EVA KOTANIDI: “THE TENDER AND DANGEROUS FACE OF LOVE”

A musical-literary evening steeped in the atmosphere of classic and contemporary French song and the subtle tension of poetry and literature.
Iconic French songs by artists such as Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Barbara and Charles Aznavour, alongside more recent voices like Lara Fabian, Celine Dion, Zaz and Slimane, revive the memory of the eternal journey of lovers’ attraction and separation, the dawn and fading of love.
In parallel with the flow of music — and in dialogue with it — poems and excepts from modern French literature are recited, focusing primarily on the works of Jacques Prévert and Marguerite Duras. Sparked by the memory of a first youthful love, as in Duras’ autobiographical masterpiece The Lover, a woman unfolds a sequence of poems and confessions about “the tender and dangerous face of love” (Jacques Prévert). In her acclaimed work, Duras recounts with boldness and poetic precision the story of her secret teenage love affair in colonial Indochina. Her delicate, ambiguous and sensual words enter into a dialogue with Prévert’s exquisite poems, echoing the lyrics of the enchanting French songs. As the recitation of poems and texts flows, rich with images and memories, it intertwines with the quartet’s sounds and the lyrics of the songs. Thus, words, melodies, and memories unite, giving rise to a complete sensory and intellectual experience.