Jazz acts tuning up for annual festival at Athens’s Technopolis
A total of 18 bands with some serious chops are slated to perform at the 16th Athens Technopolis Jazz Festival in the hip downtown Athenian district of Gazi from May 25 to 29. The event will also feature a series of parallel activities aimed at all ages. Admission to all of the concerts, which start at 9 p.m., is free of charge.
Organizers hope this latest edition will match if not surpass last year’s attendance success, which saw around 30,000 jazz fans flocking to the open-air Technopolis venue for the various concerts and special events that are organized in parallel.
The festival opens on Wednesday, May 25, with performances by two local acts, the municipal Athens Big Band and Momo Trio, which presents original work from its latest vinyl album release. The evening will close with Portugal’s Mario Laginha Trio performing contemporary numbers.
Israel’s Gilad Hekselman and Yotam Silberstein, Hungary’s Veronika Harcsa and Balint Gyemant, Norway’s Marius Neset and the Kratochvil, Ackerman and Zangi Jazz Trio from the Czech Republic will go on stage on Thursday, May 26.
Friday, May 27, the festival’s third day, kicks off with the Ineke / Dimitriadis / Stanik / Guilfoyle Group from the Netherlands, followed by Luxembourg’s Pol Belardi’s Force and Switzerland’s Beat Kaestli and Marc Perrenoud Trio. The Hidden Orchestra, founded by British musician, composer and producer Joe Acheson, is the evening’s final act.
The Military Big Band of Athens will get things under way with some big sound jazz standards on Saturday, May 28, followed by Belgium’s Pierre de Surgeres Trio, Spain’s Nono Garcia and Pablo Novoa and the Naoko Sakata Trio from Sweden.
An appearance by Greece’s TriCoolOre featuring Cypriot trumpet player Pantelis Stoikos will open the festival’s final day on Sunday, May 29. Next on stage is Quadro Nuevo from Germany, while the festival will close with Turkey’s Erkan Ogur and the Telvin Trio.
Technopolis, 100 Pireos, Gazi. For more information, go to www.technopolis-athens.com.
