This week’s artistic events brighten our reality, and take us to a world where art prevails!

Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg at the Athens Concert Hall (8th & 9th December – at 20:30)! Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra under the musical direction of Valery Gergiev will perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no.5 and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin, op.35. The renowned soloist Leonidas Kavakos will accompany the orchestra.

“The love bacillus” at the Olympia Theatre!
The famous operetta composed by Costas Yannides, leading composer of the inter-war period in Greece, is presented on December 7th and 9th (at 19:00) at the Greek National Opera (Olympia Theater). Let yourself be captivated by the passionate jazz music and the intense cosmopolitan atmosphere of this exciting play!

Punctual on its annual date, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the most important film event of the year starts with fresh movies, special tribute screenings and the usual competition section. For ten whole days (3-12 December) the lucky audience will have the unique chance to enjoy new remarkable releases, not yet been shown in Greece, directed by distinguished movie-makers from all over the world.

The city of Thessaloniki holds this week two exhibitions that will fascinate the art enthusiasts! The Telóglion Foundation of Art holds an exhibition dedicated to Toulouse Lautrec, the bohemian artist of the Moulin Rouge. His works depict in the most exciting way the atmosphere of the turn of the century, the so-called “beautiful era” in Paris.

You will also have the chance to admire the photography exhibition of the Polish photographer Tomasz Moscicki at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki. The wonderful “painting-like” pictures reflect the mystical, sacred atmosphere of Mount Athos.