ANAMONI/Pythia Trio

Ana­moni in Greek means wait­ing. It is inex­tri­ca­bly linked to our per­cep­tion of time. It stretch­es to infin­i­ty when we await some­thing uncer­tain or eager­ly desired. For some, wait­ing is par­a­lyz­ing — an unbear­able sus­pen­sion in still­ness. For oth­ers, it is waste­ful — an exhaus­tion of time, ener­gy and pos­si­bil­i­ties. Yet wait­ing is more than a pas­sive state — it is a deep test of endurance, a mir­ror reflect­ing our vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties in the face of the unknown.

What can it con­tain, what is it that makes lis­ten­ing to and expe­ri­enc­ing wait­ing cause us dis­com­fort? By giv­ing mean­ing to the end of wait­ing as part of our evo­lu­tion­ary process, the con­cept of pro­cras­ti­na­tion also takes on a dif­fer­ent significance.

Pythia Trio, faith­ful to its five-year artis­tic path, takes up a new theme that may con­cern very dif­fer­ent groups of peo­ple, yet whose var­ied aspects will cer­tain­ly res­onate with a wider audi­ence. Embar­rass­ment, fear, antic­i­pa­tion, bore­dom, uncer­tain­ty and many oth­er emo­tion­al states accom­pa­ny or dom­i­nate moments of our every­day lives. With humour, cre­ativ­i­ty and ten­der­ness the ensem­ble seeks to illu­mi­nate moments of wait­ing and the traces they leave in the reac­tions and expe­ri­ences of those involved.

With new com­mis­sions for Ismi­ni Beck, Gior­gos Kyr­i­akakis and Aspa­sia Nasopoulou, as well as arrange­ments of works by Niki Krasa­ki and Mariabrice Sap­pho­catherin, Pythia Trio cre­ates a new musi­cal the­atre work last­ing approx­i­mate­ly one hour, with­out paus­es for applause. The per­form­ers, con­sis­tent in their path so far, con­tin­ue to explore and seek new means, mate­ri­als and play­ing tech­niques through con­tem­po­rary music cre­ation and its inter­ac­tion with oth­er arts.

Orig­i­nal musi­cal com­po­si­tions, move­ment, speech, singing, nar­ra­tion and paint­ing coex­ist as a con­tin­u­a­tion of the shows that Pythia Trio has been serv­ing with ded­i­ca­tion for sev­er­al years.

Niki Krasa­ki radio path

Gior­gos Kyr­i­akakis en atten­dant

Mariabrice Sap­pho­catherin Watch­ing Paint Dry

Aspa­sia Nasopoulou Every­where but here

Ismi­ni Beck FORGOTTEN

Pythia Trio:

Myr­to Akrivou piano

Iro Mene­gou piano

Thalia Papadopoulou piano

pro­gramme con­cept and text: Pythia Trio

pro­duc­tion: Olga Pasek

visu­al iden­ti­ty: Alek­san­dra Ołdak

co-pro­duc­tion: Artivistas

The con­cert is fund­ed by the Min­istry of Cul­ture in Greece.

The Hash­tag Lab Con­tem­po­rary Music Space is co-financed by the Cap­i­tal City of Warsaw.

The media patron of the Hash­tag Lab Con­tem­po­rary Music Space is POLMIC​.PL and Dwój­ka Pol­skie Radio.

Eng­lish

Ana­moni = wait­ing is inex­tri­ca­bly linked to our per­cep­tion of time. It stretch­es end­less­ly when we await some­thing uncer­tain or eager­ly desired. For some, wait­ing is par­a­lyz­ing — an unbear­able sus­pense of iner­tia. For oth­ers, it is waste­ful — a drain on time, ener­gy, and oppor­tu­ni­ties. How­ev­er, wait­ing is more than a pas­sive state — it is a deep test of endurance, a mir­ror reflect­ing our vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties in the face of the unknown.

