Celebrated Maria Farandouri sings 'A Night of Greek Song' -- tonight

Guest artist Maria Farandouri, Greece's internationally celebrated singer, presents "A Night of Greek Song" tonight, Nov. 7, at 8 in the Barnes Hall Auditorium. The concert, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Institute for European Studies, the Einaudi Center for International Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Society for the Humanities, Cornell Council for the Arts, Office of the President, College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Music, the Ministry of Culture (Greece) and Olympic Airways.

Farandouri's voice has been called "a gift from the Gods of Olympus" (The Guardian, London). The late president of the French Republic, François Mitterand, wrote: "For me, Greece is Maria Farandouri. This is how I imagined the Goddess Hera to be: strong, pure and vigilant. I have never encountered any other artist able to give me such a strong sense of the divine."

Farandouri has been an unofficial Greek ambassador in the service of peace and international human rights, performing at the Holocaust Museum in Washington and at the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp of Mauthausen, as well appearing with Turkey's leading singer/songwriter Zulfu Livanelli. A legend in Greek music with a rich contralto voice and compelling stage presence, Farandouri also is an international star in her own right, having performed and recorded with such luminaries as Zubin Mehta, Mercedes Sosa, the Berliner Ensemble and guitarist John Williams.

Farandouri began her career interpreting the songs of Greece's leading composer, Mikis Theodorakis (Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2000, internationally famous for his film scores for Zorba the Greek, Serpico and Z). She became his leading singer, and many of his songs were written for her deep, thrilling voice. Since the 1990s Farandouri has performed and recorded with an outstanding group of classically trained musicians from Germany, the Berliner Instrumentalisten.

Farandouri and her musicians (Henning Schmiedt, Volker Schlott, Jens Naumilkat and Christos Tsiamoulis) are visiting the United States with the generous assistance of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Olympic Airlines. In addition to songs of Theodorakis and Hadjidakis, Farandouri and her ensemble will present an extensive new repertoire of songs from a Byzantine chant to folk songs, and from rebetika to the work of younger Greek songwriters like Lena Platanos and Nikos Papazoglou.