The sixth edition of the Chios Music Festival, which will take place for 10 days in different locations around the island, has announced a rich program featuring international productions, audiovisual installations and a broad musical repertoire, ranging from rebetiko and traditional sounds to classical and contemporary music.

As in previous years, the Chios Music Festival will make full use of its beautiful natural landscape and historical sites to provide backdrops to the events. 

Paying tribute to the centenary of the Smyrna Catastrophe, the festival’s theme for this year’s events is “the journey beyond horizons.” The program, the festival has announced, is dedicated to “the voyage of those who were forced to leave their homeland forever, who crossed the oceans in search of a better future, of those who traveled mentally in space and time with the vehicle of music, of the citizens of the world, who with the impetus, power and freedom that music gives, crossed borders that seemed impassable.”

Festival Highlights

A concert and the inauguration of a video installation titled “Solidarity – Words in Motion,” by German visual artist and stage designer Barbara Ehnes, and produced by the Ruhrtriennale/2019 festival, features people from different parts of the world recording their own interpretation of solidarity.

At the same time, a concert will take place connecting rebetiko music, which was born in the urban centres and ports of Greece after the Asia Minor Catastrophe, with contemporary music. The concert will feature a contemporary music ensemble, hand werk, from Cologne and musicians from Chios. 

EXT INC / REMEMBER ME – A world premiere taking place in Chios as part of the international project “Outernational.” The production aims to underline the extinction of many species around the world, as well as languages and cultural traditions, including music. Created by Aida Shirazi and Emre Dündar, the project “locates the lost and seeks new connections in an era of fading memories.” 

This year, the Chios Music Festival will renew its annual rendezvous with jazz fans, this time welcoming the internationally acclaimed Tania Giannouli Trio, one of the most dynamic bands in the contemporary jazz scene.

Renowned Greek singer Maria Farantouri and soloist and composer Taner Akyol will perform in a concert featuring songs from Akyol’s album “Dance to the Sun” and iconic songs by legendary composer Mikis Theodorakis, honouring his memory in the city where he was born.