Behind the seemingly simple and harmonious collaboration of musicians on stage, united in the service of a chamber music work, lie unseen and labyrinthine processes, complex reflections, successive stylistic choices and delicate balances-both internal and external-which make this endeavor one of the greatest, if not the greatest, challenges for a performer. Now in its fourteenth year of artistic presence and contribution to the musical life of Crete and Greece more broadly, the Chamber Music Festival Chania draws inspiration directly from the very essence of music-making itself, as it unfolds whenever artists journey together through rehearsals and performances.
Seen through this lens, this year's Festival program is built around the concept of duality: each concert presents works representing both the "old" (Classicism and Romanticism) and the "new" (the twentieth century), while the relationship between them becomes a dynamic dialogue of contrast, expansion, subversion and complementarity. Through this approach, we aspire to demonstrate how the different facets of musical creation, thought, practice and emotional expression may at times complement one another and at others come into conflict, changing form through time while remaining, at their core, fundamental and enduring elements of the Art of Music.
Particular mention should be made of the conscious decision that every concert this year includes chamber music works requiring a substantial number of performers, ranging from five musicians (quintet) to nine (nonet). This choice stems not from any desire to impress or from a spirit of excessive grandeur, but from a deeply rooted intention to illuminate with greater clarity, intensity and immediacy the ideas underlying each program, while also offering audiences the opportunity to experience remarkable masterpieces that are not often heard in live performance.
Above all, the Festival remains faithful to one of the principles that has guided its activities since its inception: its trust in artists who are connected not only through long-standing artistic collaboration but also through bonds of genuine friendship, and who have, over time, developed a special relationship with the Festival, serving as enduring pillars of its identity. Yet, as every year, the Festival also welcomes a host of new faces-artists of international distinction and radiance-who will leave their own unique mark. Among them are the Italian pianist Enrico Pace and the Turkish violinist Veriko Tchumburidze, winner of the prestigious Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in 2016.
From a repertorial perspective, this year's Festival encompasses an exceptionally broad spectrum of composers, historical periods and aesthetic worlds. The string quintet occupies a central place, with four masterpieces by leading composers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms-featured across four separate evenings. At the same time, the innovations of the twentieth century are prominently represented through performances of imaginative works by Bohuslav Martinů, Francis Poulenc, Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Nikos Skalkottas, Dmitri Shostakovich and Olli Mustonen.
Information:
www.chambermusicfestival.gr
UNDER THE AUSPICES AND WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Ministry of Culture
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Region of Crete
Municipality of Chania
Municipality of Platanias
Municipality of Heraklion
GRAND SPONSOR
EMresorts
SPONSOR
Alpha Bank
Concert Program of the 14th Chania Chamber Music Festival
Monday, 24 August 2026, 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
Concert I
Origins & Transcendence
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
String Trio in G major, Op. 9 No. 1 (1797-1798)
Noe Inui, violin
David Bogorad, viola
Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin, cello
George Enescu (1881-1955)
Octet for Strings in C major, Op. 7 (1900)
Roman Simović, violin
Josef Špaček, violin
Noe Inui, violin
Evangelia Koutsodimou, violin
David Bogorad, viola
Antonis Tzivenis, viola
Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin, cello
Angelos Liakakis, cello
THE FESTIVAL'S OPENING CONCERT WILL BE PRESENTED
AS AN AVANT-PREMIÈRE IN HERAKLION ON SUNDAY, 23 AUGUST 2026,
CO-ORGANIZED AND SUPPORTED BY THE REGION OF CRETE.
(Free admission with entry passes - Reservations start date: TBA)
The restrained and unadorned use of simple musical motifs and only three instruments can, in the hands of a musical "architect" such as Beethoven, create an entire world of astonishing clarity, embodying the purest ideal of Beauty. Approximately a century later, one of the greatest musical talents of all time, the Romanian violinist and composer George Enescu, surrenders himself to the warm sonority of eight string instruments and, through a style of writing that is profoundly Romantic, harmonically adventurous and rich in color, undertakes a personal act of transcendence-reaching toward the metaphysical while remaining earthly and sensual.
Leading string soloists, well known to the audience of the Chamber Music Festival Chania through their many successful appearances in recent years, place their acclaimed artistry at the service of two masterpieces that stand at opposite aesthetic poles.