What can it con­tain, what is it that cre­ates the dis­com­fort of lis­ten­ing to and expe­ri­enc­ing wait­ing? By giv­ing mean­ing to the ces­sa­tion of wait­ing as part of our evo­lu­tion­ary process, the con­cept of pro­cras­ti­na­tion also takes on a dif­fer­ent meaning.

Pythia Trio, faith­ful to its five-year course, approach­es a new theme that can occu­py com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent groups, but its var­i­ous aspects cer­tain­ly touch the wider audi­ence. Embar­rass­ment, fear, antic­i­pa­tion, bore­dom, uncer­tain­ty, and many oth­er emo­tion­al con­di­tions flirt or dom­i­nate moments of our every­day life. With humor, cre­ativ­i­ty, and ten­der­ness, the ensem­ble tries to illu­mi­nate moments of wait­ing, and its imprint on the reac­tions and expe­ri­ences of those involved.

With new assign­ments to com­posers Ismi­ni Beck, Gior­gos Kyr­i­akakis and Aspa­sia Nasopoulou and an adap­ta­tion of works by Niki Krasa­ki and Mariabrice Sap­pho­catherin, the Pythia trio cre­ates a new musi­cal the­ater work last­ing approx­i­mate­ly one hour, with­out inter­rup­tion for applause. The per­form­ers, con­sis­tent­ly in their path so far, con­tin­ue to explore and seek new means, mate­ri­als and tech­niques in the per­for­mance of the instru­ment, through con­tem­po­rary music cre­ation and its inter­ac­tion with oth­er arts. Orig­i­nal musi­cal com­po­si­tions, move­ment, speech, singing, nar­ra­tion and paint­ing coex­ist as a con­tin­u­a­tion of the per­for­mances that the Pythia trio has been serv­ing with ded­i­ca­tion in recent years.

If you’d like to know more about the artists:

Myr­to Akrivou stud­ied piano at the Nation­al Con­ser­va­to­ry of Athens in the class of Ele­na Mouza­la, where she received her diplo­ma, and at the Lon­don Col­lege of Music at Thames Val­ley Uni­ver­si­ty, where she received the Per­former’s Recital Diplo­ma under Pen­ny Shue Joyce. Her musi­cal inter­ests focus pri­mar­i­ly on con­tem­po­rary music cre­ation and expres­sion. This artis­tic path began in 2002 when she joined Trio da Cam­era. She con­tin­ued it from 2008 until today in col­lab­o­ra­tion with flautist Amalia Koun­touri, with whom they pri­mar­i­ly per­form unique­ly shaped pro­grammes of new­ly writ­ten music of the 20th and 21st cen­turies. She is a co-found­ing mem­ber of the Eklip­sis Vocal Ensem­ble and pianist of the cham­ber orches­tra Nuo­varte, with whom she has giv­en over a hun­dred con­certs in Greece and abroad. In 2015 she record­ed her first CD enti­tled Beau­ty and Hope in the 21st Cen­tu­ry, con­tain­ing nine works by con­tem­po­rary com­posers from var­i­ous parts of the world, released by Musi­ca Fer­rum. From 2016 to 2023 she col­lab­o­rat­ed with the inter­na­tion­al­ly renowned chil­dren’s and youth choir “Rozarte”, par­tic­i­pat­ing in musi­cal prepa­ra­tion for numer­ous pro­duc­tions in Greece and abroad. She is a mem­ber of “Pythia Trio”, which was born dur­ing Loren­da Ramou’s mas­ter­class “The Piano in the 20th and 21st Cen­tu­ry”, host­ed at the Athens Con­ser­va­to­ry. The Trio has giv­en numer­ous con­certs as part of three major Euro­pean tours, under the aus­pices and with the sup­port of the Min­istry of Cul­ture. Since 2017 she has main­tained a piano duet with Thalia Papadopoulou. Plans for this col­lab­o­ra­tion include record­ing a CD with works by Greek com­posers of the 20th and 21st cen­turies for two pianos. In 2022 she par­tic­i­pat­ed in a trib­ute to Ian­nis Xenakis togeth­er with Amalia Koun­touri and Ioan­na Vrakat­seli, in the con­text of the Pan­teion Uni­ver­si­ty’s col­lab­o­ra­tion with the House of Let­ters and Arts (Onas­sis Ste­gi), under the title “Music Con­nects Onas­sis Ste­gi and Pan­teion Uni­ver­si­ty”. She main­tains col­lab­o­ra­tions with many musi­cians and com­posers, giv­ing pre­miere per­for­mances of works by Greek and for­eign cre­ators in the con­text of trib­utes and fes­ti­vals (Poet­ry and Music, Music for Silent Films, etc.). Music from her wide-rang­ing reper­toire has been broad­cast on the Third Pro­gramme of Hel­lenic Radio.

