Ancient Greek Lyre Returns to Villa Kérylos for an Evening Spanning 2,000 Years of Music

 

Perched above the Baie des Fourmis in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Villa Kérylos is one of the Côte d’Azur’s most extraordinary architectural curiosities. Built between 1902 and 1908 for the French archaeologist and scholar Théodore Reinach, the villa was conceived not simply as a home, but as an imaginative recreation of an ancient Greek residence. 

Its marble, mosaics, frescoes, furniture and decorative details were all inspired by the world of classical Greece, creating a remarkable bridge between antiquity and the Riviera of the early 20th century.

More than a century later, that connection with the ancient world will become distinctly musical. On Friday, 28 August, the villa will provide the setting for a special concert by Les Lyristes, bringing the sound of the ancient Greek lyre into a space deliberately created to evoke the civilization that gave birth to the instrument.

Led by renowned lyre player Nikos Xanthoulis, the ensemble will feature Evangelia Kopsalidou performing on the ancient Greek lyre and barbitos, alongside soprano Myrsini Margariti. Their programme promises to move freely between antiquity, traditional Greek music and modern composition, presenting ancient instruments and repertoire not as archaeological relics, but as part of a living musical tradition.

 

The journey begins with a prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach before travelling deep into the musical world of ancient Greece. The programme includes the first chorus from Euripides’ Orestes, written in 408 BC, the Delphic Paean dating from around 128 BC, and the celebrated Epitaph of Seikilos, generally regarded as the oldest surviving complete musical composition.

 

From these extraordinarily distant echoes of antiquity, the concert moves into Greece’s more recent musical heritage. Traditional music will feature alongside contemporary interpretations of Sappho’s poetry, with works by two of Greece’s best-known modern composers, Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadjidakis, adding another layer to the evening’s exploration of Greek musical identity.

 

The programme is deliberately not confined to ancient Greece, either. Les Lyristes will bring their distinctive arrangements to familiar 20th-century pieces, including The Beatles’ Yesterday and Luiz Bonfá’s Manhã de Carnaval. The evening will ultimately return to the ancient world with Ô Bacchos, inspired by Sophocles’ Antigone.

 

Few venues on the Riviera could provide a more evocative setting for such a performance. Villa Kérylos was created from a fascination with a civilization more than two millennia removed from its architect’s own era, and the concert effectively reverses that journey: rather than visitors simply looking at antiquity preserved in stone, marble and mosaic, the villa will once again become a place where the sounds associated with ancient Greece can be heard.

 

For one evening, the Baie des Fourmis will provide the backdrop to a remarkable musical passage through time—from the theatres and temples of classical Greece to modern Athens, Paris, Liverpool and beyond. At Villa Kérylos, history will not simply be on display; it will be heard.