Athens’s Lycabettus Theatre Returns for a Summer Under the Stars

The theater’s play opens connected May 15 with the legendary Patti Smith. Credit: AMNA

The Lycabettus Municipal Theatre is readying a affluent and eclectic programme of events from May until the extremity of July that volition erstwhile again marque it a item of Athens’ summertime taste life, ranging from stone concerts to past theatre.

“The Lycabettus Muncipal Theatre is returning this twelvemonth arsenic good arsenic an unfastened abstraction of culture, a spot of gathering and taste look for all. With a programme that unites large Greek and planetary artists, euphony and theatre, Lycabettus is erstwhile again becoming a benchmark for the Athens summer,” said Athens Mayor Haris Doukas astir the programme prepared by Athens Technopolis.

The theater’s play opens connected May 15 with the legendary Patti Smith, portion highlights successful June see a tribute to Greek songwriter Yiannis Spanos, the set Pyx Lax, Chris Isaac and yet a tribute to Greek creator Chronis Aidonidis.

In summation to music, a fig of theatrical performances are planned, including the ancient Greek drama “Ecclesiazusae” by Aristophanes.

July volition statesman with a Beth Hart concert, to beryllium followed by an Opera Gala featuring the Athens State Orchestra, an evening of jazz, psyche and Marvin Gaye with Jose James, a rendering of the past Greek calamity “Medea” by Euripides, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant with Saving Grace, a tribute to the enactment of Greek composer Thanos Mikroutsikos and volition culminate with a first-ever quality successful Greece by Godsmack.

The crown of Athens: A little history

The theatre was the brainchild of the legendary Greek histrion Anna Synodinou, who envisioned a abstraction wherever past play could beryllium performed against the backdrop of the modern city. In the mid-1960s, she successfully lobbied for the conversion of an aged quarry into a taste sanctuary.

Designed by the pioneering designer Takis Zenetos successful 1964, the theatre is simply a masterpiece of modernist architecture. Zenetos designed a lightweight, shell-like alloy operation that “sits” wrong the crater of the quarry, minimizing the interaction connected the earthy stone portion providing cleanable visibility and acoustics.

After being declared structurally unsafe successful 2008, the theatre remained closed and soundless for 15 years. Its expansive reopening successful precocious 2023 was 1 of the astir anticipated taste events successful caller Greek history, pursuing a meticulous €5 cardinal restoration by the Municipality of Athens that modernized the seating and information features portion preserving Zenetos’ archetypal “floating” design.

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