Heading towards the end of 2023, the mood becomes a little more festive, the snowy (#not) Athens invites us to wear our best and in the company of our loved ones to live carefree moments because, like every year, the Christmas holidays are accompanied by beautiful artistic events. Let's see some of them. Christmas 2023, hot or cold, is here.
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Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
The Christmas World of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center is "very strong", like every year!
On Friday 1st December at 19:00, the lights go up and the SNFCC transforms into a place of celebration with free entry! The Canal Ice Rink is back bigger than ever. The Festival of Lighting Installations shines in the Stavros Niarchos Park at night and a rich program of events "fills" the whole month culminating on New Year's Eve. All actions and events take place either with free entry or with a very affordable ticket.
More information here.
The Ellinikon Experience Park
The Ellinikon Experience Park is getting into the rhythm of Christmas and is preparing to welcome young and old, inviting them to live unforgettable experiences.
Throughout December and until the beginning of the new year, the park will host daily activities and surprises, making Christmas a little more magical.
The curtain will open on this year's celebrations with the exciting Park Lighting event on Sunday 3 December at 18:00. It is a unique "harmony" of light and music that will take visitors on a journey. Specifically, in Square A of the Park, a spectacular show with projectors will light up the sky of Ellinikos, under the supervision of the acclaimed Lighting Designer Tasos Perdikouris.
This unique spectacle will be musically "dressed" by the festive melody created by the talented composer Ermis Geragidis especially for the evening, which he will perform himself on the piano, accompanied by the cellist Stella Temprelis. The evening will conclude with the spectacular lighting of the Christmas tree, which will mark the official start of the festive season.
At The Ellinikon Experience Park, the surprises and festive activities do not stop here. In Square A at the Santa Grottos wooden houses, there will be fun festive activities and workshops, while in the same area visitors will be able to try Christmas delicacies.
Athens Concert Hall
Another interesting proposal full of music. New Year's Gala with the State Orchestra of Athens at the Athens Concert Hall on Saturday, December 30, 2023. The meeting of the State Orchestra of Athens with the audience of the Palace on the eve of the New Year is an established musical institution, inextricably linked to the festive season and the joyous reception of the new year.
This year, the subject of the long-awaited New Year's gala is French opera. For some, like me, it may be less well-known and widespread than the Italian, but that doesn't mean it doesn't contain many charming arias and brilliant orchestral passages. Many of them, among the most recognizable and entertaining, will be heard at the gala by four eminent lyric singers under the expert guidance of conductor Myronos Michaelidis.
More information here.
Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens
Hamoulis will take place at The Christmas Factory in the Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens, which opens its doors on Saturday November 25 and pours out light, joy, celebration, games, laughter, tickling smells and, for the first time this year, a theatrical performance!
The Christmas Factory is celebrating its 10th anniversary and Santa Claus is celebrating his birthday. Double birthday, that is. And the double celebration – centered this year on Santa Claus – kicks off this Saturday, November 25, with a big spooktacular celebration that includes it all:
elves, the impressive (surprise!) appearance of Santa Claus, cake blowing, lighting of the large illuminated tree that dominates the center of the square and live music from the favorite Wedding Singers and Vemily and Yiannis Margaris!
Every year the Fun Park is enriched with new games, spaces and activities, and especially this year, which marks 10 years, The Christmas Factory is richer and more enriched than ever with games and activities for young and old: amusement park, ice rink, musical events, dances, fairy tales, face painting, stilt walkers, animators, a band of elves, Christmas stories, a large Christmas market and sweet and savory corners that will satisfy even the most demanding palates (with burgers, hot dogs, skewers, pizza, sweets, chocolates, candies, waffles ).
The brand new Christmas theater show "The Upside Down Christmas" is signed by Gerasimos Evagelatos, Giorgos Suleimans and Themis Karamouratides. A show that encourages children to think differently and appreciate the joy of sharing with others, fostering a sense of community and solidarity. Just say out loud "Nagestuhri!" and get ready to experience the magic of Christmas in the most disruptive and entertaining way.
Santa's Top 10: Collect information and find the solution! This Christmas our favorite elves are in action with a big game, Santa's Top 10, to solve the mystery of Santa's birthday. Santa's top 10 at The Christmas Factory is this year's umbrella that includes all the interactive workshops and will lead to the solution of the riddle.
Children and parents are faced with a big challenge: to go through all the workshops and collect the top 10 funniest facts about the life of Santa Claus that will reveal to them how old he really is.
More information here.
Closed Old Baler Tae Kwon Do
The biggest soap bubble show, "The Underwater Bubble Show", is coming to Greece for the first time, at Tae Kwon Do, from December 25 to 30. A different, magical, exciting, interactive show, full of acrobatics, state-of-the-art special effects and of course... bubbles, for the whole family!
