Greek National Opera – Alternative Stage

Contemporary Music Days – Multiple Presents Festival (October–November 2026)

Sayings and Cracks – A Tribute to György Kurtág
Ρήσεις και ρωγμές – Αφιέρωμα στον György Kurtág

György Kurtág – The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza, op. 7, concerto for soprano and piano
Stylianos Dimou – Where Bornemisza Cracks / Στις Ρωγμές του Bornemisza, ten miniatures for voice, piano and electronics (GNO commission, world premiere)

Fani Antonelou soprano, Giorgos Konstantinou piano

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The centrepiece of the programme is Kurtág’s The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza, op. 7, sung in English. It is a landmark of post-war Hungarian music and is often counted among the most important works written after Bartók. In forty-five minutes of extremely concentrated writing, Kurtág creates a singular concerto for voice and piano. Its twenty-four short movements are grouped into four cycles (Confession, Sin, Death, Spring). Through them, the sayings of the persecuted 16th-century Hungarian preacher become an almost explosive physical and psychological event.

Stylianos Dimou’s new work Where Bornemisza Cracks (Στις Ρωγμές του Bornemisza), commissioned by the GNO, enters into direct dialogue with Kurtág’s cycle. Ten miniatures, moving between acoustic and mixed electroacoustic writing, are placed in the “cracks” between its movements, from an opening to a closing. Five recorded recitations by the soprano introduce the concert and each of the four cycles. The composer synthesized the texts of both the miniatures and the recitations from the Bornemisza sayings that Kurtág sets, as a reflection on them.

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Concert structure

1. Recitation – Bornemisza Péter mondásai…
   Man wrestles with his demons. He writes in shame, sees the rot within him, trembles before death. He sees no way out. His words are old; his unrest is ours. Listen.

2. Crack I – Opening (Dimou)

3. Recitation
   You did not want to write. The harder you pushed the temptations away, the more they grew. Now your words are here — a mirror before you. Look.

4. I. Confession (Kurtág)

5. Crack II (Dimou)

6. Recitation
   Fog between you and the light. Your mind wanders; the rot within you lies quiet — until something stirs it, and it squirms like maggots in carrion. Let the word dig.

7. II. Sin 1–3 (Kurtág)

8. Crack III (Dimou)

9. II. Sin 4–8 (Kurtág)

10. Crack IV (Dimou)

11. II. Sin 9–10 (Kurtág)

12. Crack V (Dimou)

13. Recitation
    You are a flower, a frail flower. Death spreads its net; you writhe, as the soul is torn from the body. Each of us pays the debt. And yet, beyond the iron gate, a garden is in bloom.

14. III. Death 1–3 (Kurtág)

15. Crack VI (Dimou)

16. III. Death 4–5 (Kurtág)

17. Crack VII (Dimou)

18. III. Death 6–7 (Kurtág)

19. Crack VIII (Dimou)

20. III. Death 8–9 (Kurtág)

21. Crack IX (Dimou)

22. Recitation
    After the ashes, the light. Lift your eyes: the stars are smiling at you. Trees put forth leaves again, every creature stirs — and the poor man, frozen all winter long, finds warmth once more.

23. IV. Spring (Kurtág)

24. Crack X – Closing (Dimou)

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