Molyvos International Music Festival
Molyvos International Music Festival is an annual chamber-music festival on Lesvos, founded in 2015 by Dimitris Tryfon with the pianist sisters Danae and Kiveli Dörken; the 13th edition is expected in mid-August 2027, after the 12th ran from 12 to 19 August 2026 under the theme Eudaimonia.
Molyvos International Music Festival is a chamber-music festival held each August on Lesvos, founded in 2015 by Dimitris Tryfon with the German-Greek pianist sisters Danae and Kiveli Dörken, who direct it. The 13th edition is expected in mid-August 2027. Its programmes are built from international soloists drawn into changing ensembles rather than from a resident orchestra, and each edition is set under a single theme.
Since the first edition in 2015 the festival has staged 86 concerts, presented 289 artists and drawn 40,500 attendees, on a founding aim it states as classical music for all. The 12th edition ran from 12 to 19 August 2026 under the theme Eudaimonia, Aristotle’s word for a fulfilled life, with the violinist Antje Weithaas, the cellist Andreas Brantelid and the clarinettist Sebastian Manz among the performers. The 11th, in August 2025, was held under the theme CHAOS.
Concerts are staged across Lesvos rather than in a single hall. The 2026 programme opened at the Castle of Mytilene, moved to the Castle of Agioi Theodoroi above ancient Antissa and to the Museum of Industrial Olive-Oil Production at Agia Paraskevi, and closed on the seafront park at Molyvos. Alongside the concert programme the festival runs Molyvos Musical Moments, unannounced performances in the lanes, harbour and squares of the village, and year-round music teaching in the island’s schools.