The 1st International Music Festival TRIETHNÉS concluded with great success, taking place from 28 to 31 August in the wider Prespa region. The festival was co-produced with the Municipality of Prespa and held under the auspices and with the support of the Ministry of Culture.
Large numbers of visitors travelled to Prespa throughout the four days, with concert venues filled to capacity each evening. Among the highlights were the events at the old stone quarry (Damari) in the village of Mikrolimni and the concert held at the “PELEKANOS” Bean Cooperative packaging facility in Laimos.
In an address delivered on the evening of 30 August, Artistic Director Yorgos Ziavras and the Mayor of Prespa, Giorgos Stergiou, spoke with visible emotion about the warm response the festival received from the public.
The programme focused on contemporary music inspired by the traditional sounds of the Triethnés region. It featured a small tribute to the internationally acclaimed Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino and offered a platform to five emerging artists from Austria, Germany, Portugal and Iran. As part of the educational programme and the PRESPENSIS New Music Creation Academy, six new works commissioned by the festival were presented in world premiere performances. Festival events took place across five villages in the municipality: Mikrolimni, Laimos, Pyli, Agios Germanos and Lefkonas.
All activities were shaped around the theme of memory — personal, historical and collective — as expressed through contemporary music alongside the traditional music of the Balkans, particularly from the three countries that share the waters of Great Prespa: Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.
See the festival highlights
The programme opened on the morning of Thursday 28 August at Agios Nikolaos in Pyli, a Byzantine church of striking beauty surrounded by bean fields along the shores of Small Prespa Lake. In this setting, percussionist Panagiotis Ziavras presented three works for solo percussion in their Greek premieres, while performer Myrgon engaged in a live dialogue with sound, creating a physical allegory using his own body and materials drawn from the lakeside landscape.
That evening, the packed stone quarry in Mikrolimni was transformed into an atmospheric concert space, hosting internationally recognised Austrian pianist Anton Gerzenberg and the polyphonic ensemble “Chaonia.” Against the backdrop of Small Prespa and the setting sun, the audience experienced a meeting of sounds that at first seemed distant from one another, yet gradually revealed an unexpected sense of familiarity.
On Friday afternoon, the quarry filled once again for the concert “Upcycling Memories,” featuring works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Luciano Berio and Gustav Mahler. Sciarrino’s Le Voci Sottovetro received its first Greek performance, while Berio’s Folk Songs were brought to life by Artemis Bogri and Elena Marangou, interwoven with traditional melodies in Greek, Albanian, Macedonian and Pontic Greek sung by Natasa Tsakiridou. The evening concluded with baritone Georgios Iatrou’s interpretation of Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, conducted by Yorgos Ziavras.
On Saturday 30 August, the “PELEKANOS” Bean Cooperative facility in Laimos hosted a performance of Pnoi by Cornelius Selamsis, performed by the Ventus Ensemble and soprano Dimitra Kotidou. After the concert, the space turned into a Prespa-style celebration with the brass band “Topiki Paradosi,” flowing wine and dancing that lasted until morning.
On Sunday afternoon, the Byzantine Collection in Agios Germanos hosted the closing concert of the PRESPENSIS Academy, a collaboration between the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia and the Department of Music Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Six new works by composition students were presented in world premiere performances, two of them by composers based in Portugal and Iran. The ensembles included students of classical and traditional instruments, pupils from the Music Schools of Kastoria and Ptolemaida, and musicians from the Greek National Opera Orchestra and the Athens State Orchestra.
Later that evening, the festival moved to the village of Lefkonas for a final performance of a different kind. Folk diva Anna Goula Vardinogianni appeared alongside baritone Georgios Iatrou and Yorgos Ziavras at the piano in a packed local bar. German Lieder, French chansons, popular repertoire and love songs were performed until dawn. With champagne, broken plates and an atmosphere reminiscent of another era, the festival came to a close in a way no one present is likely to forget. The staging, direction and costumes were conceived by Anna Goula.
Alongside the concert programme, TRIETHNÉS+ — the festival’s educational and community engagement branch — was carried out with equal success. Its aim is to actively involve local residents and visitors in activities connected to the artistic programme, strengthening the bond between audience and festival and fostering a shared sense of community.
This year’s educational programme included a polyphonic singing workshop with “Chaonia” and a seminar on traditional Balkan dances with “Lygkistes,” both held at the Prespa Creative Activity Centre in Agios Germanos with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
The PRESPENSIS Academy, the flagship initiative of TRIETHNÉS+, was organised for the first time in collaboration with the University of Macedonia, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Music Schools of Kastoria and Ptolemaida. The Academy took the form of an intensive four-day residency in Prespa, culminating in the final concert in Agios Germanos, where six new works by Greek and international composition students were presented in world premiere performances.
The artistic programme was curated by conductor Yorgos Ziavras, with accordionist and composer Stamatis Pasopoulos serving as artistic programming advisor. Production direction was led by Jay Raissis in collaboration with Sofia Zouzelis and Nalia Zikou, while press relations were handled by Jay Raissis and Sofia Zouzelis. The visual identity and logo design were created by Talou Galanou.
Warm thanks are extended to the festival’s volunteers and to everyone who contributed to bringing the project to life.
The 1st International Music Festival TRIETHNÉS was produced by Ventus Ensemble AMKE and held under the auspices and with the support of the Ministry of Culture.
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