This year’s “FANEROMENI Arts Festival” (2016–2026) is set to mark a decade of culture, inspiration and collective creation. This year’s programme is a tribute to the past and a source of inspiration for the future, featuring performances that bring together culture, art, history and the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation’s (BoCCF’s) collections and museums into a vibrant cultural mosaic.

We will celebrate our journey and envision the future of culture. Through a decade of activities, collaborations and moments of inspiration, our Festival has evolved into a vehicle for cultural identity, a living dialogue between art, tradition and contemporary expression.

This year’s performances honour this journey, focusing on the elements that connect us.

The Festival opens on Thursday, June 18th, with the musical storytelling performance “MYTHOS: From Cyprus to the World”. Performers Mariza Anastasiades (voice/performance [Memory]), Petros Giorkatzis (narration/performance [Myth] and the Concordia String Quartet will take us on a theatrical journey where myth is born, takes shape, and transforms, following humanity through time via memory and the human voice.

On stage, two presences coexist: memory and myth. Through words and music, a unified narrative unfolds where stories do not remain static; they travel from place to place, from language to language, without losing their essence.

The performance draws material from Cypriot tradition and the international repertoire, creating a flow that moves from lullabies and intimacy to trauma and loss, to transformation and to playfulness and light. The myths are not presented as distant narratives, but as something alive, that continues to exist within the voice and in memory. As the journey progresses, the stories change form yet retain the same core: humanity’s need to remember and to endure. In the end, the narrative returns to something simple and deeply human.

Thereafter, on June 25th, is the musical performance “Dimman. Liman” a contemporary musical-theatre work that draws inspiration from Cyprus’s intangible cultural heritage and, specifically, from “spells” as a practice of daily life, as preserved in written sources.

Through the creation of a multimedia, audio-visual environment, the performance offers audience members an immersive experience, bridging the past with the present and redefining Cypriot tradition in contemporary artistic terms.

The artistic ensemble consists of five young Cypriot musicians and is formed through the collaboration of two groups: the experimental trio “The Portal” (Stelios Antoniou – percussion and analogue effects, George Holland – flute and live electronics, Yiannis Laoutaris – synthesiser, vocals and live electronics) and the traditional ensemble “Takouria” (Christos Isidorou and Kyriakos Markoullis – zurna, Yannis Laoutaris – daouli).

Through this combination, the performance incorporates both sonic experimentation and improvisation as well as the revival of traditional musical practices.

The use of instruments found primarily in the traditions of the Eastern world, combined with electronic media and contemporary techniques, creates a hybrid soundscape that highlights both the timelessness of tradition and its capacity for transformation.

On July 9th, the musical performance “Resonances” offers a unique musical journey through the collaboration of the two musical ensembles, the “Lyra Quartet” (Socrates Sinopoulos, Chrysanthi Gika, Demosthenes Karachristodoulou, Stratis Psaradellis) and the vocal ensemble “Kalesma” (Paris Parashos: vocals, Anastasia Zakynthinou: vocals, Vasilis Filippou: vocals and percussion, Frederiki Tompazou: vocals, Savvas Lagou: vocals, Katerina Parashou: vocals).

Led by the internationally-acclaimed musician Sinopoulos, the four lyres create a unique polyphonic sound, highlighting the variety of techniques and styles of the Politiki Lyra, while the six-voice Vocal Ensemble “Kalesma” serves as a living vehicle of Cypriot and Greek tradition through polyphonic approaches.

The performance will emphasise the original musical compositions of the two ensembles. Through this collaboration, tradition is presented not as a static element, but as a constantly evolving creative process, highlighting the connection between historical memory and contemporary artistic expression, with an emphasis on Cypriot musical identity and its interconnection with the Greek cultural sphere as a bridge of communication.