Wednesday, 26 August 2026, 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
Concert II
Emotion & Lyricism Across Centuries
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
From Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse, S.160
No. 6 - Vallée d'Obermann (1855)
Enrico Pace, piano
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
Piano Trio No. 2 in D minor, H.327 (1950)
Josef Špaček, violin
Angelos Liakakis, cello
Enrico Pace, piano
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 87 (1845)
Josef Špaček, violin
Roman Simović, violin
Milena Simović, viola
David Bogorad, viola
Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin, cello
Although the term "Romanticism" is often associated in our minds with a specific historical period-the nineteenth century-and a particular style of musical writing, the desire of composers to express emotions with intensity and vividness has always been, both before and after the nineteenth century, one of the principal aims of Music, if not its foremost one.
The program of this concert therefore offers a magnificent panorama of different forms of lyricism: the classical, graceful and unexaggerated lyricism of Mendelssohn; the passionate and spiritually ecstatic lyricism of Liszt; and the playful, piquant and extroverted lyricism of the great twentieth-century Czech modernist Bohuslav Martinů. Common to all three works are the emotional power, sincerity and radiance of their musical vision.
Thursday, 27 August 2026, 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
Parallel Event: Lecture
Friday, 28 August 2026, 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
Concert III
Intimacy & Universality
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Sextet for Wind Quintet and Piano (1932-1939)
Athens State Orchestra Wind Quintet
Vangelis Stathoulopoulos, flute
Christina Pantelidou, oboe
Spyros Mourikis, clarinet
Odysseas Bassios, bassoon
Grigoris Assonitis, horn
Alexei Volodin, piano
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quintet in C major, D.956 (1828)
Roman Simović, violin
Noe Inui, violin
Milena Simović, viola
Angelos Liakakis, cello
Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin, cello
The Chamber Music Festival Chania is delighted to welcome the Athens State Orchestra Wind Quintet, an ensemble with a long and distinguished artistic presence in Greek musical life. The ensemble joins forces with internationally acclaimed Russian pianist Alexei Volodin in one of the most beloved works ever written for winds and piano, Francis Poulenc's Sextet.
If Poulenc's Sextet evokes the atmosphere of an intimate conversation among close friends, Schubert's String Quintet, which completes the evening's program, opens a window onto the most spiritual and universal realms accessible to the human mind. One of the supreme masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire, this Quintet remains an endlessly fascinating journey to the very limits of human feeling, into a realm where the perception of time gives way to the immediate and disarming experience of transcendence.
Sunday, 30 August 2026, 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
Concert IV
Contrasts & Convergences
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Contrasts for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Sz.111 (1938)
Spyros Mourikis, clarinet
Veriko Tchumburidze, violin
Enrico Pace, piano
Olli Mustonen (b. 1967)
Nonet No. 2 (2000)
Noe Inui, violin
David Bogorad, violin
Veriko Tchumburidze, violin
Evangelia Koutsodimou, violin
Marc Sabbah, viola
Milena Simović, viola
Angelos Liakakis, cello
Timotheos Gavriilidis-Petrin, cello
Konstantinos Sifakis, double bass
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Clarinet Quintet in B-flat major, Op. 34 (1815)
Spyros Mourikis, clarinet
Veriko Tchumburidze, violin
Evangelia Koutsodimou, violin
Milena Simović, viola
ΝΝ, cello
Three works, three composers, three centuries, three instrumental combinations and three entirely different sonic worlds.
At the dawn of the nineteenth century, standing at the threshold between Classicism and Romanticism, Weber entrusts some of his most beautiful melodies to the clarinet, lovingly supported by the strings. Approximately one hundred and twenty years later, the Hungarian modernist Béla Bartók, drawing inspiration alternately from the folk traditions of his homeland and the Balkans and from American jazz, invites the clarinet and violin into fiery dialogues, with the piano serving as mediator between them.
Then, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the celebrated Finnish composer, conductor and pianist Olli Mustonen, feeling the weight of centuries of musical history upon his shoulders, looks toward the future while freely assimilating influences from the past, inevitably filtered through his own unique artistic voice.
Twelve outstanding performers unite in their shared intention of transforming the experience of these three remarkable works into an unforgettable musical journey for the audience.
