A Music Critic on Criticizing the 21st Century Arts
Music critic Kyriakos Loukakos is a leading vocal connoisseur in Greece. He is an attorney at law and a Dr. of the Cologne University. In 1991, he was hired as a member of the Strategic Policy Unit of the Greek Ministry of Home Affairs and, since 1998, he has been working as a senior investigator at the Quality of Life Department of the Greek Ombudsman’s Office. But music was always his greatest passion and from 1994 to 2010, he commented and presented almost every opera feature for Greek Radio 3, including innumerable EBU direct relays and deferred transmissions, as well as an extensive series of vocal artists’ and conductors’ portraits. In 1997, commemorating the 20th anniversary of her passing, he presented a 27- hour step-by-step biographical radio homage to Maria Callas as well as all her recorded roles for the first time in radio chronicles. Since 1998, he has been the music critic of the Sunday edition of the Athens daily journal “I AVGI”. He has contributed texts for practically every major musical institution of his country and has supervised a seven set CD edition of operas in rare archival recordings featuring distinguished soprano Vasso Papantoniou. In 2011 he contributed the extensive texts and overall supervision to a 4-cd set, published by “The Friends of Music Society” of the Athens Megaron Concert Hall and devoted to hitherto unpublished recordings from the archive of the late (mezzo) soprano Arda Mandikian, a close collaborator of Benjamin Britten and Sir Peter Pears as well as the Dido in both the first ever complete performance of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, (Oxford, 1950), and the subsequent first complete recording of the first part under the baton of Hermann Scherchen. In 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2015, Dr. Loukakos was elected as a Chairman of the Greek Drama and Music Critics’ Association.
Kyriakos Loukakos recently attended a double colloquium planned by the International Association of Theater Critics and Ministry of Culture of Georgia, at which point GEORGIA TODAY caught up with him to find out about his standpoint.
Is this your first time in Georgia? What are your impressions?
It’s my first visit but not my first acquaintance with the Georgian element: I’m lucky to be in the same executive council with a very famous music critic in Greece, George Leotakos, whose wife is Georgian, and through her I already gained some knowledge of the Georgian mentality and way of thinking. My visit now is a double mission: to get to know better Georgian culture through this very hospitable Georgian theater showcase, and at the same time pay attribute to the fatherland of a very dear person to me.
What meetings did you have while here and what are the outcomes?
There are two levels in this showcase. The main platform is the theater showcase, organized by the Georgian section of the International Association of Theater Critics, with the presentation of a selection of theatrical locales, and a parallel, unofficial one, allowing us to get acquainted with other creators of the Georgian scene. We had the opportunity to attend many interesting performances in very beautiful theaters. The second level was a small congress, a colloquium, organized by the President of the International Association, Margareta Sorenson, and the Georgian representatives, with a very interesting subject: “theater and populism”. This is something really incendiary in these times, in which populism seems to be gaining ground in even traditional countries throughout the world. It was really a very nice occasion and was of particular interest to us that the Georgian Ministry of Culture offered us two stages for the colloquium, which is not common, even in countries well known for their cultural interests.
Now the outcomes. An outcome is not really something one can expect from such meetings, but there were very interesting views and a pallet of themes that lead us to know better and remember the origins of populism from ancient Greece, the theater of Aristophanes; its existence, which has always been here, but at certain historical periods dance gaining the upper hand, sometimes with fatal consequences for democracy, for human rights, for peace and what’s most important, for economic growth.
Which view or theme did you most enjoy during the colloquium?
The colloquium focused on critics’ contributions and a crucial question was what criticism does about populism in theater, if elitism is existent, when elitism becomes a target of populism or if it is something that is there just to promote populist ideas. Many colleagues, among them myself, stated that critics don’t have the influence they once did because more and more major journals decided not to have a critic as a contributor: they prefer to have cultural journalists who promote to the spectacles before they are shown. And, despite the internet, we have noticed an increase in the alienation of the younger generation from traditional cultural interests.
How we can solve this problem?
No solution was given [during the colloquium], but thoughts and views were expressed. It was a kind of introspective into this problem, which isn’t easily solvable. If it were, things could improve easily. We decided that we must take advantage of old technology, as lowering the standards should not be part of our tendency; it would undoubtedly fail to bring people closer to art if we let the standards drop. It was a very interesting discussion and, of course, the dialogue is ongoing.
What are your future plans and are you going to continue cooperation with the Georgian Theater?
Future plans for the time being don’t involve visits to Tbilisi, though I consider this journey merely my first to Georgia, because I want to have a follow up. I liked the country, I liked the food and wine, I liked the people. It was a modal organization on the part of the Georgian showcase, set in a very friendly and very rewarding atmosphere. So, I hope and intend to contribute as much as I can from my position to have follow-ups in Georgia-Greek relations in future.
Dimitri Dolaberidze