In March 2017, the Onassis Stegi organised an Open Day event, dedicated to the style and spirit of the kaleidoscopic New York arts scene, which flourished from the mid-20th century. A point of reference for this event was the legendary meeting of two pioneering composers, John Cage and Morton Feldman, as they were leaving Carnegie Hall after a performance of Anton Webern’s Symphony conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. It’s a story that has been told many times, though never with the same details twice. Their friendship would soon extend to embrace a close circle of musicians including Christian Wolff, Earle Brown and the pianist David Tudor who would come to be known as the New York School.

The group stood out for its unquenchable thirst for innovation and its close links to contemporary artists, poets, dancers and performers. Artistic communities and various formal and informal groups formed around the New York School and engaged with its musicians: the Tone Roads, the groups of musicians who collaborated with the Merce Cunningham Dance Theatre and Judson Dance Theatre, and the artists who moved downtown and created the famous Village lofts. Indeterminancy, Events, Happenings, Kinetik Art, Fluxus, Pop Art, Minimalism, Rock, Totalism, Νo Wave, Art Punk—these were just some of the movements that came into being in New York around this time. The feverish explosion of creativity they unleashed would impact on contemporary music and art around the globe.

Click here to read the programme of the free events, the concert at the Main Stage and all the parallel events.

Credits:

Concept, Arrangement, Museological & Directorial Oversight, Realisations, Orchestrations, Organization: Anargyros Deniozos
Musical Direction: Andreas Levisianos
Video, Lighting: Manos Arvanitakis
Programming, Electronics: Nikos Palamaris
Oversight: Pythagoras Kotsoulas
Organizational Oversight: Katerina Tsesmetzi

With (in alphabetical order):

Spiros Arkoudis (trumpet), George Arnis (contrabass), Alexandros Botinis (cello), Kostas Botinis (percussion), Ana Chifu (cello), Alexandros Drymonitis (electric guitar), Patrick Evans (viola), Guido De Flavis (saxophone), Kostas Gerantonis (perfomer), Dimitris Gkogkas (trumpet), Giannis Gounaris (horn), Paul Grennan (cello), Dorian Idrizi (violin), Aleksios Karaiskakis-Nastos (cello), Charalampos Karasavvidis (violin), Aggeliki Kathariou (mezzo soprano), Marina Kolovou (cello), George Konstantinou (piano), Anastasia Kotsali (mezzo soprano), Pithagoras Kotsoulas (electric-bass), George Kriberis (trombone), Vasillis Liarmakopoulos (bass), Kostas Mavrogenis (baritone), Stathis Mavromatis (saxophone), Alexandros Michaelides (clarinet), Menelaos Moraitis (tuba), Stefanos Nasos (piano), Panos Ntallas (drums), Nick Palamaris (electronics), Anna Pangalou (mezzo soprano), Despoina Papachristopoulou (perfomer), Beata Pincetic (piano), Lorenda Ramou (piano), Christos Sakellaridis (piano), Ilia Samsonov (saxophone), Elias Sdoukos (Viola), Kostas Seremetis (percussion), Iro Sira (violin), Zacharias Tarpagkos (flute), Andreas-Rolandos Theodorou (trumpet), Kostas Tzekos ( clarinet, saxophone), Spyros Tzekos (clarinet), Marinos Tranoudakis (percussion), Dimitra Triantafyllou (violin), Nikos Tsalikis (piano), Nafsika Tsara (flute), Yannis Tselikas (oboe), Thodoris Vazakas (percussion), Dimitris Ventourakis (piano), Manos Ventouras (corno), Fanis Vernikos (trumpet) and more.

With:

Miquel Bernat, Michael Weilacher και Τom De Cock – Ictus Ensemble
Gareth Davis
Ionian Festival Ensemble
Athens Percussion Group
S.T.A.B. Saxophone quartet
Ensemble Continuum (@Athens)