The central theme of this year's Christmas concert by the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra for the YMCA was Hope, conveyed through works that offered hope to the listener in various ways.
This Hope reflects the human ability to overcome any difficulty brought by a serious illness, as seen in the cases of Ravel and Smetana, who composed their most famous works, 'Bolero' and 'The Moldau', while facing neurodegenerative disease and complete deafness, respectively. It also highlights the continuous struggle of individuals to stand out and succeed without support due to their background, appearance, income, or social connections, relying solely on their talent. This was exemplified by Saint-Saëns, who, after many disappointments, finally had his worth recognized by the greatest violinist of the time, Pablo de Sarasate, who made his compositions known worldwide.
Hope also encompasses the anticipation and struggle for the liberation of a people from foreign occupation, as depicted in the works 'The Moldau' and 'Finlandia' by Smetana and Sibelius, which fuelled the longing for freedom among the Czechs and Finns, respectively. Finally, Hope is the ability of two peoples to live peacefully and continue to coexist, even after the devastation of a war like World War I. This is illustrated in Ravel's 'La Valse', which extends a hand to the former enemy, having just emerged from the war himself and having lost almost all his friends. Nevertheless, he writes music based on the enemy's trademark, the Austrian waltz, in a touching union of their musical traditions.
The event was introduced by the presidents of the two organizations, Ioannis Sossidis of the YMCA and Stathis Georgiadis of the E.T.O.S./TSSO, while warm greetings were addressed by the Deputy Minister of the Interior (Macedonia-Thrace) Konstantinos Gioulekas and the Mayor of Thessaloniki Stelios Angeloudis.
The TSSO was conducted by Vladimiros Simeonidis, with Simos Papanas, the Director of the TSSO, as the violin soloist. After his explosive performance in the demanding 'Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso' by Saint-Saëns, Papanas offered an encore of three of William Herschel's experimental 24 caprices, written 50 years before Paganini's 24 caprices. He remarked, "if you pay attention, you will find stardust in this music," adding that "hope is intertwined with the gaze towards the sky, and a man who looked at the sky perhaps more than anyone else is Herschel."
It is also worth noting that at yesterday's concert, the TSSO bid farewell to two more distinguished members who are retiring, the double bassist Iraklis Soumelidis and the percussionist Lefteris Aggouridakis. In his farewell speech, the concertmaster of the TSSO, Antonis Sousamoglou, described them as 'Calm force, two different but great artists and characters with nobility of soul and ethos.'
