Prominent Tenor from the Athens Opera to Perform for Cuban Audience

The Oratorio San Felipe Neri – at Aguiar Street corner Obrapía, in Havana's historic center – will present on September 5 at 4:00 p.m. a special concert featuring Greek tenor Yannis Filias, a young artist from the National Opera of Athens; the show is produced and directed by Helson Hernández.

Despite his young age, Filias holds a significant career within that company, and according to his director's exclusive statement to the Cuban News Agency, the artist will offer attendees a very particular repertoire that will include world premieres.

During the concert, the performer from the Hellenic nation will share the stage with Cuban artists: Vilma Garriga will handle all musical accompaniment, including duets with prominent lyrical voices from the country, among them the renowned soprano Milagros de los Ángeles, in selections from Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata (1813–1901).

Alongside maestro Ivette Betancourt, the visitor will premiere for Cuban audiences scores from Greek operettas by composer Theophrastros Sakellaridis (1883–1950), Hernández added.

Also featured as guest soloists from the "Rodrigo Prats" Lyric Theater of Holguín are soprano Isabel Torres and baritone Carlos Manuel González, who will perform duets with Filias from Georges Bizet's opera Les Pêcheurs de Perles (1838–1875).

Born in Athens, Yannis Filias studied classical piano, dance, and voice at the Hellenic Conservatory, the Protoporia music school, as well as acting at the Art Theatre school and the Superior School of the New Greek Theatre; he also studied operatic repertoire with Marta Arapis and Hugo Weller in Paris.

After graduating from the Faculty of Music Studies at the University of Athens, he has performed as a soloist, collaborating with prestigious music and theater companies both in his home country and across Europe, including, to name just two, the National Theatre and the National Opera of Greece.

His repertoire is remarkably broad, ranging from Baroque operas by Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) and Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759) to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), and Charles Gounod (1818–1893). Alongside his lyric singing career, he also works as a producer for Greece's National Radio and Television Network, presenting educational programs and commentating on live broadcasts from the European Broadcasting Union.

For his Havana concert, a program has been conceived in which the first part will be dedicated to great operatic titles, while the second half will focus entirely on Greek composers – an experience that will be highly exclusive for the Cuban audience.

One of the novelties of this single performance is the world premiere of a work composed especially for Yannis Filias's debut in the Cuban capital by the prestigious composer Juan Piñera, set to a text by his uncle, the renowned writer and playwright Virgilio Piñera (1912–1979).

Finally, Hernández noted that the concert, titled "Filias in Havana," is sponsored by the National Center for Concert Music, CMBF National Radio Musical, the Cuban Institute of Music, the Ministry of Culture, and the Embassy of Greece in the island nation.