Film Fest Ghent 2021 pays homage to Greek film music with 'Great Greek Composers' concert

Ever since the 1980s, Film Fest Ghent has had a distinctive and unique focus on film music, bringing the greatest film composers and their work to Ghent. With the annual World Soundtrack Awards and film music concerts, the festival highlights the art of composing for screen. The Film Fest Ghent concerts bring live music, performed by Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by FFG music director Dirk Brossé and accompanied by film scenes projected on a big screen.

This year, the film festival explores Greek cinema, which is brimming with drama and captivating music. Through the concert Great Greek Composers: The Film Music of Eleni Karaindrou, Mikis Theodorakis, Evanthia Reboutsika et al., Film Fest Ghent wants to showcase the richness and genius of Greek composers. On 22 October 2021, the festival invites film music fans at Opera Ghent.

Special attention will be devoted to Eleni Karaindrou, the long-time composer of Greek director Theo Angelopoulos, who passed away in 2012. Karaindrou will receive the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award during the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert on 23 October. At the Great Greek Composers concert, Film Fest Ghent will bring symphonic tribute to her music with pieces from The Suspended Step of the Stork, The Weeping Meadow, Eternity and a Day, The Dust of Time and more. Karaindrou will join the orchestra as soloist at the piano, as will the Greek violinist Evanthia Reboutsika, who won the 2006 World Soundtrack Discovery of the Year Award for My Father and My Son.

The country where the tragedy was invented holds an eclectic mix of composers and instruments. Fans of film music can expect the melancholic atmosphere of Karaindrou's oeuvre, the inspiring music of Evanthia Reboutsika and the 'metasymphonic' compositions of Mikis Theodorakis, the 2007 World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

Great Greek Composers: The Film Music of Eleni Karaindrou, Mikis Theodorakis, Evanthia Reboutsika et al. takes place on 22 October 2021 at Opera Ghent.