Address: Artemidos 121 (Junction Artemidos & Klada Street), 24134 Kalamata

The Kalamata Dance Megaron was constructed with funding mainly from the European Union and the Greek State, in order to house the activities of the Kalamata International Dance Centre, during the International Dance Festival, which takes place every year in July, as well as cultural events that take place throughout the year. It first opened its doors in July 2013. Every year it welcomes the dance world’s most prestigious names and, since 2015, every second year, choirs from around the world.

Kalamata Dance Megaron is a modern, multi functional hall. It has a main hall with 650 seats and a small hall with 200 seats, as well a massive foyer on the ground floor and another one on the upper floor.

Text and photo: Municipality of Kalamata

Address: 95 Aristomenous Street, 24131 Kalamata

Named after the well-known film director, scriptwriter and film producer Theo Angelopoulos (1935-2012), who was originally from Messinia (the wider area, of which Kalamata is the capital), this amphitheatre, built to host seminars, concerts and workshops, opened in 2006. It is centrally located, close to the Municipal Theatre, on the main shopping street, and just a few minutes’ walk from the Kalamata Dance Megaron and the Holy Taxiarches Church. With its 250 seats and good acoustic, it is a suitable place for the competition and evaluation performances.

Text and photo: Municipality of Kalamata

Address: Taxiarchon Square - Vas. Georgiou & Asklipiou Street, 24100 Kalamata

The Holy Taxiarches Church is dedicated to the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The church is located in Kalamata city center. Its construction begun in 1938 and it was inaugurated in 1956. Its architectural style is hellenobyzantine. Dimitrios Kentakas, a famous craftsman, painted its murals in byzantine style.

Text and photo: Municipality of Kalamata

Photo: Ephorate of Antiquities of Messenia

Address: Junction of Sfakianaki Street & Anatoliko Kentro, 24100 Kalamata

The Award Ceremony will be held in Tenta Sports Hall. Tenta Sports Hall is actually a huge tent, used for various sports events. With a total of 2000 seats, it can host all participants of the Kalamata International Choir Competition & Festival. A big stage is constructed especially for the official events of the choir competition, but there is still enough space for the participants to sing and dance together and celebrate the results.

Text: Municipality of Kalamata. Photos: INTERKULTUR

Address: Platea, Aristomenous Street, 24100 Kalamata

The Central Square of Kalamata is the social hub of the city that is surrounded by bars, shops, cafés and restaurants. From afternoon until late in the night, the square buzzes with life, with people enjoying a shady spot in one of the cafés or restaurants.
During the festival, friendship concerts are staged on an open-air stage in the middle of the square and the choir parade finds its festive end and an eager audience to welcome them.

Text: Municipality of Kalamata. Photo: INTERKULTUR

Address: Georgiou Karelia and Simonos Karras Str., Anatolikos Synoikismos, 24100 Kalamata

The Kalamata Music School was founded in September 1993 and operated with 14 students in the 1st High School. Today the school reaches 280 students.
Since 2013, the school is housed in a new state-of-the-art building that meets all the specifications of a music school with general and music education rooms, workshops, a library and a 500-seat amphitheater.
The students of the school are taught all general education subjects as well as European and Greek Traditional Music in theory and practice.
In addition to studying a musical instrument, students also participate in musical ensembles such as European Music Choir, Greek Traditional Music Choir, and Orchestra, Classical Music Orchestra, Modern Music Ensemble, Folk Music Ensemble, etc.

Text and photo: Municipality of Kalamata

Luiz de Godoy received his first musical training as a five-year-old choirboy in Brazil, where he also graduated in piano solo. Further studies (Master-Degree) were taken in Portugal and Germany. He received the Magister-Degree in Orchestra and Choir Conducting from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

From 2013 on, mostly in his function as Assistant Director of the "Wiener Singakademie", he often collaborated with artists such as Gustavo Dudamel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle and also the Rolling Stones and Bobby McFerrin. In 2016 he was invited as Choirmaster by the Choir Academy of the Vienna State Opera and appointed Kapellmeister by the "Vienna Boys Choir", with which he toured over 26 countries. For his achievements on that year, he received the Erwin-Ortner-Prize.