On Thursday, July 30th, the musical performance “TRACKS: Echo of Now, Rhythm of Yesterday” draws its inspiration from the concept of a “path” that is organically carved out through use rather than construction. The performance is an artistic mapping of this journey, which began in 2016 with the spontaneous freestyle rap circles in Faneromeni Square, transforming the Cypriot dialect from an everyday idiom into a tool of contemporary poetry. The “tracks” of footsteps in the city will meet the sonic “tracks” of today, creating a bridge between the street and historical memory.

The performance is a vibrant fusion of oral tradition and hip-hop culture, where spoken word coexists with acoustic instruments, creating an organic dialogue between electronic sound and acoustic tradition. The experience is enriched by dynamic visuals projected in real time, using digitally-processed images from the Foundation’s Cypriot collections, transforming the space into a multisensory environment where new voices converse with history.

Contributors: Tasos Lamnisos (Music Composition, Lyrics & Curation), Spyros Kyprianou (Narration & Poetry), Anastasia Kattou (Clarinet & Rap), Angelos Vlamis (Drums), Panagiotis Mina (Guitar & Backing Vocals), Odysseas Vlamis (Keyboards & Εlectronics), Julie Michael (Live Video Projections), Yuri Domitsidis (Sound Engineering).

This year’s Festival will close on September 10th with director Kris Muhammed Adem’s interdisciplinary performance “LEDRA’S LAMENT”.

“LEDRA’S LAMENT” is a cross-communal, non-narrative contemporary live performance that combines music, dance, design, and drag art. Nicosia was once known as the city of gardens, shaped by its fertile grounds with abundant access to water. The production reflects on what is beneath Nicosia’s damaged ecosystem. Drawing on the archives and historical memory of the ancient city of Ledra, the work approaches the past as a living source of inspiration, guiding us to reflect on the present and imagine a shared cultural future. As for the language of the production, Adem excavates traces of Eteocypriot from beneath the soil, a language once spoken in ancient Cyprus that has now largely disappeared from public memory.

Within the framework of a contemporary site-specific approach, the performers (our ancestors) take the audience’s seats in the amphitheatre and claim it as their stage, while today’s audience is positioned in front of the amphitheatre, creating a dilemma and fluidity, merging and blurring the boundaries between audience and performers, our ancestors and us.

Musicians include: Troodia Christodoulou, Thomas Daskalakis, Ulaş Öğüç and Katerina ellis Despotis. Dancers of the production are Chiara Capizzi, Noa Daoulatian, Doğa Uluç, Mizgin Bozkaya İçli and Selsu Solman accompanied by performance artists Ayda Canova, Hayal Gezer and DIANA. Drag performers, Cosmo Mo Rose and Aphroditios. Costumes designed by SHIRVANNA and research assistant Hazal Barışer.

The BoCCF’s courtyard will also transform into an outdoor summer cinema, featuring unique productions and films in association with The Friends of Cinema Society.

Summer cinema programme:

  • July 2, 2026: William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (with Greek subtitles)
  • July 23, 2026: LILO & STITCH (2025, the movie) – Children’s/Family (with Greek subtitles, dubbed into Greek)
  • August 6, 2026: BIG FISH (with Greek subtitles)
  • August 27, 2026: DUMBO (the movie) – Children’s/Family (with Greek subtitles, dubbed into Greek)

Every event will take place with observation of all necessary protection measures for the health and safety of visitors and staff and will be accessible to individuals and groups with disabilities.

Performances and film screenings start at 8.30pm, with entrance doors opening at 8pm.

Children’s cinema screenings start at 8pm.

Free entrance.

During events, photos and/or videos will be taken. Images and footage of event visitors may be used for promotional purposes or may be provided to the media or uploaded to the Internet. By attending events, members of the public automatically give organisers the right to use the photos/videos taken.

You can find more information on the website of the Cultural Foundation: www.boccf.org and on the official pages of the Foundation on Facebook & Instagram (@boccf)

Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation

  • 86-90 Faneromenis Street, 1011 Nicosia
  • For more information: 22 128157
  • www.boccf.org