Visit of the Greek Minister of Culture Ms. Koniordou to Basel for the official inauguration of the CULTURESCAPES 2017 Festival

On October 5, 2017, in Basel, the official inauguration of the CULTURESCAPES 2017 Festival, this year dedicated to Greece, was made by the Greek Minister of Culture Ms. Lydia Koniordou.

The opening was made with the performance of Dimitris Papaioannou "The Great Tamer" at the Kaserne Basel Cultural Centre. In her speech before the show, Ms. Koniordou, among other things, particularly stressed that today's Greek cultural production, despite the economic crisis, is characterized by intense dynamism, with diverse and pioneering creativity. From the Swiss side, apart from the Artistic Director of the Festival, Mr. Jurriaan Cooiman, Minister of Finance of the Canton of the city of Berne, Dr. Eva Herzog also addressed a speech, underlining the idea of cultural cooperation between Greece and Switzerland.

This year’s 14th edition of the Festival is dedicated to Greece, and the modern Greek society and culture; the events will take place in 12 cities in Switzerland from 5 October to 3 December featuring music, cinema, dance, literature and theater, combined with lectures, artists’ speeches and a tribute to Greek gastronomy. Overall, the festival is expected to welcome approximately 200 Greek artists. The programme includes a music event to be held in Bern, in Yehudi Menuhin Forum, on October 26, 2017, by the Rosante Children Choir Athens; the concert will be dedicated to the 100-years anniversary of the Embassy of Greece in Berne.

Major cultural events of 2016:

1.    On September 22nd 2016, in the Saint-Michel College Hall in Fribourg, a Symposium of the “Association of Friends of the Library of Andritsena”, entitled "Aristotle – A Thinker for our Time", was held,  in the presence of the Prime Minister of Canton of Fribourg, Mrs. Maria Garnier. The event was under the auspices of the Embassy of Greece in Switzerland and in the framework of the Year of Aristotle by UNESCO, on the occasion of the 2,400th anniversary of the birth of the great Greek philosopher Aristotle.

2.    On 6 July,  2016 an exhibition called  "Mythos Olympic Games – From Antiquity to Present" (Mythos Olympische Spiele – Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart) was inaugurated at the Landesmuseum in Vaduz, Liechtenstein,. The exhibition lasted until 15 January 2017.

3.    On April 27, 2016, a concert of the Mikis Theodorakis "Axion Esti" oratorio was held with great success at the Geneva Victoria Hall. The event was under the aegis of the Bern Embassy and the Geneva Consulate General of Greece. The concert was organized by the Philhellenic Association "Solidarity with Greece" (Solidaires avec la Grèce) in favor of the Metropolitan Social Clinic of Hellenikon district.

4.    On April 22, 2016, Professor of Archeology and Director of the Acropolis Museum, Mr. Pantermalis, invited by the “Cultural Circle of Friends of Greece” of Basel, gave a lecture in German entitled "Samothrake – Das Heiligtum der Großen Götter" (Samothraki – The Sanctity of the Great Gods").

5.    On Wednesday, 2 November 2016, a concert by the internationally renowned Greek-born pianist Nikolaos Savvidis at the Bern Burgerratsaal Concert Hall was held, under the auspices of the Embassy of Greece, to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the “Philhellenic Association of Friends of the Library of Andritsena”.

Visit of the Greek Minister of Culture Ms. Koniordou to Basel - CULTURESCAPES 2017 Festival
11 Images