Cyprus TODAY Volume L, No 3, July-September 2012 Contents EDITORIAL ....................................................................4 Kypria International Festival 2012 ...................................6 Mapping Cyprus: Crusaders, Traders and Explorers ......14 Maniera Cypria ...............................................................19 4th Cypriot Film Directors Festival .................................22 4th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival ..28 16th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama .......36 Cyprus Medical Museum ...............................................41 Pafos Aphrodite Festival 2012 ........................................44 Terra Mediterranea-In Crisis ...........................................48 Cypriot Armenian Artists Exhibition .............................52 United States of Europe .................................................56 Bokoros “Odos Eleftherias” ............................................63 The World Youth Choir in Cyprus ..................................65 Volume L, No 3, July-September 2012 A quarterly cultural review of the Ministry of Education and Editorial Supervision: Culture published and distributed by the Press and Information Miltos Miltiadou (PΙΟ) Offi ce (PIO), Ministry of Interior, Nicosia, Cyprus. E-mail: [email protected] Address: Editorial Assistance: Ministry of Education and Culture Maria Georgiou (PΙΟ) Kimonos & Thoukydides Corner, 1434 Nicosia, Cyprus E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.moec.gov.cy David A. Porter E-mail: [email protected] Press and Information Offi ce Apellis Street, 1456 Nicosia, Cyprus Design: GNORA COMMUNICATION CONSULTANTS Website: http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio Printed by: Konos Ltd EDITORIAL BOARD Front cover: General view of the exhibition Maniera Cypria: Lemesos, Fabula, Historia, Memoria Chairperson: th Pavlos Paraskevas, Director of Cultural Services, Back cover: A scene from Electra & Orestes at the 16 Ministry of Education and Culture International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama Chief Editor: Jacqueline Agathocleous [email protected] GNORA COMMUNICATION CONSULTANTS PIO 416/2012 – 10000 (website: www.gnora.com) ISSN (print) 0045-9429 Tel: +357 22441922 Fax: +357 22519743 ISSN (online) 1986-2547 Subscription Note: For free subscriptions please contact: [email protected]. Cyprus Today is also available in electronic form and can be sent to you if you provide your e-mail. 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The magazine can also be found on the Press and Information Offi ce website at www.moi.gov.cy/pio. 3 Editorial he Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2012 features strongly Tin this issue of Cyprus Today, starting off with the KYPRIA 2012 International Festival, which pre- sented music, theatre and dance events of considerable renown throughout the island. The Festival started off with a concert, Towards a Europe of Peace, by the Cyprus Youth Symphony. The easternmost member of the EU, Cyprus, has always been strategically important to foreign powers wishing to infl uence or control the Eastern Mediterranean. The exhibition Mapping Cyprus: 1191-2012 Crusaders, Traders and Explorers, held at the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, examined a long period in the turbulent history of the island. Lovers of antiquities will enjoy reading about the Maniera Cypria exhibition in Limassol, which presented archaeological fi ndings unearthed in the district and its vicinity displayed side by side in a fascinating dis- course with contemporary art at the Evagoras Lanitis Centre. This issue also takes a look at the 4th Cypriot Film Directors Festival, which presented works by seven acclaimed fi lm directors. For the fi rst time ever, the screenings took place “under the stars” at the Constantia Open Air Cinema. The 4th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival was dedicated to the promotion of new music, both the established masterpieces of the contemporary music literature of the 20th century and a great number of premieres by leading young composers from all over the world who were commissioned by the Pharos Arts Foundation to write new works especially for the Festival. In July, theatre lovers from around the world attended the 16th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama 2012. The Festival opened with a production of Agamemnon’s Children by the Hessian State Thea- tre of Wiesbaden, Germany, while other works included Electra and Orestes, The Trial; The Eumenides, and Antigone. Also taking pride of place in this issue is the Cyprus Medical Museum, a venture which few people took seriously some 25 years ago when the Committee of the Limassol Medical Association announced its decision to collect and exhibit antique medical equipment. Thanks to a number of valuable donations from doctors and their families, photographs of which are included in this issue, the museum is now a reality, bringing an enormous collection of valuable medical artefacts to the people of Cyprus and to visitors to the island with an interest in medicine. The 14th Pafos Aphrodite Festival raised its curtain this year on the Slovak National Theatre’s perform- ance of Verdi’s Otello, at the Medieval Castle of Pafos in Pafos Harbour. The adaptation of William Shake- speare’s tragedy was set at the Castle of Famagusta in the 15th century, with Otello serving as the recently appointed governor of Cyprus. Also featured in this issue is the contemporary art program Terra Mediterranea–In Crisis, which included a second contemporary art exhibition, [at Maroudia’s], curated by the Re Aphrodite team at the Ethnological Museum–House of Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios. The Armenian Representative, Vartkes Mahdessian, organised a unique exhibition within the framework of the Cyprus Presidency featuring works by nine Armenian painters and six Armenian photographers. The Painting and Photography Exhibition by Cypriot Armenian Artists is also featured in this issue. Do you feel European? Does Mr O’Keeffe in Ireland feel more or less European than Mrs Stylianou in Cyprus? And if so, why? The United States of Europe (U.S.E) project, presented outdoors at Pharos Arts Foundation, offered various refl ections on such questions. In another exhibition related to borders, painter Christos Bokoros attempted direct conversation with spaces, buildings and roads which are adjacent to or which lead to the Green Line in Nicosia with a series of paintings titled “Odos Eleftherias”. Finally, for the fi rst time ever in Cyprus, we got the chance to enjoy concerts by the World Youth Choir. The choir performed three a cappella concerts, in Pedoulas, in Pafos and in Ayia Napa. 4 5 Kypria International Festival 2012 ight from its inception in 1993, the Kypria RInternational Festival has provided Cypriots and visitors alike with a variety of cultural events of the highest possible standard. Launched in a pe- riod characterised by a drought of important cultural events, the Kypria International Festival became the catalyst for the creation of an unprecedented cultural movement. The Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture continually seek to improve and upgrade the Festival, not only the character of the programme’s events but also the conception and future course of the Festival. 20 Years of History Throughout its twenty-year history, the Festival has presented acclaimed Cypriot and foreign artists from various disciplines to its audience. The selection committee strives to the greatest possible extent to William Shakespeare: Pericles make the work of Cypriot artists and groups elemen- tal to the Festival while still maintaining its interna- Celebrated Music Ensembles tional character. The Kypria International Festival has also host- Over the past two decades, the Kypria International ed a number of internationally renowned music Festival has hosted an array of distinguished artists ensembles, including the English National Sym- and ensembles from the fi elds of cinema, dance, phony Orchestra, the Madrigalisti di Venezia, music, theatre and the visual arts. The Festival has the European Union Baroque Orchestra, the Phi- welcomed esteemed international dance companies larmonic Chamber Orchestra of Salzburg, the to its stages, including the Rhine Ballet, the National Popular Orchestra of Mikis Theodorakis and the Ballet of Cuba, Omada Edafous by Demetris Pa- State Orchestra of Greek Music, conducted dur- paioannou and the Batsheva Dance Company. ing its Kypria Festival appearance by Dionysis Savvopoulos. Theatre Performances by Prominent Directors Theatre performances by prominent directors Programme featuring distinguished actors and theatre groups In 2012 the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Ed- of worldwide renown have always been at the ucation and Culture maintained the Festival’s high forefront of the Festival, including the Nation- standards by creating the following programme: al