragedies and, from 1957, to performances of ancient comedies by theNational Theatre, whereAlexis Solomos revived the plays ofAristophanes, starting withLysistrata.[8][9] In 1959,Karolos Koun's performance of Aristophanes'Birds, with music byManos Hadjidakis and sets and costumes byYannis Tsarouchis, aroused both public approval and opposition and was finally withdrawn following government intervention.[9][10]
For some twenty years, the performances at Epidaurus were entrusted to theNational Theatre of Greece and to actors such as Paxinou, Minotis,Anna Synodinou,Mary Aroni and Nezer[clarification needed].[6] In 1960 and 1961,Maria Callas appeared in Epidaurus inNorma byVincenzo Bellini (1960) andMedea byLuigi Cherubini (1961), respectively.[9] In 1965, theDamnation of Faust by theParis Opera, directed and choreographed byMaurice Béjart, andGiuseppe Verdi'sRequiem byHerbert von Karajan and theBerlin Philharmonic Orchestra were performed.[11][12] During theGreek junta, the festival stagnated and there was a general tendency towards introspection and withdrawal.[9]
During theMetapolitefsi period, and more specifically in 1975, companies from outside the National Theatre were allowed to perform on the stage of the Ancient Theatre for the first time, including theKarolos Koun Art Theatre [el] (Birds) and theState Theatre of Northern Greece (Electra).[6][13][14] In 1980, the Amphi-Theatre ofSpiros Evangelatos appeared at the festival withMenander'sEpitrepontes, as did theTheatrical Organization of Cyprus with Euripides'Suppliants, directed byNikos Charalampous.[15][16] Two years later (1982),Peter Hall presentedAeschylus'Oresteia with theRoyal National Theatre, becoming the first foreign director to take part in the Epidaurus Festival.[11][17]
From its beginnings to the present day, the Epidaurus Festival has welcomed the greatest Greek directors and actors, as well as many other great artists, includingYiannis Moralis,Yannis Tsarouchis,George Vakalo,Manos Hadjidakis,Míkis Theodorakis,Yannis Markopoulos,Stavros Xarchakos andIannis Xenakis.[1] There are also performances by leading foreign companies and collaborations with foreign directors, actors and other collaborators, includingPeter Hall,Peter Stein,Tadashi Suzuki,Luca Ronconi,Valery Fokin,Thomas Ostermeier,Pina Bausch,Montserrat Caballé,José Carreras,Fiona Shaw,Gérard Depardieu andKevin Spacey.[1][11][18][19][12] Festival performances often become a point of wider discussion in the public sphere, generating acclaim or mixed reviews.[1][17]
Alongside the Epidaurus Festival, performances (initially solely musical and later theatrical) take place at theTheatre of Palaia Epidavros. The institution was launched on an experimental basis in 1995 with the "Musical July" (Greek:Μουσικός Ιούλιος) and met with great success, leading to its becoming a permanent fixture, and integrated with theAthens-Epidaurus Festival.[20][21]
The director Dinos Giannopoulos undertook the organization of the first Athens Festival, on commission by then-Minister of Culture.[22]
Today, the joint festival is organised by the "Hellenic Festival S.A." company.[23] Between 2016 and 2019,Vangelis Theodoropoulos served as theartistic director following the resignation ofJan Fabre.[24][25] Since 2019, Katerina Evangelatos has been the festival's Artistic Director. In 2025, Director Michael Marmarinos has been appointed the festival's Artistic Director.
Over the years, the Athens Festival has been able to host numerous notable groups and artists.[26],[27]
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