Chania’s 12th Mikis Theodorakis Festival opens Monday with classical and lyrical concert
The 12th Mikis Theodorakis Festival Chania 2026 opens on Monday, August 31, at 20.30 at the Mikis Theodorakis Theatre in Chania’s Venetian harbor, with a concert titled “The Classical & Lyrical Mikis Theodorakis – Connections in His Musical Galaxy,” marking 100+1 years since the composer’s birth, organizers said.
According to organizers, the program traces nearly a century of the composer’s artistic output, focusing on his classical works for piano alongside symphonic themes and lyrical songs that brought his music international recognition. The concert aims to highlight links between Theodorakis’s classical and symphonic work and his settings of poetry, his music for theatre and film, and his operas and ballets.
Program and performers
The concert features vocalist Kostas Triantafyllidis and pianist Tatiana Papageorgiou, a musicologist who worked closely with Theodorakis for two decades and has contributed to the performance, presentation and documentation of his classical, symphonic and lyrical work through world premieres, recordings, orchestrations, publishing and academic research, according to organizers. Violinist Giorgos Panagiotopoulos also takes part.
Papageorgiou is also responsible for the concert’s artistic direction and program design, organizers said, shaping a selection that highlights connections and dialogues running through Theodorakis’s wide-ranging body of work, with emphasis on his classical and lyrical output.
The opening concert follows the previously announced program for the wider festival, which runs from August 31 to September 3, according to organizers. Full details were outlined in the 12th Mikis Theodorakis Festival program.
Chania is also marking the composer’s legacy elsewhere in the city. A separate, free concert is scheduled at the Archaeological Museum on August 31, part of the Mikis Theodorakis tribute concert program running alongside the festival, with further cultural listings available through the Events in Crete hub.
