UCy cultural festival concludes this week

Two months of music, theatre, dance and song are coming to an end as the performances of the 26th cultural festival of the University of Cyprus wrap up this week. The 2023 agenda of the annual festival has brought together Cypriot and international artists and the art-loving public and before it concludes its July programme, it offers two more evenings of high-calibre music.

On Wednesday 12, the Natasa Hadjiandreou/Erika Dohi Project will take the floor of Axiothea Mansion in old Nicosia to present their first work together as a duo. Having met in the US at the 2022 Bang on a Can Music Festival, pianist Erika Dohi and percussionist Natasa Hadjiandreou built upon their common aesthetic on contemporary music to develop a joint project, presenting works by living composers from Cyprus and Japan, with the use of multimedia (electronics and video). Their goal is to promote this project in US, where Erika is based as well as in Japan, Erika’s home country. The compositions they will present this week, co-written by the two of them, will be Cyprus premieres.

The festival will conclude on July 14 with the Bopsters Trio, featuring Marios Charalampous, who will take audiences on a journey through the bebop era. Dimitris Miaris, Kyriacos Kesta, Marios Spirou and Marios Charalampous will transport listeners to the era of bebop, which arose out of musicians’ desire for a more liberated form of expression through jazz. Complex harmonies, melodies and rhythms will close off another edition of the renowned Nicosia festival.

Natasa Hadjiandreou/Erika Dohi Project

Natasa Hadjiandreou and Erika Dohi perform live. July 12. Axiothea Mansion. 8.30pm. Tel: 22-894531

Bopsters Trio Featuring Marios Charalampous

Four musicians play bebop jazz. July 14. Axiothea Mansion. 8.30pm. Tel: 22-894531