The “ANO” International Organ Festival has completed with unqualified success its third year on the hill of Ano Syros.
From August 19 to August 25, the residents of the island of Syros, along with the visitors inundating the island, were given the opportunity to attend and enjoy five concerts: from the riveting organ recital and the magical synergy of harp and oboe to the controversial improvisations on popular film music scores, those concerts may be characterized only as unique and unsurpassed. The side-by-side event in the courtyard of the “Panagia tis Elpidas” Retreat of the Daughters of St. Vincent in Hermoupolis, where silent films met again with the cinema organ, proved equally fascinating.
This year’s festival featured the successfully implemented invitations of superb artists from countries with a timeless tradition in organ music (Austria, Poland, Switzerland), and interpretations rendered by prominent Greek artists. The festival’s innovative initiatives and its synergies, along with its broad outreach, have indisputably made the festival a pole of attraction for a creative and diversity-oriented public.
An important piece of data from the survey that took place for the second year in a row within the framework of the festival, reveals that visitor traffic to the medieval settlement of Ano Syros during the days the festival took place more than doubled (132%). Moreover, in comparison to the ANO International Organ Festival 2018, visitors increased by nearly 26%.
Our Audience Satisfaction Survey now continues online:
Audience Satisfaction Survey 2019
The Ano International Organ Festival would like to thank all who contributed to the resounding success of its 2019 events. It also promises –in the near future- to take the cultural experience it offers its public to greater heights. Two of the main scheduled projects towards that direction are the immediate and full restoration of the organ’s functions; and the installation of AC units within St. George’s Cathedral. Both projects will be funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.