Axion Esti

Axion Esti is a 2025 staging of Mikis Theodorakis’s oratorio of the same name, set to the poem by Nobel laureate Odysseas Elytis, performed at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on 13 July 2025. The performance was part of the 70th Athens Epidaurus Festival, founded in 1955, and coincided with the centenary of Theodorakis’s birth, a year the Hellenic Ministry of Culture designated the Year of Mikis Theodorakis.

The performance featured George Dalaras on the song line, with Dimitris Platanias (baritone) as cantor and Dimitris Katalifos (actor) as narrator. The Athens State Orchestra under Myron Michailidis was joined by the Athens Mixed Municipal Choir and the ERT Choir. The programme opened with Manolis Kalomiris’s Symphonic Concerto, performed by the pianist Titos Gouvelis.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a second-century AD Roman theatre on the southern slope of the Acropolis. The performance was given unamplified. The Herodeion closed for a multi-year restoration following the 2025 season.