Mythodea

Introduction

On the 28th of June 2001 Vangelis performed his choral symphony "Mythodea" live at the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, Greece. This special concert was organised to promote the upcoming album which would be released on the 17th of September that year. Realised with support of the Greek Ministry of Culture as part of the Cultural Olympiad, Vangelis conceived, designed and directed the entire concert, featuring sopranos Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, as well as the London Metropolitan Orchestra (conducted by Blake Neely), the Greek National Opera Choir, two harpists and the Seistron and Typana percussion ensembles on stage.

The stage was built in front of the ancient temple, while directly behind the temple a huge screen was raised to project images of Greek artifacts (supplied by the Greek Ministry of Culture) and the 'Odyssey' Mars mission by NASA. An audience of about 2,500 people was able to witness the concert on location, while some 30,000 spectators enjoyed a free livestream on a huge screen at the nearby Panathinaic stadium. Before the start of the concert all visitors received an accompanying Mythodea booklet, as well as a small flashlight, to be used by the audience to create 'special effects'. The booklet includes an article explaining how the music of Mythodea is linked to NASA's ‘Odyssey’ mission to the planet Mars, which at the time had an exploration spacecraft underway to the Red Planet, ultimately arriving in October 2001.

Vangelis and the other 223 musicians on stage masterfully played the entire symphony from its introduction to the last movement, only halting for a moment after Movement 5, when a voice explained to the audience that the planet Mars was perfectly visible in the sky above the Temple of Olympian Zeus, as it had come to it closest position to Earth in years. As an encore the performance continued with an orchestral version of 'Chariots Of Fire', as well as a choral version of 'Conquest Of Paradise'. The concert then closed with a repeat of the last two movements of "Mythodea". After the concert a dinner was organized at the nearby Zappeion building of Athens, where invited guests received a promotional blue velvet box containing an advance CD of the album.

“Mythodea” would be Vangelis' first album on the Sony Classical label, at the time headed by Peter Gelb, who proposed to release the symphony after hearing a recording of Vangelis' original 1993 "Mythodia" performance for charity. The 2001 concert was professionally recorded and broadcast on television in several countries, with a DVD release following the next year. For this purpose the performance in Athens was repeated without an audience the next day, in the evening of the 29th of June 2001, in order to film additional footage such as inserts and close-ups. The DVD release of the concert only omits the encores of the concert except for 'Chariots Of Fire', but as a bonus feature includes a 'Making Of' documentary which gives a rare behind-the-scenes view of the preparations and promotion of the event.

Tracklist and credits