“Opera of the Summer” / “Opera Lata” (15th September 2012) – Participation of the Press Office with the film “Diolkos”

September 15th, 2012,
From 15.30  to 01.00
Park around the Ujazdowski Castle

Open-air music and film evening

Summer Opera is an interdisciplinary outdoor event, entirely devoted to ‘the joy of music’ in a broad perspective: to create music, to listen to it, to understand it, to appreciate it and to dance on it.
Summer Opera is the follow-up of last year’s “Awakening of the summer” which was organized by the network of national institutes for culture and embassies in Warsaw: “EUNIC Warszawa” and CCA Zamek Ujazdowski and which brought 3000 persons to the castle on a warm midsummer night.
This year, once again, the gracious environment of the Castle will transform into a lively European boulevard and the keyword is ‘Opera’. Opera’ in the sense of a spectacular synthesis of arts; combining various elements, often surprising and sometimes disturbing, but always fascinating. The main role in the Summer Opera will be played by cinematography. 3 screens will show documentaries devoted to musicians, music and instruments. There will be animation- and feature films as well as music videos from several European countries and even a silent film. Feel like doing it? There will be a voice-workshop, lessons in Irish dancing, you can make music on what needs to be recycled and – of course – the opera brings also a music workshop for children and parents. Workshops are dedicated to everyone: those talented and those who cannot sing or play.
An Opera is not an Opera without a choir and an orchestra! Therefore on stage: Małe Instrumenty (Poland), Alfredo Costa Monteiro (Portugal) and Anthony Chorale (The Netherlands) and in the late hours: DJ Disco DJ Partizanti (Poland) and DJ PM Misha (Portugal).
For the hungry and thirsty the opera will serve Hungarian, Portuguese and Czech delights and more, more, more!
The opera brings thunder and lightning, but in case the weather is not in harmony with the opera, we will go inside. 
Workshops are open for everyone. No registration needed.
Detailed information on the websites of the organizers and on facebook.

Organizers:

EUNIC Warszawa (European Union National Institutes for Culture): Embassy of Greece – Press Office, Delegation Wallonie-Brussels (Embassy of Belgium), Embassy of Ireland, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Austrian Cultural Forum, Czech Center, Danish Cultural Institute, Instituto Camões, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Goethe Institute, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Romanian Cultural Institute, the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw
and:
Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle / KINO.LAB
Admission Free

The Press Office of the Greek Embassy invites you to the screening of the film “Diolkos”, at 18.30 in KINO.LAB.

A movie for the Diolkos of Corinth

1.500 years since the construction and use of the Corinthian Diolkos, the Technical Chamber of Greece in collaboration with the Society for the Study of Ancient Greek Technology, created a movie presenting one of the greatest innovations of technical civilization of Ancient Greece.
The 22 min. film, created with the use of 3D animations, represents one of the most important technological monuments of Greek civilization, Diolkos: an overland route for the transfer of ships between the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs along the Isthmus (Corinth), when there was no strait. The film offers many other technical details, but also extensive scenes of marine life in antiquity: gaming, visit at the Temple of Poseidon, fun time in a pub, the construction of Hydraulis (hydraulic, water music instrument) and an emotional confrontation.

Farewell to Filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis

Internationally acclaimed film director, screenwriter and producer Michael Cacoyannis died yesterday, at 89.
The director of the award-winning films Zorba the Greek and Stella, Michael Cacoyannis was nominated five times for an Academy Award (Oscar), receiving the Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film nominations for Zorba the Greek and two nominations in the Foreign Language Film category for Electra and Iphigenia.
Most of his work is rooted in classical texts, particularly those of the Greek tragedian Euripides.
A pioneer of post-war Greek cinema and director of international hits, Cacoyannis refused a career in Hollywood, opting for ‘quality’ theater. In 2003, he founded the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation for the study and support of the film and theater arts.
You Tube: Awarded films: Stella (1954) with English subtitles & Zorba the Greek (1964) & The girl in black (1956) [VIDEO
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)

Summer learning

 The College Year in Athens

The “College Year in Athens,” a study-abroad programme focused on Greek history and civilization, offers foreign students university-level courses on Greece and the eastern Mediterranean world.
In addition to classes taking place in Athens, an annual project is held on the island of Paros.

