Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are currently enjoying a holiday on the enchanting Greek island of Antiparos.
According to reports, the Obamas have been graciously invited to stay at the villa of renowned Hollywood actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson during their time on the island. The couple is known for their close friendship with the Obamas.
In addition to their leisurely pursuits, the Obamas have an upcoming engagement that will bring them to Greece. It is rumoured that they may attend the wedding of Greek Australian Andrew Liveris’ son, which is set to take place on the picturesque island of Kastellorizo.
Barack Obama and Andrew Liveris.
Furthermore, Barack Obama will be participating in the SNF Nostos Conference, organised by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, during his stay in Greece. This prestigious event, scheduled from June 21 to 23, aims to foster discussions on strengthening democracy in civic culture.
Obama has been announced as one of the distinguished speakers, and he will join SNF President Andreas Drakopoulos in sharing insights and ideas.
It is worth noting that this visit to the SNF Cultural Center will mark Barack Obama’s second time attending the conference, having previously graced it in 2016. During his last international visit while still in office, Obama delivered a moving speech, leaving a lasting impression on attendees.
Queensland Theatre will bring Academy Award nominee Nia Vardalos’ hit adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s New York Times bestselling book Tiny Beautiful Things to Queensland stages for the first time ever from Saturday, June 17.
Co-conceived by Vardalos, Marshall Heyman and Tommy Kail, the Director of Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of Hamilton, Tiny Beautiful Things shares the story of Sugar, an online anonymous advice columnist.
Amid the clutter of family life, Sugar receives emails from strangers urgently needing help navigating the contradictions and complexities of life. Replying with candour and her own tough, sweet brand of unadulterated advice, Sugar offers a path to healing and catharsis for her recipients.
“When I first read Tiny Beautiful Things, I was absolutely engulfed by emotion. There was this epistolary exchange of emotions between two people trading confidence and touching each other through typeface. It was just an incredible experience to read,” Vardalos said.
“One thing that really surprised me about Tiny Beautiful Things is when I realised the letters are real and the author, Cheryl Strayed, is really Sugar. She was opening up and revealing her life. It gives a groundedness to these stories. The details of our lives might be different, but we’ve all struggled with our identities or our familial ties.”
Tiny beautiful things poster.
Mandy McElhinney, best known for television roles in Love Child and Wakefield, will make her Queensland Theatre debut in the lead role of Sugar, while Stephen Geronimos takes on the role of Letter Writer #1.
Sepi Burgiani will return to the Bille Brown Theatre stage for the second time this year, following her performance as Saba in Family Values, stepping into the role of Letter Writer #2 and Nic Prior will take on the role of Letter Writer #3.
Directed by Queensland Theatre’s Artistic Director Lee Lewis, Tiny Beautiful Things is set to offer our creatives the opportunity to tap into a moving work whose soul is universal.
“The heart at the centre of Tiny Beautiful Things is that these are real stories from real people, who are struggling through moments in their lives that we can all relate. This production is an opportunity for Australian creatives to make their mark on these universal stories,” Lewis said.
Sharing her excitement for the debut of Tiny Beautiful Things in Queensland, Vardalos feels an honest connection to the humour and culture of the Sunshine State.
“I’ve always had such a special connection with Australia and I’m really excited about the play coming to Australia because we have such a kinship with Canada, where I grew up. We share this irony that runs through both Australian and Canadian senses of humour,” Vardalos said.
Tickets are available now for performances from Saturday, June 17 to Saturday, July 8, here.
Greece-based industrial conglomerate, Mytilineos, and SmartestEnergy Australia have signed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the 40MW Kingaroy Solar Farm in Queensland.
According to Amna.gr, Mytilineos own Kingaroy Solar Farm and currently have a portfolio in Australia that stands at 376MW, with the solar farm at 237 MWp of the total portfolio.
Photo: Kingaroy Solar Farm in Queensland
The PPA agreement will provide SmartestEnergy Australia with renewable energy from the solar farm to retail to its C&I customer base in Australia.
The Australian company is known for reliable, clean energy and are the leading experts to a 100 percent renewable energy system in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Queensland-based solar farm is in its final stages of construction by Mytilineos and will begin operations in late 2023.
A marble slab with ancient Greek inscriptions was recently found in storage at the National Museums Scotland (NMS).
Historians say the slab is a “graduate school yearbook” with a list of Greek names and was stored for more than 100 years.
Museum Curator Margaret Maitland and the Attic Inscriptions in UK Collections project team said the marble slabs were part of a project to publish English translations of inscriptions from ancient Athens held in UK collections.
