Date: Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
Cost: Free
Register via Eventbrite
Center for Hellenic Studies
3100 Whitehaven St. NW
Washington, DC 20008
Directions and Visitor Information
The Hellenic Foundation for Culture, with support from Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies, presents saxophonist Dimitri Vassilakis. He will be joined by two of the best jazz musicians in New York — bassist Essiet Essiet, a collaborator of Art Blakey, and drummer Sylvia Cuenca — as well as dancers from Word Dance Theater, a Washington DC-based dance company.
They will perform sounds from his award-winning recordings for the historic Candid Records, and favorite standards to connect with the spring and the moon. Dimitri will also comment upon his recent presentation, “Jazz and Democracy,” given at the United Nations-New York for International Jazz Day (celebrated by UNESCO) and for Jazz Appreciation Month (established by the Smithsonian Institution).
The event will take place on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Center for Hellenic Studies, 3100 Whitehaven Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20008. Attendance is free and open to the public.
This event will take place outdoors with lawn seating. Picnic blankets welcome.
About Dimitri Vassilakis
“Jazz among the Greek Gods…Dimitri Vassilakis brings fresh, organic and energized music to the Smithsonian… He uses his Greek heritage to create a warm, bright tone with a distinctively Mediterranean/Balkan intonation.”
— Smithsonian Festival Washington DC (trilogy: secret path – labyrinth – parallel lines)
“Infinite grace poetry and passion”
“Greek saxophone prodigy Dimitri Vassilakis is revered as the Hellenic god of post-modern expression. A rhapsodic stylist of immense power and authority.”
— BBC Music Magazine (labyrinth – the album of the month)
“Leader Vassilakis’ compositions offer a perfect platform for post-modern expression…whiz-kid tenor player from Greece…his style is the post-Coltrane, post-Rollins style…high-energy and immensely fluid.’’
— New York Press (labyrinth — live at Birdland, June 2001)
Visit Dimitri’s website for more information.
About Word Dance Theater
Word Dance Theater invites people from all walks of life into their unique Isadora Duncan-inspired philosophy, methodology, and aesthetic of dance thru performances and educational outreach.
“Word Dance Theatre’s Chambers of the Heart offered a much needed escape into the immersive reality full of breath and love.”
— R.K. Pendergrass, DC Theater Scene, November 2016
“A beautifully rendered production…Once Wild: Isadora in Russia is an important creation, but its greatest achievement is as a bold new work of art. This is a collaborative work of the highest order, a labor of love.”
— Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post, May 2013