Fates

Greece, Athens, Herod’s Atticus Odeon

Friday, 19 June 2026, 21:00

Fates and Earthly Muses – Figures from myth and reality that emerge from ancient sources and the modern pen of Thanos Tsaknakis, set to music by Lena Platonos and brought to life by the voice of Maria Farantouri.

Once more, the interpreter of the great poets sings a L. Platonos premiere, following The Third Door and the lyric poetesses of Greek antiquity: Silent’s Fragments – pieces of ancient women’s poetry, in a modern Greek adaptation by Th. Tsaknakis, who also wrote the Fates: the new play being presented for the first time at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

…ἐννέα μὲν Μούσας μέγας Οὐρανός,
ἐννέα δ’ αὐτὰς Γαῖα τέκεν
θνατοῖς ἄφθιτον εὐφροσύναν.

…Nine Muses did the great Uranus,
and nine did Earth give birth to
for the imperishable joy of mortals.
Antipater of Thessaloniki, Palatine Anthology, ΙΧ, 26

Earthly Muses -according to Antipater- are the nine most famous poetesses of antiquity: Praxilla, Moero (or Myro), Anyte, Sappho, Erinna, Telesilla, Corinna, Nossis, and Myrtis, those who have endured through the centuries -in defiance of the ancient era of female silence and anonymity- and have reached our own time as lyrical, erotic, sensitive, and tender, as well as mournful, contemplative, and assertive, revealing a different perspective on ancient time, place, and the world. Part of this project has been presented on International Women’s Day, 2022, at the Acropolis Museum, and a few months later, in its entirety, at the archaeological site of Eleusis. Now, it returns to Acropolis alongside the new work by L. Platonos and Th. Tsaknakis: Fates.

In the year 2026, amidst war and mass death, Th. Tsaknakis reflects on the Soul’s journey toward Immortality, inspired by Plato’s Myth of Er, with which the ancient philosopher concludes his Republic. Platonic images and ideas are condensed in Th. Tsaknakis’s poetry, as eight Sirens and three Fates harmonize at the spindle of Ananke (Necessity) and in an ethereal motion where Souls prepare to draw lots for a new cycle of life. And there the responsibility lies with the one who chooses, not with God. L. Platonos draws inspiration from the talented flutist Stathis Karapanos and sets the text to music, giving, alongside the voice, a key role to the flute.

The performance concludes with three excerpts from L. Platonos’s Sabotage — a groundbreaking work for its time (1981) and still unsurpassed today—arranged for flute, with Stathis Karapanos as soloist.

Programme:
01. Silent’s Fragments
02. Fates
03. Sabotage (Excerpts)

Credits:
Lena Platonos | Music, arrangement, keyboards (Fates, Sabotage), reading of lyrical narratives (Silent’s Fragments)
Thanos Tsaknakis | Poetry (Fates), lyrical narratives & modern Greek adaptations of ancient poems (Silent’s Fragments)
Marianina Kriezi | Lyrics (Sabotage)

Maria Farantouri | Vocals (Silent’s Fragments, Fates)
Stathis Karapanos | Flute soloist (Fates, Sabotage)

Yorgos Kontoyannis | Lyra
Michalis Porfiris | Violoncello
Vahan Galstyan | Wind instruments
Stergios Tsirliagos | Arrangement, keyboards, programming, electronic percussion
Michalis Papapetrou | Musical direction (Silent’s Fragments), keyboards

Co-production:
Athens & Epidaurus Festival
Technotropon – Artway Cultural Productions