The inscriptions list 31 names of young men who went through the Athenian ephebate (cadet school) together during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius for the period AD 41-54.
An Athenian ephebic list inscribed on a small marble stele commissioned by Attikos son of Philippos during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54). NMS A.1956.368. Photo: National Museum Scotland
The list also shows new names that have not yet been discovered in ancient Greek, showing the earliest evidence for non-citizens taking part in the ephebate.
Professor of Greek history and epigraphy at the University of Manchester, Peter Liddel, said: “It’s the ancient equivalent of a graduate school yearbook, created by a number of individuals who wanted to feel like they had come together as friends.”
“It is a completely unique new discovery which had been in the storerooms of the NMS for a very long time, since the 1880s,” Dr Liddel added.
While it is unknown where the marble slab with the names was displayed, experts say the gymnasium is a possibility as this is where the young cadets would have trained.
Sydney Olympic FC paid a visit to St Euphemia College in Bankstown, Sydney on Thursday morning.
On the day, Sydney Olympic’s men’s first grade captain, Ziggy Gordon, was warmly welcomed by staff and students, before he had the opportunity to speak to the students about their local football team.
Some lucky students who answered questions and completed Ziggy’s challenges won themselves a Sydney Olympic training kit.
All students and teachers were also gifted free tickets to Sydney Olympic’s match this Sunday, June 18 against St George City FC.
The first 60 kids under 12 years old in attendance at this weekend’s match will receive a free Sydney Olympic training jersey and the local Greek Orthodox school with the highest attendance, will win a coaching session from Ziggy Gordon.
The all-star pastry chefs will compete against each other in Dessert Masters. Photo: Cairns Post
In this first-ever series of Dessert Masters, 10 top pastry chefs, bakers and chocolate connoisseurs will compete for a total grand prize of $100,000 and the chance to be named champion.
Polyviou will go up against household names such as Australian patissier Adriano Zumbo, cake sensation icon Andy Bowdy, Tarts Anon founder Garreth Whitton, and talented pastry chef, Rhiann Mead.
They will be judged by Melissa Leong and Amaury Guichon.
Archaeologists have discovered ‘countless’ pottery offerings from over the centuries while excavating a hilltop sanctuary on the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos.
The excavation, which was conducted by Greece’s University of Thessaly and the Greek Ministry of Culture, unearthed pottery ‘offerings’ of more than 2,000 intact or almost complete clay figurines.
Greece’s Culture Ministry said the pottery ‘offerings’ are mostly of women and children with a few male actors, tortoises, lions, pigs and birds. The archaeologists also found luxury pottery which had been imported from other parts of Greece.
Archaeologists excavate a hilltop sanctuary on the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos and discover pottery offerings left by ancient worshippers over the centuries, according to Greece’s Culture Ministry.
According to The Washington Post, experts said the pottery offerings were used by ancient worshippers on the island.
The seaside site of Vryokastro on Kythnos, where the pottery was discovered, was the ancient capital of the island, inhabited from the 12th century BC to the 7th AD.
The famous Greek singer Konstantinos Argiros toured Australia this month, giving remarkable concerts in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne much to the joy and enthusiasm of the local Greek diaspora.
Argiros also visited the Greek Centre in Melbourne, where he met with the President of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) Bill Papastergiadis, the Board of Management and the community’s Greek school students, before taking on questions by journalists.
The Greek Herald asked him how he felt about the reception he received from the Greek community in Australia.
“I couldn’t believe the strength of Hellenism here,” Argiros answered.
“People knew all my songs, even when I performed songs from the past and from legendary artists, I feel that they know the songs, they wanted them, they wanted to dance them. They wanted to keep doing the zeibekiko, which is a Greek dance and the ‘nisiotika’.
“People are enthusiastic and showed us their love. I could never imagine that I would have that many friends in Australia. A ‘thank you’ is not enough to express how I feel. I would like to thank you all here for what you do for Hellenism and for the Greeks of diaspora who deserve the best.”
On a more personal note, when asked about the importance of taking a step back from his busy schedule in order to review and access his life and career, Argiros said he’s always struggled with this.
“It is not easy because the rhythms of everyday life are very intense, and the effort we give for something we love is big. Although all these years I hadn’t really realised that I work hard because when you find something you love, it doesn’t tire you out,” the singer said.
According to Argiros, the lack of sleep, the nerves, failures and successes, all these things make you more mature and a better person to face the insecurities that lie inside us.
“I try to find the positive in everything I do, as hard as that may be, and there is a time that comes when you have to face your thoughts and look from a distance to be able to see things clearer. To able to zoom in and out so… you can see what is right and what is wrong, what matters, where did you start from, and where do you want to go,” he said.
