NEW YORK – A press conference at the Consulate General of Greece in New York was held on October 18 for the Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra’s (GYSO) upcoming American debut at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, November 3, 7:30 PM.
GYSO Founder and Artistic Director Dionysis Grammenos introduced a talented quartet of musicians from the GYSO, George Banos, Evangelia Koutsodimou, Kalifoni Sarantakou, and Mateo Sestani, who performed three excerpts from pieces in the upcoming concert’s program, adapted for string quartet. The first was an excerpt from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – the third movement of Summer, followed by two pieces from the Greek Dances by composer Nikos Skalkottas, the Epirotikos and the Kleftikos. Each piece highlighted the impressive skills of these young artists.
The musicians introduced themselves, beginning with Banos who noted that he is from Athens and has been playing violin for 16 years. He lives in Berlin now, having finished his studies there. Koutsodimou is from Samos and studied in Thessaloniki and lives there now where she is a member of the State Symphony Orchestra of Thessaloniki. She has been playing the violin for almost 13 years. Sarantakou plays viola and is from Thessaloniki where she first studied violin and then viola. Sestani is also a member of the State Symphony Orchestra of Thessaloniki and has been playing cello for 15-16 years. An Athens native, he, too, now lives in Thessaloniki.
THI Board President George P. Stamas was among those present at the press conference, noting that the musicians “make us all proud.”
Consul General of Greece in New York Iphigenia Kanara thanked everyone for attending and noted the importance of promoting the GYSO and its upcoming concert to demonstrate that Greece has this younger generation of artists carrying on this worthy tradition.
Grammenos noted that the GYSO is the first European youth orchestra to perform a concert at Carnegie Hall. “It is therefore a particularly great honor for us and our young musicians as we are representing the dynamic younger generation of Greek musicians,” he said. “We are all looking forward to it.”
Grammenos added that in its seven years, the GYSO has performed two concerts in Berlin, and thanks to The Hellenic Initiative, they are crossing the Atlantic, coming to New York to perform at the most famous concert hall in the world.
He pointed out that 95 of the GYSO’s musicians will be performing at Carnegie Hall, and again thanked THI and its Board member Nicholas Alexos, for their support and help in making the concert possible.
THI Board President George Stamas said: “My colleague Nick Alexos is being very shy, it is his inspiration that we found it so easy at THI to get behind something like this for several reasons, the enormous pride that we feel in this group, the accomplishments that they represent, and the future of Greece that is really instilled within them.”
Stamas continued: “We all in the diaspora share this same DNA and so for THI, we have adopted a new theme, and that theme is ‘dare to dream’ and this group and they’re playing tomorrow night and more importantly at Carnegie, will be, in fact, the first time that we are holding an event under that theme, dare to dream. Dare to dream over many centuries, the people of Greece dared to dream of the Revolution, dare to dream 15 or 16 years ago when Greece was starting to hit some terrible problems which inspired the creation fo THI, by myself and my co-founder Nick, and several others around the world, it has been an honor for us to serve Greece and the people of Greece and to see you, if I may say, young folks, the way you inspire and play just moves me dramatically. We can’t thank you enough for your dedication and what you can mean to the spirit of Greece. Eυχαριστώ πάρα πολύ.”
THI Board member Nicholas Alexos noted his pride in being a part of this effort and “it is very humbling really in many ways. As George Stamas said, THI is really an effort to unite the diaspora and make people realize how they can give back to Greece… and through THI’s efforts supporting dozens of charities and organizations and initiatives in Greece is how I became friends with Dionysis and we were walking around London a few years ago and he told me about having the opportunity to go to the Konzerthaus in Berlin and we said ‘for sure,’ and I went to the Konzerthaus Berlin August 15, 2023, and I saw 2700 Germans applaud the GYSO and they played wonderfully and we walked outside and I asked Dionysis what’s next and he said how about Carnegie Hall… so here we are two weeks away.”
He added that the musicians, besides performing at Carnegie Hall, will also go to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center to look at another accomplishment of our ethnicity and Orthodoxy and to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the enthronement of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew which is the weekend of the concert which His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros is scheduled to attend.
Alexos encouraged everyone to attend the concert and “celebrate this contemporary cultural Renaissance of Greece and its youth.”
Tickets are available online: https://shorturl.at/XVxP8.
More information about the GYSO is available online: https://elson.gr/en/
To learn more about The Hellenic Initiative, visit: https://thehellenicinitiative.org.