Iro Mene­gou is a ver­sa­tile pianist, per­former, cura­tor, and edu­ca­tor from Greece, with a deep com­mit­ment to con­tem­po­rary music. Her work spans solo per­for­mances, ensem­ble col­lab­o­ra­tions, and edu­ca­tion­al ini­tia­tives, all aimed at pro­mot­ing con­tem­po­rary music cre­ation and cul­tur­al exchange. As a per­former, Iro col­lab­o­rates with com­posers to bring their works to life — as a soloist, as a mem­ber of ensem­bles, and through her stu­dents. She is a co-found­ing mem­ber of Pythia Trio and Methex­is Ensem­ble, both ded­i­cat­ed to pre­sent­ing new and bold music. She also per­forms with the film music ensem­ble “Bouche Fer­mée” and is a mem­ber of the music the­atre work­shop ensem­ble “Enu­mer­a­tions”, cre­at­ed around the work of the renowned Greek com­pos­er Georges Aperghis. Her per­for­mances have been pre­sent­ed at fes­ti­vals and recitals in Greece, Aus­tria, Bel­gium, Cyprus, Ger­many, France, Italy, the Nether­lands, Roma­nia and Switzer­land. Iro is also deeply involved in cul­tur­al man­age­ment and music edu­ca­tion. She was select­ed for the Euro­pean Music Coun­cil’s fel­low­ship pro­gramme (2018–2020) and has since designed and deliv­ered Euro­pean edu­ca­tion­al projects for young musi­cians and music teach­ers. Her work with the non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion “beartive” includes notable events such as Music Diaries and the Tarat­sa Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val. In 2018 she found­ed the inter­na­tion­al fes­ti­val “Women Com­pos­ing in the Balka­ns”, which was short­list­ed for the Clas­si­cal NEXT Inno­va­tion Award 2019. She also served as Pro­duc­tion Man­ag­er for the 9th Cyprus New Music Fes­ti­val in 2020, and in 2024 joined the cura­to­r­i­al team for the “Music Bridge above Syn­grou” Fes­ti­val in Athens. She is cur­rent­ly Artis­tic Direc­tor of the “Toy­ful Music Fes­ti­val” in Cyprus. Iro’s edu­ca­tion­al back­ground includes a Piano Diplo­ma with High­est Dis­tinc­tion from the Athens Con­ser­va­to­ry, where she stud­ied under E. Alakiozi­dou, along with advanced stud­ies in the­o­ry and dou­ble bass. She has par­tic­i­pat­ed in work­shops and mas­ter­class­es focused on con­tem­po­rary music, includ­ing “The Piano in the 20th & 21st Cen­tu­ry” led by Loren­da Ramou. She holds degrees in Musi­col­o­gy and Musi­cal Art as well as a Bach­e­lor’s in Eco­nom­ics. Iro cur­rent­ly teach­es piano and music the­o­ry at the Munic­i­pal Con­ser­va­to­ry of Pyla­ia-Hor­ti­atis, where she also coor­di­nates inter­na­tion­al rela­tions. Since 2023 she has been Artis­tic Direc­tor of the Con­ser­va­to­ry of De La Salle Col­lege in Thessaloniki.

