REPERTORY

GUIDO D’AREZZO (991 – 1033)

Ut Queant Laxis

Since 2016, Yiorgos Kaloudis has been collecting and selecting Early Music repertoire, transcribing and arranging scores for solo Classical Cretan Lyra. LA RÊVEUSE – Early Music on the Classical Cretan Lyra was recorded at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, Santorini, in May 2021.

Guido d’Arezzo was an Italian music theorist and pedagogue of High Medieval music. A Benedictine monk, he is regarded as the inventor—or, by some, the developer—of modern staff notation, which profoundly influenced Western musical notation and practice. Perhaps the most significant European writer on music between Boethius and Johannes Tinctoris, Guido’s Micrologus was the most widely distributed medieval treatise on music after Boethius’ De institutione musica.

He developed new techniques for teaching music, including staff notation and the use of the “ut–re–mi–fa–sol–la” mnemonic system (now known as solfège: do–re–mi–fa–sol–la). These syllables come from the first syllables of successive lines of the hymn Ut queant laxis, a Latin chant in honor of Saint John the Baptist. The text is traditionally attributed to the Italian monk and scholar Paulus Diaconus.

Later developments include Giovanni Battista Doni renaming “Ut” as “Do,” and the addition of a seventh note, “Si,” derived from the initials of Sancte Iohannes (Saint John). In English-speaking countries, “Si” was changed to “Ti” by Sarah Glover in the 19th century so that every syllable would begin with a different letter, facilitating the tonic sol-fa system.

The hymn Ut queant laxis is part of the Gregorian chant tradition and is historically significant for its role in solmization and the development of musical pedagogy. A variant of the melody also appears in an 11th-century musical setting of Horace’s Ode to Phyllis, preserved in a French manuscript.

The hymn have been presented at Athens’ Megaron Hall (2021), Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg (2023), the Diaghilev Festival (2023), Oslo Concert Hall (2023), and Dom Radio (2025).

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN (1098 – 1179)

Kyrie Eleison
O Virtus Sapientiae
(a cappella arrangement by Cheryl Lynn Helm, 1957.

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged these compositions for classical Cretan lyra for the Diaghilev Festival 2023 in Perm.

Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and medical practitioner during the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony and the most recorded composer of her era. Hildegard has been regarded by scholars as the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

Her convent elected her magistra (mother superior) in 1136. She founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. Hildegard wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal works, letters, hymns, and antiphons for the liturgy. She also authored poems and supervised the miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. More of her chants survive than those of any other composer from the entire Middle Ages, and she is one of the few known composers to have written both music and text. One of her works, Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play. She is also noted for creating a constructed language, known as Lingua Ignota.

Although her formal canonization was complex, regional calendars of the Roman Catholic Church have listed her as a saint for centuries. On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended her liturgical cult to the entire Catholic Church through "equivalent canonization," and on 7 October 2012, he named her a Doctor of the Church in recognition of her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching.

ANONYMOUS (ENGLAND, 1225)

Mirie it is while sumer ilast

Since 2016, Yiorgos Kaloudis has been collecting and selecting Early Music repertoire, transcribing and arranging scores for solo Classical Cretan Lyra. These works were recorded as part of La Rêveuse – Early Music on the Classical Cretan Lyra, at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, Santorini, in May 2021.

Mirie it is while sumer ilast is a Middle English song from the first half of the 13th century. It expresses the longing for summer as the cold season approaches and stands as one of the oldest known songs in the English language, as well as one of the few examples of non-liturgical music from medieval England.

The manuscript was discovered alongside two old French songs in a Book of Psalms at the Bodleian Library. Rediscovered at the end of the 19th century, it was made accessible to scholars in 1901 and arranged in modern form for the first time by Frank Llewellyn Harrison.

The text and melody survive only on a single, damaged manuscript page. The somewhat ambiguous notation makes full reconstruction challenging, and it is unclear whether the song originally contained additional lines or stanzas, or what the final word might have been. The author is unknown, though the manuscript’s context suggests a lay chorister may have copied it, and the inclusion with French love songs hints at a possible connection to the French chanson tradition.

The song have been presented at Athens’ Megaron Hall (2021), Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg (2023), the Diaghilev Festival (2023), Oslo Concert Hall (2023), and Dom Radio (2025).

GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT (1300 – 1377)

Jugement du roy de Navarre: Très douce dame que j’aour

Je vivroie liement

Douce Dame Jolie

Le Remède de Fortune

Since 2016, Yiorgos Kaloudis has been collecting and curating Early Music repertoire, transcribing and arranging scores for solo Classical Cretan Lyra. These works by Guillaume de Machaut were recorded as part of the album La Rêveuse – Early Music on the Classical Cretan Lyra, at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, Santorini, in May 2021.

They have been presented at Athens’ Megaron Hall (2021), Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg (2023), the Diaghilev Festival (2023), Oslo Concert Hall (2023), and Dom Radio (2025).

Je ne cuit pas

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged this work for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices, performed with the musicAeterna4 vocal ensemble at the Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg and at the Diaghilev Festival 2023.

ANONYMOUS (France, 16th century)

Tourdion

The tourdion (from the French tordre, “to twist”) is a lively Renaissance dance, similar in nature to the galliard, popular from the mid-15th to the late-16th centuries—first in the Burgundian court and later throughout the French kingdom. Often paired with the slower basse danse for contrast, it was also danced alongside the pavane and galliard, or the allemande and courante.

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged this work for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices, performed with the musicAeterna4 vocal ensemble at the Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg and at the Diaghilev Festival 2023.

CLAUDIN DE SERMISY (1490 – 1562)

Tant que vivray

Claudin de Sermisy was a French composer of the Renaissance. Along with Clément Janequin, he was one of the most renowned composers of French chansons in the early 16th century, and also a significant composer of sacred music. His work was both influential on, and influenced by, contemporary Italian styles, blending graceful melodic writing with refined clarity.

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged this chanson for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices, performed with the musicAeterna4 vocal ensemble at the Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg and at the Diaghilev Festival 2023.

THOMAS TALLIS (1505 – 1585)
If Ye Love Me

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged this Tudor motet for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices, performed with the musicAeterna4 vocal ensemble at the Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg and at the Diaghilev Festival 2023.

If Ye Love Me is a four-part motet or anthem setting of a passage from the Gospel of John, first published in 1565 during the reign of Elizabeth I. It stands as a hallmark of early Anglican church music, noted for its clarity of text setting and graceful counterpoint. Frequently performed today, it has featured in notable events such as papal visits and royal weddings.

Thomas Tallis—also spelled Tallys or Talles—was one of the foremost English composers of the High Renaissance, renowned for his vocal works and for shaping the sound of English sacred music.

THOINOT ARBEAU (1520 – 1595)
Pavane à quatre parties

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged this Renaissance dance for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices, performed with the musicAeterna4 vocal ensemble at the Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg and at the Diaghilev Festival 2023.

Thoinot Arbeau was the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot. He is best known for Orchésographie, his influential study of late sixteenth-century French social dance. Born in Dijon and later serving as a canon in Langres, Tabourot documented not only dance steps but also their musical accompaniments, offering an invaluable record of Renaissance courtly culture.

ORLANDO DI LASSO (1532 – 1594)

Célébrons sans cesse (Canon for unaccompanied voices)

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged this late Renaissance canon for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices. The work was performed with the musicAeterna4 vocal ensemble at the Dom Radio in Saint Petersburg and at the Diaghilev Festival 2023.

JEAN CHARDEVOINE (1538 – c. 1580)

Une jeune fillette

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged this Renaissance chanson for voice and Classical Cretan Lyra.

Jehan Chardavoine, baptized on 2 February 1538 in Beaufort-en-Vallée, Anjou, was a French Renaissance composer active primarily in Paris. Renowned as one of the earliest known editors of popular chansons, he preserved a vital part of France’s musical heritage. Musicologist Julien Tiersot credited him with “the only volume of monodic songs from the 16th century that has survived to our days,” ensuring that melodies like Une jeune fillette could continue to resonate across the centuries.

JOHN DOWLAND (1563 – 1626)

Come Again, Sweet Love
Can She Excuse My Wrongs
Lachrimae Antiquae, or Seven Tears

John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer, renowned for the expressive melancholy of his songs. His works include enduring masterpieces such as Come, Heavy Sleep, Flow My Tears, I Saw My Lady Weep, Now, O Now I Needs Must Part, and In Darkness Let Me Dwell. While his vocal works secured his fame, Dowland’s instrumental compositions have also enjoyed a major revival in the modern era, becoming staples for lutenists and classical guitarists during the 20th-century early music movement.