The Hellenic Language School

The “Alexander the Great” Hellenic Language School offers courses to foreigners. The school has branches in Thessaloniki and Chania in Greece, in Sophia and Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in Skopjie, F.Y.R.O.M, and Tirana, Albania.

Hellenic Culture Centre

The “Hellenic Culture Centre” offers Greek language courses to foreigners. While classes are held in Athens, the institute organises an Easter and summer language teaching programme on the island of Lesvos. 

   

The Athens Centre

The “Athens Centre” language programme consists of Greek language courses held in Athens and a three week summer session on the island of Spetses, which apart from the typical language classes, includes extra cultural activities.

The Greek House

The “Greek House” in Athens is a centre for language lessons and culture. The school’s aim is to provide students with a wide range of courses, seminars, lectures and art exhibitions.

Ikarian Centre

Greek Language courses can be a fruitful experience for foreigners on the island of Ikaria.

The “Ikarian Centre” runs a summer Greek Language School combining learning with entertainment.

Summer Programme in Crete

The Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA is organising a summer programme in Crete for those students who wish to spend four weeks on the island, studying the culture of Crete. 

Thessaloniki International Summer School

The International Summer School for Greek Language, History and Culture of the Institute for Balkan Studies offers summer courses for non-native speakers.  The courses include an intensive language teaching programme plus a special Greek history and culture class. 
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)

Greece`s Ottoman Past

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) Approximately six hundred relics of the Ottoman period were found in Greece, according to a research study, conducted by the Istanbul-based Marmara University Professor Neval Konouk, during the last 2,5 years, commissioned by the Turkish ministry for Foreign Affairs, in 2007. 

According to Dr. Konouk’s comments to the Turkish daily Aksam on February 8, the complete survey will take the form of eight volumes, when completed in 2015, and the texts will be in Turkish, English and Greek.  
According to her research, much more Ottoman relics have been preserved, than originally considered.
As Dr. Konouk noted, “a tenth of the Ottoman relics located in Greece, representing 600 cases in total, have been saved.”  
In a relative development, the Greek Ministry of Culture has published in Greek and English, a 494 – pages special volume, titled “Ottoman Architecture in Greece.”
Institute for Neohellenic Research: Ottoman Epigraphy; Foundation of the Hellenic World: Ottoman Period

Hellenext: Next Generation Initiative

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)          The Next Generation Initiative is non-profit educational foundation in Washington DC, founded in 2002 by an independent, collaborative network of global Greeks.  Their mission is to engage the young men and women of the next generation and empower them with the skills and experience necessary for effective and affirmative leadership.  Currently, the organisation is looking for students with Greek ancestry interested in taking part in the first national online study exclusively for undergraduate and graduate students of Hellenic heritage: gotgreek.hellenext.org  The Next Generation Initiative:  Next Generation internships & World-class leadership forums 

Greek Expats

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Fifty expatriates, who wish to study in Greece or become permanent residents, will have the opportunity to learn the Greek language with the help of special computer software. The World Council of Hellenes Abroad’s (SAE) three-month pilot programme will take place at the organization’s offices in Thessaloniki. The programme, funded by the General Secretariat for Youth, aims at promoting Greek cultural heritage and linguistic identity with the use of new technologies. 

Crete: Quality of Life

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)    The Civil Society and New Forms of Governance in Europe (CINEFOGO) is”hosting a summer session on “Sociology and the Quality of Life,” at the University of Crete, which begins today and continues until July 18. The event aims to explore how theory and methods can be combined in the study of societies in Europe in general and the study of quality of life in particular. An additional theme is the combination of different methods in the study of European societies.