Μότσαρτ, Ρέκβιεμ

Περιγραφή στα Αγγλικά

Before Mozart says a word about death, the strings scream. Krzysztof Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima — written in 1960 for fifty-two string instruments, one unbroken arc of massed glissandi and clusters — opens the evening, and only after it fades does the Athens State Orchestra turn to the Requiem in D minor, K. 626, the mass Mozart left unfinished at his death in 1791. That is the whole programme for Wednesday 28 April 2027 at the Christos Lambrakis Hall: first a work with no tune to hold onto, then the most carried-around tunes in sacred music.

ΜΟΤΣΑΡΤ, ΡΕΚΒΙΕΜ is a co-production of the Megaron and the Athens State Orchestra, the hall's orchestra in residence, conducted by Miltos Logiadis. The Requiem's vocal mass comes from two choirs joining forces — the ERT Choir, prepared by Michalis Papapetrou, and the Municipality of Athens Choir, prepared by Stavros Beris — with four soloists in front: soprano Matina Tsaroucha, mezzo-soprano Theodora Baka, tenor Vassilis Kavayas and bass Sreten Manolovic.

A Requiem night pulls the widest congregation the Megaron gets: season subscribers who plan their winters by conductor, choir singers on a night off listening hard to the soprano line, students on €9 tickets, and people who own exactly one classical recording — this one — hearing it for the first time with the air actually moving.

The setting is the Megaron's largest hall, rows raked toward a stage backed by the pipes of the house organ, with orchestra, two choirs and four soloists stacked across its full width. The vibe is concert formality at its most solemn: held applause, and a long silence before the first downbeat. The sound spans the widest dynamic range a single programme can ask for — from the Threnody's needle-point string harmonics to the choral attack of the Dies irae, through the Lacrimosa, the movement Mozart broke off after eight bars.

If you want an evening of unbroken beauty from first note to last, know that the Penderecki half is a deliberate wound before the balm — nine minutes of twentieth-century terror with no melody to shelter in. But if you want the Requiem to land at full weight, this pairing does the work of a sermon before it.

The Megaron sits directly above the Megaro Moussikis metro station, one stop from Syntagma, and the foyer — a long marble concourse with views toward Lycabettus — rewards arriving early. Tickets run from €9 reduced and €14 up to €50 across seven price tiers, with presale opening 10 September 2026.

One night, two choirs, four soloists, and mourning in its two extreme registers — Penderecki's and Mozart's.