Monday, 31 August 2026, 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
Concert V
Tension & Balance
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 (1944)
Veriko Tchumburidze, violin
ΝΝ, cello
Alexei Volodin, piano
Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951)
Sonata-Reminiscenza, Op. 38 No. 1 (1922)
Alexei Volodin, piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
String Quintet in D major, K.614 (1791)
Josef Špaček, violin
Noe Inui, violin
Milena Simović, viola
Marc Sabbah, viola
Angelos Liakakis, cello
Throughout the centuries, art music has been realized as an unending struggle between tension and relaxation, between dissonance and consonance, between the spiritual and the material. Musical beauty is never one-dimensional; rather, it is understood as the achievement of balance between opposing forces.
This balance is attained in the most natural and effortless way in Mozart's music, and the five distinguished musicians performing his Quintet undoubtedly possess all the qualities required to do justice to this perfection of equilibrium. At other times, however, such balance is achieved through more anxious means, through feverish expression and powerful conflict, as in the emotionally charged music of Dmitri Shostakovich or the nostalgically Romantic world of his compatriot Nikolai Medtner. A profound interpreter of both composers, the virtuoso Alexei Volodin returns to the Chamber Music Festival Chania for a second consecutive year.
Thursday, 3 September
& Friday, 4 September 2026, 21:00
Ancient Aptera Theatre
Concerts VI & VII
Tradition & Memory
Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949)
Sonata for Solo Violin (1925)
Giorgos Demertzis, violin
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 (1914)
Veriko Tchumburidze, violin
ΝΝ, cello
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111 (1890)
Veriko Tchumburidze, violin
Josef Špaček, violin
Marc Sabbah, viola
David Bogorad, viola
ΝΝ, cello
THESE CONCERTS AT ANCIENT APTERA FORM PART OF THE FESTIVAL OF CRETE,
CO-ORGANIZED WITH THE REGION OF CRETE
AND THE EPHORATE OF ANTIQUITIES OF CHANIA
Free admission with entry passes
(Free admission with entry passes - Reservations start date: TBA)
The closing concerts of the Chamber Music Festival Chania at the Theatre of Ancient Aptera have, in recent years, become a successful institution and a symbol of the ability of classical music to speak to every person, regardless of place or time.
This year, once again, the Festival welcomes its loyal audience to this historic and idyllic setting, presenting works of exceptional significance and beauty. The indefatigable violinist Giorgos Demertzis, one of the cornerstones not only of the Festival but of Greek musical life as a whole, performs the Sonata for Solo Violin by Nikos Skalkottas, the greatest Greek composer of the twentieth century, whose music was brought to wider public attention to a considerable extent through Demertzis's performances and recordings.
The Festival then promises a dazzling interpretation of Kodály's Duo, while the concert-and, by extension, the entire Festival-concludes with a beloved work by a beloved composer: the magnificent String Quintet No. 2 by the great German Romantic Johannes Brahms.
Avant - Premiere | Heraklion Concert
Origins & Transcendence
Sunday, 23 August 2026 – 21:00
Manos Hadjidakis Garden Theatre, Heraklion
Free admission with entry passes
(Reservations start date: TBA)
Concert I – Origins & Transcendence
Monday, 24 August 2026 – 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
€15 General Admission
€7 Reduced*
Concert II – Emotion & Lyricism Across Centuries
Wednesday, 26 August 2026 – 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
€15 General Admission
€7 Reduced*
Lecture
Thursday, 27 August 2026 – 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
€15 General Admission
€7 Reduced*
Concert III – Intimacy & Universality
Friday, 28 August 2026 – 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
€15 General Admission
€7 Reduced*
Concert IV – Contrasts & Convergences
Sunday, 30 August 2026 – 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
€15 General Admission
€7 Reduced*
Concert V – Tension & Balance
Monday, 31 August 2026 – 21:00
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
€15 General Admission
€7 Reduced*
Concerts VI & VII – Tradition & Memory
Thursday, 3 & Friday, 4 September 2026 – 21:00
Ancient Aptera Theater
Free admission with entry passes
(Reservations start date: TBA)
Festival Pass - Single ticket for 5 concerts & lecture
24 August – 31 August 2026
Minoa Palace Resort Conference Centre
€60 Festival Pass (price for a single ticket)
€40 Reduced Festival Pass (5 concerts & lecture)*
* Reduced tickets are available to:
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