Dimitris Kamarotos
In co-production with the Athens Conservatoire

Curated by Stavros Gasparatos

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Dimitris Kamarotos
A Time Ratio

Based on Yiorgos Veltsos’s texts Sketch for Electra and Sketch for Phaedra

In A Time Ratio, composer Dimitris Kamarotos proposes a work that unfolds in two spaces and forms, based on Yiorgos Veltsos texts Sketch for Electra and Sketch for Phaedra, respectively. According to the composer, the piece represents the fusion of ceaseless research and an ideal point in time where, for an instant, all that is perceptible converges into sound. The first part of the work features a concert with vocal performer Anna Pangalou, in which a concert piano and a grand percussive instrument are activated through a special oscillated system handled by the composer. Without the aid of any musicians, the system produces the sonic plateaus that engage in dialogue with the vocal line. The second part presents an underground installation operating continuously in the basement sound studios of the Athens Conservatory, which are opening to the public for the first time. The labyrinthine installation combines the recorded voice of Amalia Moutousi with the historical Monster Analogue Synthesizer EMS-SYNTHI 100 of KSYME (Contemporary Music Research Centre).

From his early tenure on the side of Iannis Xenakis as a UPIC system supervisor to his collaborations with an array of contemporary directors, Dimitris Kamarotos delves further into his creative agony, investing music and sound design with dramaturgical force, while his compositional signature moves with admirable fluency from organic and natural expression to the electroacoustic idiom.

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The Subset Festival, the multifaceted music platform launched in 2023, held by the Athens Epidaurus Festival in co-production with the Athens Conservatoire, returns refreshed but always with a focus on the dialogue between contemporary music and new media.

Named after a mathematical term (subset ⊆), Subset Festival weaves together diverse versions of contemporary musical creation, incorporating a wide variety of artistic trends. From June 4 to June 8, the Conservatoire venues will host musical ensembles and soloists, established and up-and-coming alike, both from Greece and around the world, visual and sound installations and performances, as well as open-call workshops.