Thalia Papadopoulou was born in 1989 in Laris­sa. She is a pianist, accom­pa­nist and teacher based per­ma­nent­ly in Athens. She par­tic­i­pates pri­mar­i­ly in per­for­mances of con­tem­po­rary music — as a soloist or as a mem­ber of cham­ber ensem­bles — and gives world pre­mieres of new works by com­posers. She also reg­u­lar­ly records new works for solo piano and cham­ber ensem­bles. In 2021 she found­ed the non-prof­it cul­tur­al organ­i­sa­tion Artivis­tas. Thalia is a mem­ber of Pythia Trio, togeth­er with pianists Myr­to Akrivou (Greece) and Iro Mene­gou (Greece). She also forms a piano duet with Myr­to Akrivou, focus­ing on the reper­toire for two pianos. She addi­tion­al­ly col­lab­o­rates with flautist Eva Stavrou (Cyprus), spe­cial­is­ing in con­tem­po­rary 20th- and 21st-cen­tu­ry reper­toire. In 2021, Thalia and Eva were select­ed by the Onas­sis Foun­da­tion to par­tic­i­pate in the project “Music Bridge Over Syn­grou Avenue”, involv­ing the co-cre­ation, per­for­mance and record­ing of a new piece for alto flute and piano with com­pos­er Anthi Damvouneli. In the same year they were also among the artists fund­ed by the i‑Portunus pro­gramme (Cre­ative Europe), enabling them to trav­el and work with com­posers in Paris (Philippe Hurel — Con­ser­va­toire à Ray­on­nement Région­al de Paris), Bucharest (Diana Rotaru — Uni­ver­si­ty of Bucharest) and Munich (Minas Bor­boudakis). Since 2023 she has been col­lab­o­rat­ing with com­pos­er Sofia Kamayian­ni, par­tic­i­pat­ing in her one-act chil­dren’s opera enti­tled “I am a tree that speaks”, which is pre­sent­ed in the­atres, muse­ums and schools in Greece, Ger­many and Bel­gium. She grad­u­at­ed from the Con­ser­va­to­ri­um Maas­tricht in the Mas­ter in Music/Education track and from the Music Depart­ment of the Nation­al and Kapodis­tri­an Uni­ver­si­ty of Athens. She also holds a Piano Diplo­ma from the Skalkot­tas Con­ser­va­toire and Har­mo­ny and Coun­ter­point Diplo­mas from the Nation­al Con­ser­va­to­ry in Athens. She spent six months at the Musi­col­o­gy Depart­ment of Uni­ver­sité Lumière Lyon 2 as an Eras­mus stu­dent. Her pas­sion for con­tem­po­rary music and com­po­si­tion led her to attend mas­ter­class­es with renowned pianists such as Fl. Bof­fard, Vl. Viar­do, D. Live­ly, G. Bogányi, F. Jacquinot, St. Tho­mopou­los, B. Tane­va, D. Toufex­is, and com­posers Fr. Rzews­ki, Al. Lou­vi­er and Fr.-B. Mâche. Since 2015 she has been an active par­tic­i­pant in the sem­i­nar “The Piano in the 20th and 21st Cen­tu­ry” led by Loren­da Ramou at the Athens Con­ser­va­to­ry. She has par­tic­i­pat­ed in numer­ous work­shops pro­mot­ing the recep­tion of con­tem­po­rary music — includ­ing ses­sions ded­i­cat­ed to the per­for­mance of Aperghis’s Énuméra­tions, led by com­pos­er Nico­las Tzortzis. Thalia Papadopoulou is an expe­ri­enced piano accom­pa­nist; she has par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Col­lab­o­ra­tive Opera project (Theocharakis Foun­da­tion, Athens) and in vocal recitals at the Lito and Ange­los Katak­ouzi­nos Foun­da­tion and oth­er insti­tu­tions. Since 2012 she has also col­lab­o­rat­ed with sev­er­al the­atre groups as a per­former and musi­cal direc­tor, real­is­ing the­atri­cal per­for­mances and edu­ca­tion­al pro­grammes in Athens and oth­er cities. As a piano teacher and accom­pa­nist she works at the Pro­tipo Con­ser­va­to­ry of East­ern Atti­ca and the Munic­i­pal Con­ser­va­to­ry of Nea Ionia in Athens.