Electra and Berenice

The Cyprus Symphony Orchestra welcomes you to enjoy two dramatic operatic pieces by Mozart and Haydn which were inspired by two personages of antiquity: Electra and Berenice. The roles of the two tragic women are interpreted by the well-known Cypriot soprano Katerina Mina. Inhabiting different worlds, Andreas Moustoukis’s esoteric composition Epitafium and Beethoven’s luminous and energetic Symphony no. 8 in F major, op. 93 will also be performed in the same concert. The orchestra is conducted by the Cypriot conductor Yiorgos Kountouris.

Electra, Princess of Argos sings the recitative and aria “Oh, smania! oh Furie! - D' Oreste, d'Ajace” towards the end of Mozart’s opera Idomeneo. This is a highly dramatic point where Electra, who is in love with Idamantes, son of the King of Crete Idomeneo, is forced to abandon every hope of union with her beloved, since, after Neptune’s command, he is to marry Princess of Troy Ilia. In Haydn’s Scena di Berenice, Berenice, wife of the King of Macedonia Antigonus II Gonatas, who is in love with her husband’s son Demetrius is tormented by conflicting emotions. Both compositions aptly express the agitated psychological state of the two women.

Andreas Moustoukis devoted his work Epitafium (2006) to the memory of Dmitri Shostakovich on the occasion of his 100 th birth anniversary. The composer writes: “Keeping in the innermost part of my heart Lorca’s lines used by Shostakovich in his 14 th Symphony, I ponder on that which defines life and art. ‘A hundred people madly in love, have fallen into eternal dreams, deeply into the arid soil.’ (De profundis, F. G. Lorca, free translation)”.

Beethoven’s 8 th Symphony is a work bursting with vitality and high spirits. According to many musicologists, including Antony Hopkins, in his penultimate symphony, Beethoven presents several musical jokes, such as the parody of the metronome in the 2 nd movement, a recent invention, which rapidly unwinds towards the end of the movement. Beethoven himself considered this symphony much better than his 7 th Symphony. Importantly, Tchaikovsky called the 4 th movement of the symphony, "one of the greatest symphonic masterpieces of Beethoven."

Supporter: Municipality of Paphos
In collaboration with the Οrganization “European Capital of Culture – Pafos 2017”

Paphos: Wednesday 30 April 2014, Markideion Theatre, 20:30
Nicosia: Friday 2 May 2014, Pallas Theatre, Paphos Gate, 20:30

Tickets: €12 and €7 (18-26 years old and pensioners), free entrance for children under 18 years old

Tickets available at the Theatres’ box office.

Paphos: Markideion Theatre (Andrea Geroudi, Paphos, Tel. 26 932571)
Available 3 hours before the concert.

Nicosia: Pallas Theatre, Paphos Gate (Regenis and Arsinoes corner, Nicosia, Tel.: 22 410181)
Available two days before the concert from 4-7pm and on the concert day from 4pm.

Information: 22 463144, www.cyso.org.cy.