Among Sirens
This is a very personal recital where we are taken on a journey through Matildes childhood in Greece- Starting on Hydra where her neighbour was Leonard Cohen and Marianne and then Crete and travels to the islands.
Matilde’s mother, Bibi, is a Danish painter who travelled, painted and lived in Greece from the 1960’s.
We will hear repertoire by composers inspired by Greece and excepts from Bibi’ diaries describing her life and travels then, with 2 small children. Includes slides.
Review
The recital held at the Danish Institute in Athens on November 27 th , 2024, was an occasion that will remain in the memory of the many people, both Greek and Danish, who attended it. Danish mezzo soprano Matilde Wallevik, beautifully accompanied on the piano by Michael Brownlee Walker, took us on a journey through her childhood in the 1960s, when, against all conventions, her mother Bibi, a painter, took her two small children to live in Hydra and Crete.
Based on her mother’s diaries and accompanied by the deeply evocative photographs of a passed age, when the ancient law of hospitality still existed in Greece, and the ‘stranger’ was made welcome whatever the circumstances, Matilde Wallevik chose the appropriate music and songs to illustrate each incident in those unforgettable years.
With her beautiful voice, she gave us the arias of Handel and Gluck, and the songs of Ravel, Chausson, Gounod, Poulenc, Elgar, Swann, Nielsen and Weil to tell her story, and to weave a web, focused on the magic of Greece, that left her audience enchanted.
We are grateful to Matilde and Michael and to the Danish Institute for encouraging members of the audience to support the Open Door Centre for children with cerebral palsy, and most of all for taking us on this journey of ‘remembrance of things past’.
Daphne Economou
Founder of Open Door Center, Athens
Matilde takes us on a journey through her childhood in Greece.
Matilde’s mother, Bibi, is a Danish painter who travelled, painted and lived in Greece from the 1960’s.
They first lived on Hydra next to Leonard Cohen and Marianne and later on South Western Crete.
We will hear repertoire by composers inspired by Greece and excepts from Bibi’s diaries describing her life and travels here with 2 small children.
Old black and white pictures from their travels are shown.