As a guest conductor, de Godoy has being on the orchestra pit in Austria, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Poland and Singapore. In 2019 he moved to Hamburg, where he currently builds up the Children's and Youth Choir at the State Opera and cooperates with orchestras such as the "Hamburg State Philharmonic" and the "NDR-Elbphilharmonieorchester". Since 2021 he is also Artistic Director of the "Hamburg Boy's Choir".

Agathangelos Georgakatos is the chorus master of the Greek National Opera. He has led this group in more than 60 operatic productions at the Olympia Opera Theater, the Athens Concert Hall, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

Georgakatos is also one of the founders and the conductor of the "MEIZON Male Vocal Ensemble" (2018) and the "EQUÁBILI - Female Vocal Ensemble" (2022). With these ensembles, he specializes in repertoire of the Renaissance and of the 20th and 21st century for equal voices a cappella. He is occasionally the guest conductor of the "Greek Radio Choir" (ERT).

He holds qualifications in choral conducting, and the Advanced Diploma of the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy in Hungary (1997), with a special distinction in choral conducting, awarded to him by Professor Peter Erdei. As a fervent ambassador and representative of the Kodály concept in Greece, he has held seminars and presentations, especially focussing on improving the music literacy in the Greek Music Education system.

Dimitris Ktistakis was born in Larissa. He studied at the Saarland College of Music and Dramatic Art, where he acquired a degree in Piano Teaching and three Postgraduate degrees: in Piano Performance, Choral Conducting and Orchestral Conducting. He was selected in the two-year experimental postgraduate class Lied-Duo with Anne Kathrin Fetik and Professor Irvine Gage. He was the first conductor of the award-winning "Madrigalchor Dillingen" and a scholar of the Richard Wagner Foundation. His assets include recordings for German radio and television as well as appearances as a soloist, conductor, and accompanist of ensembles in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Romania, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Latvia, Sweden, USA and Australia. He is a member of juries in international competitions. He taught "Vocal Ensemble Direction" at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and was the conductor of the Kozani Municipal Conservatory. He is the artistic director of the "Trikala Youth Symphony Orchestra" and conductor of the female vocal ensemble "InDONNAtión", with which he holds 4 gold awards in four successive competitions organized by INTERKULTUR. He holds the first Doctoral degree awarded in Greece in Performance of Choral Conducting (DMA). As of January 2016, he has been collaborating with the Greek Radio choir (ERT). Today he is an Assistant Professor at the Music Department of the Ionian University in Corfu, conductor of the Choir, the Vocal Ensemble and teaching the Mixed Choir Conducting Class.

One of Lithuania's leading choral conductors, Gintautas Venislovas rose to prominence as an artistic director of the "Brevis Chamber Choir" he has been in charge of since 1993. The choir has won several dozen prizes at top international competitions and was awarded the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in 2003.

Venislovas graduated of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, has been teaching there since 2003 and was appointed head of Choral Conducting at his alma mater in 2018. Simultaneously he took over as the artistic director of the Academy's mixed choir.

Known as remarkably versatile conductor, he has worked for many artistic projects imaginable involving choral singing, from chamber performances of Renaissance music to open-air rock operas. He was named the best conductor at choral competitions in Slovenia (1996), Lithuania (1998) and Italy (2002).

As a composer, he is best known for his choral works ranging from songs for children to masses. In 2019, he wrote "Lithuanica", a musical celebrating the nation's two pre-war pilots who in 1933 flew over the Atlantic Ocean in what back then was an extraordinary feat.

Venislovas is also an ingenious arranger. His commissions in the field include several rock operas, musicals and, occasionally, not so common tasks such as reworking the national anthem for a music box and a choir.