The Music Village team announces for the ninth consecutive year the educational, scientific and concert activities that will take place this summer at Agios Lavrentios, Greece. The Music Village is one of the largest music communities in Europe, an institution that uses music to exchange and spread artistic ideas and original educational models. It is organized by the non-profit civil company arTree in collaboration with the Deputy Mayor for Civilisation, Education and Tourism of the Municipality of Volos, the Regional Authorities of Magnesia and Sporades islands of the Thessalia Prefecture and the Onassis Cultural Centre. This year, the educational activity of the Music Village is consisted of 19 different topics which include 29 music workshops-master classes that promote cooperation. These activities are coordinated by 47 internationally renowned musicians-teachers as well as by guests, personalities from the field of improvisation, dance, theatre, speech, special education and body cultivation.
In the first period, there are two new workshops of multi-artistic expression introduced to adolescents and children (Avra Avdi, Melina Chatzigeorgiou, Antigoni Avdi, Reynaldo Young and Georgia Gana). Moreover, the Music Village has the pleasure to host for the first time the international renowned baritone Spyros Sakkas under the topic “Human Nature”. The new topic of jazz is expanded with the participation of Giorgos Kontrafouris and Christos Rapailidis, whereas one of the most important duos of the modern music, the Swiss UMS 'n JIP, will also participate in a workshop-residency. The topic of old music presents for the first time the top Greek musician and improviser Dimos Gountaroulis from Sao Paolo, Brazil. The Music Village allows the combination of music with other performing arts, such as dance and dance-theatre (by “rootlessroot”), promotes experimentation and variety in arts and focuses systematically on the qualities that can turn a simple musician into a thinker. Some other close partners of the Music Village 2014 are: Alkinoos Ioannidis, Lefteris Moumtzis, Foris Siotas, Kaiti Karachaliou, Dimitris Kountouras, Ilekrta Miliadou, Simos Papanas, Stefanos Thomopoulos, Aggelos Liakakis,  Varvara Venetikidou, "Spyweirdos" (Spyros Polychronopoulos), Giorgos Sagriotis, Giorgos Fotiadis and Marianna Astraka.
The second period re-examines the relation between the original musical dialects of Greece and the Balkans and the modern music and it focuses on the connection between music and poetic narration. Thus, apart from the workshops, during the second period the Music Village has the pleasure to host Kostas Theodorou in a residency called “Lost Anthropology”, as well as the Argentinian actor, film director and acrobat Camilo Betancor in a workshop concerning the traditional medieval theatre and the Syrian Ziad Rajab in a workshop on the Arabic maqam. For the first time, the puppet performers and animators Aggeliki Gounaridi, Konstantis Mizaras, Giannis Tsioutas, Alexandros Monokandilos, Eleni Vogiatzidou and Betty Kokaraki will also be present. This year, Manos Achalinotopoulos suggests a very interesting approach on the performance of folk songs and Andreas Segditsas will teach us all how to perform traditional dances with his unique way!! The workshops will also be coordinated by some previous partners of the Music Village: Kostas Anastasiadis, Hayden Chisholm (New Zealand), Dimos Vougioukas, Kyriakos Gouventas, Vasilis Mantzoukis, Anthi Thanou, Antonis Anisegos, James Wylie, Dimitris Mistakidis and Evgenios Voulgaris. Finally, apart from the daily concerts and the improvised music events which take place in every corner of Agios Lavrentios, this year a series of lectures and open discussions will be offered for the first time every evening to the participants.
For more information: http://www.music-village.gr/