For the Diaghilev Festival 2023 in Perm, composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged Dowland’s music for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices, bringing the lyricism and poignancy of these Renaissance works into a distinctive timbral world.

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567 – 1643)

Lamento della Ninfa (SV 163)

Arranged for voice and Classical Cretan Lyra by Yiorgos Kaloudis, this version was created for the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Irini Tsirakidis and premiered during the launch concert of his album La Rêveuse: Early Music on the Classical Cretan Lyra in December 2021 at the Megaron Hall, Athens.

BARBARA STROZZI (1619 – 1677)

Che si può fare

Arranged for voice and Classical Cretan Lyra by Yiorgos Kaloudis, this version was created especially for the celebrated mezzo-soprano Irini Tsirakidis and premiered at the launch concert of his album La Rêveuse: Early Music on the Classical Cretan Lyra in December 2021 at the Megaron Hall, Athens.

Barbara Strozzi, also known as Barbara Valle, was an Italian composer and singer of the Baroque period. Baptised on 6 August 1619, she became one of the most prolific composers of secular vocal music of her time, publishing eight volumes of her own works—more than any of her contemporaries—without Church sponsorship or sustained noble patronage. Her music is renowned for its expressive power, refined text setting, and bold emotional contrasts.

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687)
Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs
Arranged for solo Classical Cretan Lyra by Yiorgos Kaloudis

Jean-Baptiste Lully, an Italian-born composer who became a naturalized French citizen in 1661, was the undisputed master of the French Baroque. As composer, violinist, guitarist, dancer, and court musician to Louis XIV, he shaped the musical language of the French court with a style marked by grandeur, clarity, and theatrical brilliance. Closely associated with playwright Molière, Lully created numerous comédie-ballets, including L'Amour médecin, George Dandin, Psyché, and the enduring Le Bourgeois gentilhomme.

Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs, originally part of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, is one of Lully’s most recognizable works—a stately and playful march evoking the fascination with “Turquerie” in 17th-century France. Yiorgos Kaloudis brings this courtly pageant into a new sound world, arranging it for solo Classical Cretan Lyra.

Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (1640–1700)

Les Pleurs (Tombeau les Regrets)

Jean de Sainte-Colombe was a celebrated master of the viola da gamba, credited (according to Jean Rousseau’s Traité de la viole, 1687) with adding the instrument’s seventh string, tuned to a low A (A₁). His deeply expressive music is marked by a rare blend of technical innovation and profound emotional depth.

Although his life remains largely mysterious, Sainte-Colombe’s music was rediscovered only in 1966, when a manuscript of his 67 Concerts à deux violes esgales was found in the library of pianist Alfred Cortot. His works – and his legendary relationship with his student Marin Marais – gained wider fame through the film Tous les matins du monde (1991), which introduced many listeners to the glories of the viola da gamba.

Les Pleurs (Tombeau les Regrets) is a lament of exceptional intensity, exemplifying Sainte-Colombe’s lyrical and rhetorical mastery.

Since 2016, Yiorgos Kaloudis has been collecting and arranging Early Music repertoire for solo Classical Cretan Lyra, bringing a new tonal palette to these baroque treasures.

LA RÊVEUSE – Early Music on the Classical Cretan Lyra
Recorded at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, Santorini (Catholic Diocese of Thira, Santorini) – May 2021.

Marin Marais (1656–1728)

Musette
L’Arabesque
La Rêveuse
Le Badinage
(Pièces de violes, Book IV, 1717)

L’Agréable (Rondeau)
(Pièces de violes, Book V, 1725)

Les folies d’Espagne – 32 Variations for viola da gamba and basso continuo (1701)

Composer Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged these works of Marin Marais for solo Classical Cretan Lyra, opening a new sound world for the delicate poetry and ornamentation of the French baroque.

Marin Marais, a celebrated viol player and composer, studied with Jean-Baptiste Lully and Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, and from 1679 served as ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole at the court of Versailles. His refined writing for viola da gamba remains a cornerstone of the instrument’s repertoire.

Since 2016, Kaloudis has been selecting and transcribing Early Music for solo Classical Cretan Lyra, expanding its repertoire beyond its traditional roots.

LA RÊVEUSE – Early Music on the Classical Cretan Lyra
Recorded at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, Santorini (Catholic Diocese of Thira, Santorini) in May 2021.

Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
The Indian Queen (Z. 630)
(The whole basso continuo, themes, and improvisations for Classical Cretan Lyra
Arranged and performed by Yiorgos Kaloudis)

In 2023, Yiorgos Kaloudis was invited by Theodor Currentzis to join the production of Henry Purcell’s The Indian Queen at the Salzburg Festival, with the UTOPIA Orchestra and Choir, directed by Peter Sellars.

Thanks to the vision of Theodor Currentzis, the Classical Cretan Lyra became part of the basso continuo in a Purcell opera for the first time in the history of Early Music, with Yiorgos Kaloudis contributing extensive original improvisations.

Purcell’s The Indian Queen is a semi-opera based on a 1664 play by John Dryden and Sir Robert Howard. First performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1695, the work was left incomplete at Purcell’s death, with music surviving only for the Prologue and Acts II–III. The final masque (Act V) was completed by his brother Daniel Purcell. While less frequently staged than Purcell’s other theatre works, it holds striking dramatic and musical moments.

The 2023 Salzburg staging continues the line of Peter Sellars’ and Theodor Currentzis’ 2013 reimagining (Perm, Teatro Real Madrid, English National Opera), which reshaped the drama around the story of the Spanish conquest, inspired by Nicaraguan author Rosario Aguilar.

What Can We Poor Females Do
Arranged for Classical Cretan Lyra and voices by Yiorgos Kaloudis
Premiered at the Diaghilev Festival 2023, Perm, with musicAeterna4 vocal ensemble, orchestrated and arranged by Yiorgos Kaloudis.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)

• Sonata No. 12 in D Minor “La Follia”, RV 63

• Six Cello Sonatas for solo cello and basso continuo (RV 38–47), c. 1720–1730

Composer and performer Yiorgos Kaloudis has arranged these works for Classical Cretan Lyra and basso continuo, bringing Vivaldi’s baroque brilliance into a new timbral realm.

1) Les Indes galantes (1735), an opera-ballet,

2) Castor et Pollux (1737), a lyrical tragedy,

3) Les fêtes d’Hébé, ou Les talens lyriques (1739), an opera-ballet,

4) Platée ou Junon jalouse (1745), a lyrical comedy,

5) Zaïs (1748), a heroic pastoral,

6) Zoroastre (1749), a lyrical tragedy,

7) Abaris ou les Boréades (1763–1764), a lyrical tragedy.

Performers:
The musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir
Artists of the Anton Rubinstein Academy
Musical Director and Conductor – Teodor Currentzis

Details

The anthology of music from the operas by Jean-Philippe Rameau is the second series of the acclaimed project by Teodor Currentzis and musicAeterna Rameau. The Sound of Light, which was performed in Perm, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and many European capitals from 2011 to 2019, and was recorded and released by Sony Classical label in 2014. The epigraph to the project was the words of Teodor Currentzis: ‘Light is the most incredible phenomenon in the universe. It gives us breath, life and love. So, how would I explain to someone who has never been embraced by the sun what light actually is? I would play them music by Rameau’.

For this programme Yiorgos Kaloudis has orchestrated the Classical Cretan Lyra to perform in the basso continuo.

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685–1759)

Tribute Concert with Theodor Currentzis, musicAeterna Orchestra & Choir
Dom Radio, Saint Petersburg – Diaghilev Festival 2025

In this special homage to the master composer, Theodor Currentzis and musicAeterna present a richly varied selection of Handel’s arias, choruses, and instrumental works. For this programme, composer Yiorgos Kaloudis has orchestrated the Classical Cretan Lyra to perform in the basso continuo, replacing the soprano viola da gamba. Kaloudis also composed two original introductory preludes for the instrument, framing the performance with a unique timbral signature that blends Baroque elegance with the warm, resonant colours of the Aegean.

