The Piano Tour (2024): Marathasa Valley

Avantgarde Cultural Foundation is a non-profit cultural organisation which operates in Cyprus. The Foundation’s purpose is to strengthen and improve the cultural life of the island, support young Cypriot musicians and promote the rich culture of Cyprus outside its boundaries. Since its foundation, in 2001, Avantgarde has a strong presence in the cultural life of the country.
"The Piano Tour" is yet another initiative of the Foundation in its attempt to deliver classical music to as broad an audience as possible. A grand piano, solo or occasionally accompanied by another instrument or voice, travels around the island and finds its place in unconventional, least-to-be-expected, locations. "The Piano Tour" recitals are broadcasted live via social media.
On the morning of Sunday 25 August 2024, "The Piano Tour" made its way to the picturesque Marathasa region, famous for some of the island’s most important churches and monasteries but also for its small villages. Nestled amidst verdant scenery on top of a mountain with an altitude of 800m, Marathassa Winery is right between the villages of Kalopanayiotis and Oikos. A modern building, which draws its inspiration and point of reference from the most important religious and historical monument of the region; the Monastery of Agios Ioannis Lampadistis. It creates a dynamic and original building-landscape integration relationship as it seems to emerge from the landscape with the slope of the ground embracing the cylinders at the base of the building, creating a "buoyancy" effect between object and land.
Pianist Stavroula Thoma delivered an hour of music in this magnificent setting with works by Liszt, Granizio and Tchaikovsky, under the title “waves from the keys”.