Proposal to the Advisory Committee of the Athens Festival

Description:

In a meeting held on 31 May 1982, the prevailing opinion of the Advisory Committee of the Athens Festival was that the most significant and highly publicised artistic events, both domestically and internationally, should be concentrated between 20 June and 20 July 1983. Specifically, in the realm of Greek musical creation, it was suggested that works by composers who were well-established, especially abroad, should be featured during this period, while other Greek works should be scheduled before or after these dates. Yorgos Sicilianos, however, expressed disagreement with the idea of selecting Greek musical works based solely on the composer’s name, which would serve as a kind of “bait”. He argued that it is convenient but not constructive for the organisers of state cultural events to rely on the same names of Greek composers consistently. He pointed out that this approach leads to the composers being blamed for failures and the organisers taking credit for successes.

Sicilianos emphasised the importance of searching for lesser-known but significant Greek works, even if their composers were not as widely recognised. He argued that the primary goal of the Athens Festival, as a prominent cultural event in Greece and Europe, should not be focused merely on tourist or commercial gains. Instead, it should aim to express and promote contemporary Greek musical culture. He criticised the practice of featuring contemporary Greek music in less prominent periods, such as late September, without adequate international publicity. Furthermore, Sicilianos highlighted the same issue in the realm of foreign music, where established works were favoured over discovering and performing new and lesser-known compositions. He proposed that the festival should cease to recycle works already highlighted by other international music festivals and should instead strive for originality and innovation. He acknowledged that this approach was challenging and risky but believed it was worth attempting by commissioning new works from less-prominent Greek composers and ensuring an equitable treatment of all performed Greek works based on their artistic quality.