1. Prelude

2. Augelletti, ruscelletti – Aria of Maria Kleopova, from the oratorio La resurrezione, HWV 47 (1708)

3. Zadok the Priest – Coronation Anthem No. 1, HWV 258 (1727)

4. Disserratevi, o porte d’Averno – Aria of the Angel, from La resurrezione, HWV 47 (1708)

5. Ah! Crudel nel pianto mio – Aria of Armida, from the opera Rinaldo, HWV 78 (1711)

6. Overture to the opera Agrippina, HWV 6 (1709–1710)

7. As with Rosy Steps the Morn – Aria of Irina, from the oratorio Theodora, HWV 68 (1750)

8. De torrente in via bibet – Duet with chorus, from the psalm Dixit Dominus, HWV 232 (1707)

9. Oh, Let the Merry Bells Ring Round – Aria with chorus, from the oratorio L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, HWV 55 (1740)

10. Pena tiranna – Aria of Dardano, from the opera Amadigi di Gaula, HWV 11 (1715)

11. Eternal Source of Light Divine – Fragment from the cantata Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, HWV 74 (1713)

12. Alla Hornpipe – No. 2 from the orchestral suite The Water Music No. 2 in D Major, HWV 349 (1716–1717)

13. He Saw the Lovely Youth – Chorus, from the oratorio Theodora, HWV 68 (1750)

14. Piangerò la sorte mia – Aria of Cleopatra, from the opera Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17 (1724)

15. Ah! Stigie larve — Vaghe pupille – Recitative and aria of Orlando, from the opera Orlando, HWV 31 (1733)

16. O Love Divine, thou Source of Fame – Chorus, from the oratorio Theodora, HWV 68 (1750)

17. Sing Ye to the Lord – Chorus with solo soprano, from the oratorio Israel in Egypt, HWV 54 (1739)

18. Postlude
    
    Encore: Amarti si vorrei (Original by Yiorgos Kaloudis, for Classical Cretan Lyra)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

Six Cello Suites – BWV 1007–1012

• Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007

• Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008

• Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009

• Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010

• Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011

• Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012

Cellist, Cretan lyra player, improviser, and composer Yiorgos Kaloudis has developed a new interpretive approach to this monumental work. He adapted the traditional Cretan lyra by adding a fourth string (low C), altered the playing technique for both hands, and transcribed the complete cycle into the authentic tonalities chosen by Bach.

The Sixth Suite, long considered impossible to perform on the Classical Cretan Lyra, has become playable thanks to Kaloudis’s adaptation of the cello thumb technique to the instrument.

Composed around 1717–1723 during Bach’s tenure as Kapellmeister in Köthen, the Six Cello Suites are among the most frequently performed works for unaccompanied cello. Following the traditional Baroque suite structure, each begins with a Prelude and continues with stylised dances: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, two dance pairs, and a final Gigue.

Once obscure, they gained prominence after Pablo Casals’ early 20th-century recordings. Today, they are regarded as a cornerstone of the cello repertoire, embodying both hidden polyphony and a flowing melodic line of extraordinary emotional depth. Kaloudis’s interpretation on the Classical Cretan Lyra offers a rare timbral perspective on these masterworks.

Franz Schubert – Der Leiermann (from Winterreise*)*

The final song of Schubert’s monumental cycle Winterreise (D. 911, Op. 89, 1828), Der Leiermann sets poetry by Wilhelm Müller in a stark, haunting portrait of a lonely hurdy-gurdy player. Originally scored for voice and piano, the work has been arranged by Yiorgos Kaloudis for voice and Classical Cretan Lyra, bringing a new timbral intimacy to Schubert’s closing vision.

Offenbach – Cello Duets

Originally composed by Jacques Offenbach for two cellos, these charming and lyrical duets have been transcribed by Yiorgos Kaloudis for two Classical Cretan Lyras, highlighting the instrument’s expressive range and bringing new colours of sun and pelagos to Offenbach’s elegant chamber music.

J.C. Bach/Casadesus – Cello Concerto in C Minor

Once believed to be by Johann Christian Bach, this concerto is now attributed to French violist and composer Henri-Gustave Casadesus (1879–1947), who wrote it in the style of the 18th century. Known for his imaginative “rediscoveries” of earlier composers’ works, Casadesus imbued his own creations with historical elegance. Yiorgos Kaloudis has arranged this work as the very first concerto transcribed for the Classical Cretan Lyra, giving it a distinctive new timbre and expressive depth.

Serenade from Der Schneemann
Originally composed for cello and piano, this lyrical work has been arranged by Yiorgos Kaloudis for Classical Cretan Lyra and piano, bringing a new timbral color and Mediterranean warmth to its elegant, dance-like lines.

Twenty Songs of the Greek People (1937–1947)
Traditional folk melodies from Greece’s diverse regions, these songs carry the voices of rural life, love, and longing, preserved through oral tradition and reimagined in art-music form.

