Nicosia International Festival 2023 gets underway

Nicosia International Festival 2023, dubbed as Nicosia's driving force in the race for European Capital of Culture 2030, raises its curtain on 26 September at the Municipal Theater of Nicosia.

The Municipality of Nicosia said the fourth edition of the festival is a three month-long celebration of performing arts, beginning with the musical performance "ENA ENA" by Thanasis Deligiannis, an unusual feast with retsina, plastic chairs and electronic music.

It is added that shortly before the artists and spectators for "ENA ENA" take their place on the stage of the Nicosia Municipal Theatre, they will have the opportunity to applaud, in the piazza in front of the Nicosia Municipal Theatre, the group of musicians who were recently bestowed the Guinness World Record for "the most musicians playing on the same piano at the same time". They are Stavros Kyriakides, Kyriakides Piano Gallery and the Avantgarde Cultural Organisation, together with a company of 25 musicians.

"ENA ENA", an imaginary Greek rural nightclub from the past

After Athens, Utrecht, Amsterdam and The Hague, the musical performance by Thanasis Deligiannis comes to Cyprus. A band, a singer, a waiter, and a security camera give life to the world of performance, interacting with each other and the audience. The music is an amalgam of the Greek 70s to 90s culture of “klarina”, blended with improvised parts, electronic music, and field recordings.

Guinness World record

The record was successfully broken in Nicosia on July 5th 2023 with a composition by the Cypriot composer Nicolas Constantinou. The 25 musicians that participated in the team of pianists are Elena Christou, Avraam Kontos, Chrysos Hadjikou, Anni Trillidou Santi, Andronikos Drousiotis, Despo Karantoni, Elina Antoniou, Anna Forari, Antigoni Komodromou, Konstantinos Aspris, Romy Kieslinger, Christos Lymberopoulos, Christiana Kounni, Matin Bassami, Euridiki Nikolaou, Maria Matthaiou, Rodoula Panagidou, Kykos Panagiotou, Kyriaki Steliou, Vasoria Vanezou, Kristi Paul Symeonidou, Anthi Papafilippou, Andreas Michalopoulos, Leoni Hatjithoma and Borislav Alexandrov.