The sound of partnership – Review in “Documento” Newspaper (English translation)
Documento, Sunday 7 September 2025, p. v.14. Also published here online.
by ANTONIS BOSKOITIS
We travelled to the Messenian capital for the 9th International Kalamata Music Days.
Lyana Ulikhanyan and Apostolia Anastasiou / Photo by Stylianos Papardelas
During the final three days of August, we were in Kalamata attending the events of the 9th International Kalamata Music Days —a music festival which has now firmly established its presence, hosting distinguished artists from abroad. A telling sign of its reputation is that, despite the festival’s poster campaign being launched later than usual this year, every scheduled concert was packed. These were concerts rooted in classical music and jazz —genres far from mainstream— which makes the turnout all the more impressive. Even so, musician and co-artistic director Dimitrios Lampos questions the description “firmly established”: “By calling it ‘firmly established’, one would expect more state support in the form of funding. Unfortunately, over the past three years our resources have been cut more and more—something I have pointed out many times.” He adds that for the edition of 2017, the festival’s inaugural year, its funding has depended on local sponsors.
According to Stathis Giftakis, the organisers initially sought alternative solutions —such as Erasmus programmes— to cover travel and accommodation costs for visiting musicians. The term “international” is not an exaggeration; it reflects a spirit of cultural exchange.
How the Journey Began
Alongside Giftakis and Lampos, the artistic direction is shared by Indira Rahmatulla, who has roots from Uzbekistan. Giftakis, who served as director of the Kalamata Conservatory from 2003 to 2009 and again from 2015, always dreamed of organising a festival. “I wanted something to happen in the city during the summer, but I had no-one to support such an endeavour,” Giftakis recalls —until 2016, when Lampos, then studying cello in Germany, approached him with the proposal to invite Rahmatulla for a cello masterclass.
That first masterclass as well as a concert by Rahmatulla which was organised in collaboration with the Kalamata Dance Festival, paved the way for the creation of the International Kalamata Music Days in 2017. That first edition, which included also masterclasses for violin and piano, helped the festival take firmer root. The organisers’ international networks proved crucial.
Their work is made easier by the absence of agents or intermediaries; instead, everything is arranged through personal connections with musicians abroad. Every February, they announce the masterclasses scheduled for August —not only locally, but internationally, through platforms such as Musical Chairs, which lists masterclasses worldwide. For the event titled “Final Cello Concert”, held at the Kalamata Dance Megaron and which we attended ourselves, and this year’s violoncello masterclass the renowned French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras selected only six participants out of forty-two young musicians who had submitted video auditions. These cellists, representing several countries, travelled to Kalamata to perform works by Mendelssohn, Rossini, Prokofiev, and others, accompanied by pianist Apostolia Anastasiou.
Hugo Rannou and Emil Kuyumcuyan / Photo by Stylianos Papardelas
The youngest performer was 13-year-old Lyana Ulikhanyan, who also presented a composition by her father —the acclaimed 44-year-old composer Martin Ulikhanyan, who was in attendance. On Saturday 30 August, the programme featured a superb concert within the Ecclesiasterion of the ancient theatre of Messene, one of Greece’s most beautiful and meticulously maintained archaeological sites.
The main performers, Queyras on cello and mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska —who had expressed her own interest in joining the festival— presented works by Bach, Saariaho, Ravel, and Villa-Lobos. Particularly noteworthy were the musical setting of an ancient Chinese poem by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023), performed by Queyras and Nikolovska, and the celebrated aria from Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, sung by Nikolovska in a riveting performance, accompanied by an ensemble of cellos played by Queyras and his students from the previous day’s concert.
Breaking the Barrier
The International Kalamata Music Days run for only two weeks each year. “We couldn’t manage more events,” Giftakis explains, “as Dimitrios is based in Stuttgart and Indira in Lausanne.” The organisers also prefer the programme to be concentrated rather than dispersed sporadically throughout the year.
The third concert we attended —held on the alternative stage of the Kalamata Dance Megaron— was perhaps the festival’s most delightful offering. It broke the perceived barrier of classical music by embracing influences from popular culture. Two exceptional musicians, Hugo Rannou on the cello and Emil Kuyumcuyan at the drum set and marimba, performed a Bach suite interwoven with imaginative arrangements of songs by Jacques Brel and Édith Piaf, as well as surreal spoken-word passages. A rather shorter concert, the event radiated humour and creative exuberance —qualities rarely found in traditional classical concerts.
When asked why an artist would choose to found a festival, Giftakis reflected on events in 2003, when the artistic directorship of the Kalamata Conservatory became vacant. He was at the Patmos Sacred Music Festival when the composer Theodore Antoniou encouraged him to accept the role, suggesting it would allow him to shape the life he envisioned. “That,” Giftakis says, “is my answer to why we created this festival. And I can honestly say that I am happy with the life I lead now. There is stress for 350 days of the year —and genuine happiness during the fifteen days of the festival.”
Jonian Ilias Kadesha and Jean-Guihen Queyras / Photo by Stylianos Papardelas