“I try to do it and sometimes you need to take some breaks, for as much time as you think you should, in order to understand how you want to continue, and make all these a soundtrack of your life. These are my songs.”
Argiros.
Argiros concluded that he is open to people’s opinions on his music.
“I like to ask everyone what they like about me, which are their favorite songs, what they believe I should do. When you are open to new things, every person can give you a solution in anything you search. Provided that you express yourself and come close to the people that love you and support you and have something to say to you,” he said.
“Someone could say to me ‘I liked what you did there’ and from that, I will unlock something else and write a song and go on a new journey. Be open. That’s how I feel and I like to communicate face-to-face with the people.”
The latest book authored and researched by Socrates Tsourdalakis titled The Cretan Pioneers of Australia takes us back 200 years and brings to light yesterday’s Cretans of Australia.
It documents the first Cretan that arrived on Australian shores back in 1829 and all the Cretan people that followed in the 1800s up until the 1950s before the post war migration.
When Socrates came to Australia as an immigrant in 1965, he had the pleasure of meeting several pioneers who were still alive. He would follow them with admiration and often wondered how brave they were to make the decision and set voyage to Australia, the unknown lands at the time.
Socrates would have never imagined that after commencing research he would locate Hellenes of Cretan descent that began arriving in Australia from 1829 onwards, who eventually married into the Australian society and to this day still live on seven generations later.
Socrates Tsourdalakis
The first chapter of the book refers to these Cretan immigrants in detail – when they arrived, how they arrived, who they married, their children, what they did for a living and if any had community involvement.
The second chapter refers to the descendants of these pioneers that served in the Australian Armed Forces in all theatres of conflict including the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and of course descendants that are currently serving our Armed Forces, which are so many, as profiled in the book.
The following chapters make reference to many Cretan descendants that served as founders in the establishment of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne & Victoria back in 1897, many of whom served on the Boards. He then continues to profile all our Clergy of Cretan background that arrived as migrants, that served and are currently active in our Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.
The new book.
The final chapter is a tribute catalogue of over 15,000 names of Cretan descent that arrived on Australian shores as migrants, which have never been documented in the Diaspora. This chapter also includes vital statistics for those that will show an interest in this field of research. Socrates believes that he has captured at least 80 percent of the Cretans that arrived in the Oceania region.
The book will be launched on Sunday, June 25 at 3pm at the Sports & Art Complex of the St. Johns Greek Orthodox College situated at 1 Blanch Street, Preston.
The official launch will be presented by His Eminence Archbishop of Australia Makarios, as well as other distinguished dignitaries. A tribute video will be presented, as well as several descendants stories. Following the event, refreshments and finger food will be served.
Paul Nicolaou will perform with the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO) in Sydney and Canberra this July as they present the world premiere of Ngapa William Cooper.
The 19-year-old Greek-Cypriot Australian will be playing the harp as part of the orchestral performance on Sunday, July 9 at Canberra’s Llewellyn Hall and the Sydney Opera House on Monday, July 10 this year.
Ngapa William Cooper premiered at the Adelaide Festival in 2023 and was born out of a rich collaboration between composer Nigel Westlake, singer-songwriter Lior, and performer and academic Dr Lou Bennett AM.
Ngapa William Cooper explores the strength and compassion of Yorta Yorta activist Uncle William Cooper. In 1938, Cooper led the Australian Aborigines’ League through the streets of Melbourne in the only non-Jewish protest worldwide against the events of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany. Using English and Yorta Yorta language, it is a celebration of a man who left behind a ‘legacy of resistance, solidarity and empathy.’
The Australian Youth Orchestra. Photo: Edify Media.
The concert opens with Westlake’s The Glass Soldier, originally written for Hannie Rayson’s play of the same name. It is dedicated to the memory Nelson Ferguson, a WW1 veteran and artist, and was commissioned by Ferguson’s grandson Don Farrands.
This will be followed by the orchestral premiere of Beneath the Waves, the distillation of Westlake’s score for 2022 motion picture Blueback. Star cellist Sharon Grigoryan will feature as soloist. Blueback takes its story from Tim Winton’s 1997 novel and follows a mother and daughter’s fight to protect Australia’s precious coral reefs.
The premiere orchestral performance of Ngapa William Cooper will be held during 2023 NAIDOC Week that will coincide with the Canberra performance. NAIDOC Week is a time to for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories. To acknowledge this, BlakTix (discounted tickets for First Nations audience members) will be available for both performances.
Event details:
Canberra show:
Venue: Llewellyn Hall, Australian National University, Canberra
