Greek Music Ensemble “Galan Trio” performs in five distinguished universities in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut presenting new commissions in collaboration with prominent composition professors.
April 2022 in partnership with GREECE in USA
GREECE IN USA presents Galan Trio’s “Kinesis,” a survey on the music of contemporary American composers in an original, multifaceted concert program. The project draws from a collaboration between Galan Trio and professors of composition from selected US Universities, and from the notion of “Kinesis.” Kinesis is an undirected movement of a cell, organism, or part, in response to an external stimulus. In Greek, Kinesis means movement, motion. Motion is a fundamental characteristic of all living beings; motion is what all musicians worldwide have desired during the last couple of years; motion alludes to continuity and it’s a promise for the future of “Kinesis” itself.
The first edition of the project featured the work of composers Nikitas Demos, Martin Gendelman, Paul Richards, Scott Robbins and Yiorgos Vassilandonakis who contributed one original work for piano trio reflecting on the period of the pandemic. The April 2022 edition features the work of Matthew Greenbaum, Todd Groves, John Levey, David Martynuik, Ken Steen and David Thomas.
The concert is part of GREECE IN USA’s new program GREECE NOW under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture focusing on Greek artists who experiment with “nowness” and reflect upon the ubiquity and social ramifications of “nowness” in their work.
Concert Schedule:
Monday 04/18/2022 @ 8.00 pm: Gorell Recital Hall, IUP, Indiana, PA
Wednesday 04/20/2022 @ 8.00 pm: Gore Recital Hall, UD, Newark, DE
Thursday 04/21/2022 @ 5:30 pm: Rock Hall Aud, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Friday 04/22/2022 @ 12.00 pm: Solmssen Court, UArts, Philadelphia, PA
Monday 04/25/2022 @ 7:30 pm: Millard Auditorium, University of Hartford, CO
Program:
Ken Steen “Attempting to Conjure Joy”
John Levey “Ghost Town Sounds”
Todd Groves “Dance Music for a Frenetic Mind”
David Thomas “A Ballad, a Groove and a Mood”
Matthew Greenbaum “Chaconne from a Distance”
David Martynuik “Kinematic Contraption”
Interviews with the artists Petros Bouras (Piano), Babis Karasavvidis (Violin), Marina Kolovou (Cello) and Greece in USA Founding Director Dr.SozitaGoudouna are available upon request.
Artists and Organization Bios
GALAN TRIO:
Known for the passionate and energetic way they perform classical compositions, the Athens-based Galan Trio is active both in Greece and internationally. Focused mainly on presenting new compositions, Galan Trio also creates original programs, the most recent being “Kinesis“. For this project, the trio commissioned five distinguished composers from the United States to compose on this theme. This collaboration led to a tour at five universities in October 2021. In July 2016, the ensemble travelled to Gulangyu, China, the so-called “Piano Island,” for the series of concerts “Greek Inspirations in China,” the first festival in China that featured Greek music. In 2017, they released their debut album “Switch,” a musical blend of cultures with works composed for and dedicated to Galan Trio by Thomas Bramel (U.S.A.), David Haladjian (Armenia), Vincent Kennedy (Ireland), Vasco Pereira (Portugal), Harald Weiss (Germany), and Nikos Xanthoulis (Greece). The album presentation took place in Athens at Megaron Concert Hall. Switch received critical acclaim and was broadcasted on the radio in Greece, Switzerland, the United States, Portugal, Germany and Armenia. In 2019 Galan Trio composed and recorded the original soundtrack for the documentary Y1: Silence of the deep directed by Philippos Vardakas. Collaborations with other accomplished composers include: mezzo-soprano Alexandra Gravas and flutist Jessica Quinones, Dirk Brosse, Igor Vorobyov, Yorgos Vassilandonakis, Paul Richards, Arthur Aharonian, Martin Gendelman, Scott Robbins, and Nickitas Demos. Schott Editions published “Secret Dancing” by Harald Weiss with a dedication to the Trio. Recently, the trio presented their work in Spain, Armenia, the Netherlands and in Greece as the prestigious Athens & Epidaurus Festival, the Komitas Festival, the fourth online festival of the Greek National Opera, the Onassis Foundation’s Open Day and the Megaron Concert Hall series Music Portraits. In December 2021, Galan Trio premiered their project Ararat at the Archaeological Museum of Athens, which will be presented in various countries. The trio returns to the United States in April for the second part of Kinesis.
https://www.facebook.com/galantrio/
Greece in USA is a New York 501 © (3) non-profit organization with a global reach that promotes knowledge of contemporary and ancient Greek Culture while fostering international cultural cooperation, experimentation and social engagement. The organization’s extensive programming includes commissioned artists’ and curators’ projects, residencies, educational and ecological initiatives and the commitment to cultivating a sensible culture of innovation and thought leadership. We are dedicated to offering innovative and unique programs in education and the arts, exploring the evolving diversity and richness of Greek and Cypriot cultures. The non-profit organization seeks to generate new thinking about the arts and promote cross-cultural dialogue through partnerships and new creative platforms. The organization fosters an international exchange of practice and knowledge in the arts – visual and sound art, dance, architecture, theatre – research on the methods used in curatorial and performing practices and investigation of points of intersection between the arts, science and the public sphere employing interventions, collective actions, educational programs and publications. Greece in USA has presented projects at the MET Metropolitan Museum of Art, French Embassy, French Institute FIAF, John Jay College CUNY Undercurrent.nyc, Seneca Village Central Park NYC, and aims to collaborate and build long-lasting partnerships with leading institutions and individuals who actively engage with Greece and its culture and convey a comprehensive and distinctive representation of Greece and Cyprus by producing cultural and educational programs that encourage intercultural dialogue and enable cultural involvement. greeceinusa.com
This project is under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, in the context of GREECE in USA
