“The Great Provocateur” – Part III by Dimitris Papadimitriou

“The Great Provocateur”: The Third Part of a song cycle dedicated to intellectual, moral and aesthetic liberty – and, why not, to libertinism!

Aristophanes, Villon, Embirikos, Cavafy, Koropoulis, Lapathiotis, Leontaris, Brecht, John Donne, Palamas, Rilke, Sachlikis are but a few of the poets whose work is set to music by Papadimitriou, as he reveals unknown aspects of their art and sheds new light on their heretical self.

In the composer’s own self-mocking words, “the cycle’s title intentionally plays on the notion of provocation – a nod to the ‘great heretic’ – in honor of those who are not afraid of self-mockery, mocking those who hold themselves in high honor (I mean this playfully, of course) – something very much in the spirit of our own Manos Hadjidakis and his ‘Great Erotic’ song cycle, as some of you may have guessed.”

Vocalists Veronica Davaki, Panos Papaioannou, and Giorgos Florakis will perform the songs, accompanied by an ensemble of seven musicians. The performance is part of the Contemporary Music and Poetry Cycle organized by the Hellenic Project, which aims to support and promote contemporary musical creativity and original projects. The commissioning of new works provides a platform for the younger generation of artists, and an opportunity for the public to discover global poetic traditions through the medium of music.