Info Contact
Adresse
54633 Thessaloniki
Greece
http://www.dimitria.thessaloniki.gr
Info
Tel: 0033 23 10 37 52 00
Fax: 0030 23 10 23 03 53
dhmcult@otenet.gr
http://www.dimitria.thessaloniki.gr
25, Theofilu Str.
GR-54633 Thessaloniki
Dimitria Festival
The four months long festival presents a large scale of music, dance and theatre performances from the classical repertoire to contemporary creation, from folk tradition to street theatre and jazz.
Ce festival est un membre de L'EFA depuis 1995.
Programme de Festival
Each EFA member manages its own Calendar. In case there is no programme availabable for this year, please visit the festival's own website.
L'Histoire du festival
The splendid Byzantine festival of the Dimitria, called "The Panathenaea of the Athens of the Middle Ages" during the period of "Thessaloniki’s Golden Age", came to life again five centuries later when it was reincarnated in its new, modern form in the 1960s.
At the beginning of its 4th decade, the modern "Dimitria" achieved worldwide significance and recognition when in 1995 it became a member of the European Association of International Festivals.
What has happened since then?
In October 1996 the "New Festival", as it was designated by the local press, was heralded by a pair of military aircraft that released 300,000 flyers in Greek and English in the skies over the city. Today, the "Dimitria" is listed in European Festivals literature. In the intervening period, the institution has equipped itself with the staff and the means it requires for a new inauguration at the dawn of the new millennium.
In the course of the institution’s 35 manifestations, the people of this city have shared a host of exciting events, experiencing living art in all its forms. Famous operas, enchanting ballets, stirring theatrical performances, original visual arts interventions. For Thessaloniki, October means the Dimitria, just as September means the International Fair.
Many events will be described as dew in the desert, refreshing and stimulating the culture-thirsty souls of the city’s eager audiences. The classic and the modern in the theatres, galleries and concert halls - and on every street corner as well - blend in easy harmony under the catalytic influence of the ancient mystery that lies behind this pre-eminent festival. No one was astonished that Spanish flamenco dancer Rafael de Cordoba should be rubbing shoulders with the Bucharest Opera Company, or that the naked dancers of the anti-conformist American Living Theatre were wrapped in the music of the "academic" London Symphony.
For everyone comes to the Dimitria: all the great names, including Manos Hatzidakis, Karolos Koun, Giannis Tsarouchis, Mikis Theodorakis, Alan Bates, Peter Hall, Harold Pinter, Demitova, etc. And the public has lived every minute of it - participating, marvelling, singing and dancing for 35 years.
And if today the opportunities for cultural contacts are far greater, if today the communications explosion keeps us in touch with trends and currents in every corner of the earth, if our lives are daily richer in experiences, the Dimitria Festival is still the number one cultural event in the city’s calendar, as it has been for more than three decades.
The people of Thessaloniki talk about the Festival - its form, its content, and its character - and await each year’s Dimitria with eager anticipation. They watch, the listen, they celebrate. They celebrate Thessaloniki. They celebrate Saint Dimitrios.
