Classical music

The Athens Concert Hall celebrates Valentine's Day with the Ensemble of the Athens Center for Early Music in an evening of Renaissance love songs from France, England and Italy. "Hommage a l'Amour" features works by Guillaume Dufay, Jacques Arcadelt, Henry VIII and Francesco de Laudis. The concert starts at 8.30 p.m. and tickets cost 10 and 15 euros.

Virtuoso violinist Giorgos Demertzis, acclaimed pianist Vassilis Varvaresos and the Athens Philharmonic, conducted by Byron Fidetzis, will perform two pieces by Nikos Skalkottas that had been thought lost up until about five years and which he first presented in Berlin in 1930: Suite for piano and small orchestra and his Concerto for violin, piano and orchestra.

Hailed as one of the best guitar quartets in the world right now, Michael Baker, Vasilis Bessas, James Jervis and Rory Russell of Aquarelle will perform at the Athens Concert Hall on Saturday, February 10. The concert is a tribute to French classical composer and guitarist Roland Dyens. It starts at 8.30 p.m. and tickets cost 10 and 15 euros.

It was April 1930 when Nikos Skalkottas presented two new pieces to an audience in Berlin, his Suite for piano and small orchestra and his Concerto for violin, piano and orchestra.

Alexis Tsipras grew into a political force inside the anti-memorandum movement and by siding with the so-called Indignant anti-austerity protesters who demonstrated in Syntagma Square in 2011. His vocal champions at the time are the same people who are putting the prime minister through the wringer today because of his position on the name talks with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Turkish pianist Gülsin Onay and the Italian pianist Francesco Libetta will perform a concert on Feb. 9 at the Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center in Istanbul.

A speech at Sunday's "Macedonia" protest rally in Athens by veteran composer Mikis Theodorakis, widely respected for his resistance to Greece's junta, provoked debate on Monday. 

Unionists representing Greek farmers who have stepped up their protests in recent weeks over the government's ongoing austerity measures are to meet with Agriculture Minister Vangelis Apostolou on Monday to discuss their demands.

Over the weekend, hundreds of farmers converged on the northern port city of Thessaloniki to protest outside the annual Agrotica agricultural trade fair.

Anarchists claimed responsibility on Sunday for the paint attack against the home of veteran composer Mikis Theodorakis on Saturday.

Unknown vandals on Saturday afternoon hurled paint on the home of veteran composer Mikis Theodorakis who is to be the main speaker at Sunday's "Macedonia" protest rally in Athens.

According to police, the assailants used red paint to deface the entrance to the house in the capital's Acropolis neighborhood and spray-painted threatening messages on the walls.