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As part of the international celebrations to commemorate 90 years from the birth of Pierre Boulez, Greece honoured the renowned French conductor, composer and educator with a set of 3 concerts by the Ionian Festival Ensemble, featuring the mezzo-soprano Angelica Kathariou as soloist, directed by the conductors Pierre-André Valade and Nikos Athineos. The event was jointly organised by the Institute Francais in Athens, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation and the Athens Conservatoire. A central part of the event was the first ever performance in Greece of Pierre Boulez’s work, Le Marteau sans maître, for mezzo-soprano and orchestral ensemble, and also included works by M. Ravel, Ph. Manoury, H. Zender, G. Pesson and I. Xenakis. Angelica Kathariou also recently performed Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (The Resurrection Symphony) along with soprano Jane Irwin in York, England, directed by John Stringer, and her recent discography includes her collaboration with composer Dinos Konstantinidis from the US record label Centaur, which released 2 CDs with his works.