Songs of Longing (1924–1980)
Set to the lyrical poetry of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), these songs explore themes of yearning, beauty, and the human spirit’s quiet resilience.

For this program, Yiorgos Kaloudis arranged both cycles for voice, Classical Cretan Lyra, cello, and piano, crafting a sound world where folk authenticity meets refined artistry. Written especially for the renowned mezzo-soprano Irini Tsirakidis, and the pianist Christina Panteli, the works were presented at the Kharkiv Philharmonic, Ukraine, in April 2021.

Five Etudes in Major and Minor (for solo cello)

1. Lied – Andante

2. Marsch – Allegro molto

3. Tanz – Allegro moderato

4. Improvisation – Andante espressivo

5. Scherzo – Allegro

Originally composed for solo cello, these five contrasting character pieces were arranged by Yiorgos Kaloudis for solo Classical Cretan Lyra, bringing the instrument’s unique timbre and expressive range to the work’s lyrical, rhythmic, and virtuosic elements.

Δέδυκε μεν α σελάννα (Dedyke me ἀ Selanna)
(for voice, flute, Classical Cretan Lyra, percussion, and piano)
Poetry of Sappho and Alexandros Pallis
(March 2012, revised January 2020)

Dimitris Lionis was the first composer to orchestrate the Classical Cretan Lyra into his chamber work Δέδυκε μεν α σελάννα, replacing the cello part with the lyra. The piece sets poetry by Sappho and Alexandros Pallis.

Sappho was an ancient Greek lyric poet from the island of Lesbos, renowned for her intense and personal verse. She is believed to have written around 10,000 lines of poetry, of which only one complete poem survives; many others exist only in fragments, sometimes a single word. Modern editions of her work combine quotations preserved in ancient texts with rediscovered fragments on papyri and parchment from the late 19th century onward. Some fragments in her Aeolic dialect may be by her contemporary Alcaeus. Ancient testimonia also shed light on her life and influence.

Στάσιμον (in memory of Herman Vinogradov)

Yiorgos Kaloudis was invited by Theodor Currentzis to arrange and improvise on the Classical Cretan Lyra for his new composition-introduction to the play Persephone. Symphony of Psalms by Stravinsky. The work is based on Currentzis’s poem In the Month of Anthesterion and a fragment from Aeschylus’s tragedy Prometheus Chained.

This marks the first time the Classical Cretan Lyra has been included in a composition and orchestration by any composer.

Performers:

• Lada Raskolnikova — sounding constructions of Bikapo

• Egor Ananko, Viktoria Kharkevich, Marko Nikodijevic, Luka Kozlovacki — friu

• Vera Sazhina — voice, shamanic tambourine

• Yiorgos Kaloudis — Classical Cretan Lyra

• Alexey Retinsky — cauldron

• Sofia Hill — voice (in memory of Herman Vinogradov)

Orchestra and chorus: musicAeterna
Director: Theodor Currentzis
Event: Diaghilev Festival 2023, Perm

Compositions for Solo Classical Cretan Lyra

Albums

• Aptera — Aptera, Orthi Petra (Necropolis), Cosmos

• Driopi — Driopi, Aaatos, Theasis

Unreleased Works
Kochyli, Trikymia, Synchoresis

Yiorgos Kaloudis composes contemplative music for the Classical Cretan Lyra, exploring the subtle emotional resonance of sound. With a delicate, poetic approach, he unveils the instrument’s sublime melodic potential while expanding its creative horizons. The Classical Cretan Lyra traces its lineage to the 9th-century Byzantine lyra, the precursor of many European bowed string instruments.

Drawing on his Cretan and Corfiot heritage, Kaloudis pushes musical boundaries, presenting a body of original works that embody the expressive depth of the lyra. His compositions—rich in tonal color, improvisation, and layered vibrations—seek to create an emotional imprint of catharsis.

The instrument’s versatility extends beyond its bowed voice to include plucked pizzicato textures and percussive effects, revealing its faintly whistling timbre and capacity for ethereal soundscapes.

Kaloudis seamlessly blends the timbres of the cello and lyra (as in the Aptera recital), weaving them through the art of live looping into introspective works that draw from both classical and ambient traditions. Using effects and loop recording, he crafts multi-dimensional sonic paintings that enrich the tonal qualities of these two extraordinary instruments.