Concert with “Sounds of Cyprus” and Lecture with Alkinoos Ioannidis

The Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies presents a concert from “Sounds of Cyprus” and Lecture titled “The Word & The Note” by Alkinoos Ioannidis.

Sounds of Cyprus is a Cypriot orchestra, co-founded by Elena Chris and Music Director Peter Douskalis, which performs the traditional music of Cyprus in varying orchestrations and styles that both consciously honor the time period of composition and period instruments as well as perform with a modern approach.

The band will perform a 60-minute set featuring traditional music from Cyprus. Songs will be performed in the Cypriot dialect of Greek.

The musical program will then transition to a 45-minute lecture by Alkinoos Ioannidis.

​​What is in a song? When are lyrics the voice of an instrument, and when the bearer of meaning? How can tradition and evolution serve as parallel, even synonymous concepts? Does poetry die when it is put to music? Why are psalms, chants, devotionals intrinsic to all religions? How does the mind read in prose and interpret it as musical score? What is expression, and what is character? What is contemporary, what is enduring, what is timeless, and what is just a waste of time? How many centuries can fit into just three minutes? In this lecture, the elements of the song comprise our main preoccupation. We will search for the source, the fountainhead, follow the emanating streams, and seek the place where they coalesce. We will discuss the obvious and the ineffable, the tangible and the intangible elements that make up the song; the way these can flood our very being; how they succeed or fail at shaping our extrinsic and intrinsic existence.

Alkinoos Ioannidis is a singer-songwriter who has released multiple solo albums, most of which have gone gold or platinum. As a guest singer, he has performed on more than 40 albums with various artists. He has also written songs, arranged and produced albums for other artists, as well as music for dance and theater, while his symphonic work is often performed by orchestras in Greece and abroad. His influences range from traditional Cypriot music, Greek composers of the last decades, Byzantine, Classical and Rock.

Information about parking can be found here.

Cosponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Studies
Cosponsored by the Department of Music
Cosponsored by the Humanities Council
Cosponsored by the Lewis Center for the Arts
Cosponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies