Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra perform in ancient theatre on world music day

The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra performed on Tuesday evening, World Music Day at the ancient theatre of Dodona, also marking the occasion of the restored lower seating area of the venue.

Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra performed works by Ravel, Elgar and Shostakovich, and was conducted by renowned musician Benjamin Zander.

Restoration work on the theatre will continue in the rest of the seating (koilon) area at the stone theatre constructed during the reign of King Pyrrhus of Epirus in the 3rd century BC, Minister of Culture & Sports Lina Mendoni said at the event, which also included the Greek Parliament Speaker Constantine Tassoulas.

In concert last night conducted by @BenjaminZander playing to a large audience at the Dodoni Ancient Greek Theatre, in #Ioannina 📸 by Jonathan Blumhofer #greece #bpyo #zlatomirfung #concert #orchestra #tour #greecemusic #greecetour #greece🇬🇷 pic.twitter.com/NuFJyW4Aau

— Boston Phil Youth Orch (BPYO) (@BosPhilYouth) June 22, 2022

The concert was attended, besides Mendoni and Tassoulas, by Environment Deputy Minister Giorgos Amiras, Regional Director of Epirus Alexandros Kachrimanis, Dodona Mayor Christos Dakaletsis, and Ioannina Ephorate of Antiquities Director Varvara Papadopoulou.

The theatre was used for performances from August 1960 to the summer of 1998, when the ministry decided to stop its use in order to continue conservation and restoration work on the monument.

In that active period, performances were booked through the Society of Epirot Studies

Mendoni likened the 22-year freeze of activities that preceded yesterday’s event to the monument’s going into intensive care but coming out of it revived.

“We all want monuments to be alive, integral parts of society, part of our daily lives,” she noted, “because monuments survive not when specialists are taking care of them, but when people enjoy them – this is real protection.”

A total of five theatres in Epirus have received funding from the regional/NSRF 2014-2020 program and will be part of another project, the Cultural Path of Epirus, included in developing the region, she said.

The other theatres are at Gitani, Amvrakia, Kassopi, and Nikopolis.

Tassoulas said that excavations at the vulefterion in the site of Dodona will be funded by the Greek Parliament.

The project for the lower seats of the theatre, completed so far, was budgeted at 4.79 million euros. The middle seating area is the next project.