BOSTON – ‘Violets and Hyacinths and Seabirds’ and other well-known songs from Asia Minor delighted the audience at the concert ‘From Chant to the Sounds of Amanes’ organized by the musical ensemble Anatoliama at the packed theater of the Maliotis Cultural Center.
The renowned virtuosos Vasilis Kostas on the lute and Giorgos Lernis on percussion were joined by the acclaimed lyre master Sokratis Sinopoulos and the internationally famous vocalist Emilia Chalkia, who traveled from Greece specifically for this event.
The musical evening also featured the Hellenic College Holy Cross choir, directed by Fr. Romanos Karanos, who movingly chanted well-known church hymns such as ‘To the Defender’ and ‘Lord, I Have Cried to You’, as well as the Greek Orchestra of New England, a program for young talented musicians supported by the Behrakis Foundation and the Maliotis Cultural Center.
Sponsors of the concert included the Boston Byzantine Music Festival, a program of the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, the Maliotis Cultural Center, the Behrakis Foundation, and the New York Life Center for the Study of Hellenism in Pontus and Asia Minor at Hellenic College.
The Consul General of Greece in Boston, Simeon Tegos, who attended the event, congratulated everyone on the concert’s success in discussions with the Maliotis Center’s Executive Director Chrysoula Kourkounti, Hellenic College Dean Dr. Nicholas Ganson, and the distinguished artists. Similar praises came from the hundreds of attendees who mingled with the musicians at the reception which followed.