A story based on our modern day-to-day life: full of work, full of stress, full of phones, computers and a bunch of devices that allow us to live at "high speeds"... while losing our connection with reality.
With references and quotes from classic works, such as "Pinocchio", "The Little Mermaid", "Alice in Wonderland", "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Golden Fish" (without forgetting of course " Peter Pan"), "The Underwater Bubble Show" is a modern fairy tale that we can all experience, regardless of age...
More information here.
Visual Arts and Music Foundation B&M Theocharakis
On December 27, at 19:00, the Visual Arts and Music Foundation B&M Theocharakis invites us to listen to stories and fairy tales about the warmth of love. Christmas, and the most magical fairy tales tell us about the power of love that defeats the worst fear, that dispels the darkness of even the greatest selfishness.
Narrator Sasa Voulgari, accompanied by her strange musical instruments, tells traditional Christmas stories from Greece and around the world.
More information here.
Christmas Theater
From December 21, 2023 to January 7, 2024 comes "Scrooge & Ghosts and Rock 'n' Roll", the show-phenomenon, with the unprecedented sold out last Christmas at the Athens Concert Hall, attended by more than 24,000 spectators, directed by Christos Sougaris, music by Stefanos Korkolis, lyrics by Gerasimos Evagelatos, choreography by Fokas Evagelinos.
Panos Mouzourakis as Scrooge is Dickens' favorite character and comes across as a worn out, decadent and awkward music star. On Christmas Eve, he receives a visit from the ghosts of dead stars of the world music scene: Elvis Presley, Maria Callas, Amy Winehouse, Freddy Mercury, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Beethoven and Bob Marley, who want to warn him that if he does not change his attitude towards his fellow men, he too will soon go down in history as another undead star. On the path that will be imposed on him from the past to the future, he will meet the people who shaped him musically as well as as a personality, he will get to know his relatives more effectively and he will evaluate in a different way his priorities in music and in his own life .
Information for parents with children under 10: h performance is a rock musical and the text is a free performance in modern language, with isolated inappropriate phrases that may disturb.
More information here.
100 Years of Disney
A brand new concert created especially to celebrate 100 years of Disney and touring the world is coming to the Christmas Theater on Sunday 24th December. We will see excerpts from Disney's most loved films on a giant screen, while classical musical themes will be brought to life on stage by a 56-piece orchestra and the enchanting voices of West End singers, creating a unique audiovisual experience.
We will hear songs from movies we grew up with. The movies that taught us to dream... 'Alladin', 'Lion King', 'Little Mermaid', 'Frozen', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Mary Poppins', 'Encanto', and many more, plus other favorites songs from the worlds of Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel.
More information here.
Athens College Theatre
The Athens College Theater welcomes these holidays, from December 22nd until January 7th, the Imperial Classical Ballet, which will bring us the magic of Christmas through three of Tchaikovsky's top works.
"The Nutcracker", "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty", the three most beloved works of the legendary composer, come to life on the stage of the Athens College offering a spectacle that will enchant the whole family.
The Imperial Classical Ballet is an internationally renowned ballet from Ukraine, which consists of professional dancers with passion and love for their art. The dancers, graduates of top dance schools from all over Ukraine and other European countries, with their high-level technique fascinate us and transport us to Tchaikovsky's dream world, bringing to life the most beautiful ballet stories.
More information here.
On Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 January 2024, the Athens College Theater welcomes the new year with the leading Vienna Chamber Orchestra, coming to Athens for the first time.
The historic Vienna Chamber Orchestra with the legendary Stradivarius violins transports us to the atmosphere of imperial Vienna with the most famous melodies and the most popular waltzes of Mozart and Strauss as well as Argentine tango rhythms.
More information here.
Pallas Theatre
From December 23, 2023, the new Broadway musical is coming to Greece, at the Pallas Theater. Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures film by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical, Marcelle Maurette's play adapted from Guy Bolton's "Anastasia the Musical" tells the heartwarming story of Princess Anastasia.
Amidst the turmoil of the Russian revolution, with the Bolshevik regime on the rise, Anya finds herself stranded in what was once the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, and seeks to rediscover her past, which she believes lies in Paris.
Together with former aristocrat Vlad Popov and a daring con artist, Dmitri, who want to use Anya to trick the only remaining Romanov, the Dowager Empress Maria, into believing that Anya is the lost Anastasia, they escape to Paris. A journey full of adventure, to discover who you are and define who you are destined to be!
More information here.
*Cover photo: Fumiaki Hayashi on Unsplash
Of Ari Gavrielatosu
Source: a8inea