Details

The name alone is evocative: Constantinople, the city where East and West meet, where cultures, religions and philosophies clash and intermingle. This is Byzantium - not the Istanbul of today, but a more distant place of dreams and imagination. In this internationally acclaimed presentation, music and imagery combine to explore and embrace these differences as chants meet pounding rhythms, florid and fluid Arabic vocalizations contrast Western insistent instrumental precision, images of art and history intersect with contemporary human faces and reality blurs with myth. This is such a fantastic fusion of light, movement and sound that 'you will have no doubt whatsoever that you have been some place memorable' (Toronto Star). Throughout eight movements, Christos Hatzis's music interweaves the Gryphon Trio of piano, violin and cello with two female vocalists and pre-recorded surround sound that envelops the audience. The staging amplifies these moods of the soundscape through evocative movement, projected images and shifts of light. There is no story, but instead the unfolding of hypnotic and intoxicating layers of emotion and suggestion. Approx running time 85mins

Creatives/Company

Author: Christos Hatzis