MIKRA ASIA CONCERT

We invite you to join us at the MIKRA ASIA CONCERT.  Come witness a beautiful music and dance performance, it will captivate your hearts with its warm & rich  history.

International vocalist Erini presents a concert commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Smyrna Catastrophe and Population Exchange of Asia Minor. She will be accompanied by musicians hailing from both the United States and Canada in a musical narrative of the Hellenic presence in Asia Minor and the catastrophe that left an indelible mark on the region. At the concert’s epicenter will be compositions from Mikra Asia, a collaborative effort by composer Apostolos Kaldaras and lyricist Pythagoras that was conceived and released as an album in 1972 in honor of the catastrophe’s 50th anniversary. The commemorative concert will also feature traditional songs from the Asia Minor and Pontus regions that have transcended borders and remain cherished by Greeks worldwide.

Erini is a New York-based vocalist who blurs the lines between genres and explores intercultural dialogue through music. Erini’s relationship with the Greek-Anatolian musical tradition began in childhood while growing up in Crete, where she was moved by the stories of her great-grandparents, who fled Smyrna (present-day Izmir) in 1922.

Beginning in 2014, Erini toured with Cirque du Soleil as the only vocalist of the show Kurios, a run that totaled 1,074 shows over three years with a combined audience of one million people. She then completed her Master’s Program in Global Jazz with a full scholarship at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Erini has also lent her talents to two Grammy-nominated albums, collaborated with Grammy-winning artists Danilo Perez, Luciana Souza, and Terri Lyne Carrington, and performed with acclaimed Greek musicians Vasilis Skoulas, Pantelis Thalassinos, and Mario Frangoulis.

Additionally, Erini has showcased her talents and Anatolian musical heritage at the iconic Carnegie Hall and performed for Greece’s candidature for Security Council at the United Nations in New York City. She is currently a professor at her alma mater and presents lectures with a focus on traditional Greek music at universities including Harvard, Princeton, and Tufts, among others. In recognition of her efforts to preserve Greek-Anatolian music and traditions, Erini has been honored with a 40 Under 40 Award from the Greek America Foundation and a prestigious Traditional Arts Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In 2022, she was commissioned by Greece’s Ministry of Culture and the Greek National Opera to spearhead a performance commemorating the Smyrna Catastrophe’s 100-year anniversary, which premiered at the Palamidi Castle in Nafplio in July of that year, and she continues to collaborate with both institutions on new commissions for 2023.