Organist Ourania Gassiou will perform a major midday recital at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall on Sunday, November 15, celebrating the venue's monumental pipe organ.
The concert begins at 12:00 in the Christos Lambrakis Hall, where Gassiou serves as resident organist and instrument curator. Her performance is dedicated to showcasing one of the most powerful and versatile instruments ever built, through a selection of classical and modern masterworks.
The centerpiece of the event is the hall's commanding pipe organ, an acoustic giant featuring 6,080 pipes and four separate keyboards. While the pipe organ is often associated primarily with church services and sacred ceremonies, the Athens instrument possesses an enormous palette of tone colors and dynamic range. It can whisper softly, resonate like a stone cathedral, sing with the clarity of a human voice, or roar with the fullness of an entire symphony orchestra.
The lineage of the pipe organ stretches back more than two millennia to Greek antiquity and the hydraulis. Invented in the third century BC by the engineer Ctesibius of Alexandria, the hydraulis used water pressure to regulate airflow and served as the direct ancestor of modern keyboard instruments. Today, the Megaron Athens Concert Hall stands as Greece's premier cultural complex, and its Christos Lambrakis Hall houses the largest pipe organ in the country.
Concert programme and featured composers
The midday programme opens with the Passacaglia and Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, widely recognized as one of the cornerstone masterworks of Baroque organ literature. Gassiou will follow with Le monde dans l'attente du Sauveur from the Symphonie Passion, Opus 23, by French organist and composer Marcel Dupre. The French master originally conceived the movement as an improvisation, crafting a work of intense dramatic tension and lush tonal color.
The performance continues with George Frideric Handel's Organ Concerto, Opus 4 Number 4, presented in an arrangement by German musicologist Hermann Keller. To conclude the recital, Gassiou will play the celebrated Chaconne in D minor from Bach's Second Violin Partita, BWV 1004. The French organist Henri Messerer transcribed this monumental violin work for the organ, recasting its intricate polyphonic architecture into a completely different acoustic realm.
Tickets and booking details
According to organizers, the recital is designed to reveal the fascinating sonic universe of the pipe organ to audiences of all ages, offering an unforgettable listening experience for both seasoned concertgoers and younger listeners.
Advance ticket sales have already begun for the November 15 performance. Ticket prices start at 6 euros for discounted concession holders, with general admission tiers set at 8 euros, 12 euros, 15 euros, 18 euros, 22 euros, and 25 euros.
Prospective attendees can find additional event information and view the official promotional trailer on the Megaron website. Telephone enquiries and box office reservations are available by calling 210 72 82 333.
