The 20th Anniversary of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Iinitiative Gala Ceremony A star-studded gala ceremony will celebrate 20 years of the Rolex mentoring programme with live performances, films and guest appearances from Robert Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Crystal Pite, David Chipperfield, Mira Nair, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Gilberto Gil and others. They will be joined by Greek actor Maria Nafpliotou, the a cappella choir Chores and El Sistema Greece in a moving celebration of the impact and legacy of this unique initiative.
The US-based Bulgarian author Miroslav Penkov, who writes both in Bulgarian and in English, and whose books were praised in the United States but also acclaimed in his homeland, discusses with his Greek translator Akis Papantonis about the problems of fiction writing through borders and languages, and the effort to universalise a local language of symbols and myths.
Rolex mentor Colm Tóibín will discuss with Greek poet Dionysis Kapsalis the ancient Greek tradition and its relevance in modern artistic production.
Rolex fellow Pauchi Sasaki will premiere ARTEMIS: Fountain, a Rolex Arts Festival commission, at the Dancing Fountains, at the Canal of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. The composer-performer will be joined by 30 members of the acclaimed Greek choir CHÓRES in this brief, celebratory outdoor performance, planned as a brief excerpt of her digital opera, in which the illuminated fountains of the Agora will be choreographed to move with the music.