The Athens Epidaurus Festival is Greece’s leading cultural organisation and one of the oldest continuously running festivals in Europe. Spanning 71 years, the Festival has welcomed some of the greatest music, dance, and theatre artists of the international and local scene, in collaboration with the most prestigious Greek and international organisations, attracting large audiences from around the world.

Athens Epidaurus Festival 2026 (Official Trailer)

Beginning on May 29 and running for 92 days, with 104 productions and more than 2,500 artists and collaborators from 26 countries, this year’s edition marks the beginning of the three-year tenure of the new Artistic Director, Michail Marmarinos. It also coincides with the landmark 20^th  anniversary of Peiraios 260 as a central artistic hub of the institution.

Michail Marmarinos, speaking at the presentation of the artistic program of the Athens Epidaurus Festival for 2026 in his capacity as Artistic Director, described the Festival as a dynamic space for encounter and exchange of ideas, connecting Greek audiences with the latest currents of contemporary artistic creation on the international stage. He focused on the concept of “Vertical Time” — the time of personal experience that excavates emotion — and described the darkness of the theater hall as therapeutic, since it functions as a passage toward a new, unknown self that reveals itself to us after the performance. Within this context, the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus reconnects this year with the sanctuary of the Asklepieion of Epidaurus, recalling the “healing” nature of Art.

In addition to the nine major productions that will be presented at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, innovative initiatives are also being introduced this year, such as Narrative Archaeology at the archaeological site of the Asklepieion of Epidaurus and the new thematic series 1-1-1 at the Ancient Stadium — where music plays the leading role in the interpretation of ancient drama. Particular emphasis is placed this year on dance, which takes center stage as an open field of encounter between bodies, memory, and collective experience.

The new visual identity for 2026 was presented by the founders of the creative studio Polkadot Design, Klairi Georgelli and Nearchos Daskas. As they explained, the Festival’s visual language emerged through a handcrafted and almost ritualistic process, in which a simple gesture is transformed into trace and image.

Up until 2005, the Festival had been held exclusively at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. In the summer of 2006, five brand-new theatre stages were launched at the Peiraios 260 industrial venue which has since emerged as an important springboard for contemporary art. Artistic productions and site-specific performances are also presented at other venues in Attica and various locations as part of the Festival.

(Source: https://aefestival.gr/ )

ODEON OF HERODES ATTICUS

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus – known as the “Herodeon” – is located on the southern slopes of the Acropolis, on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street. Entry to the Odeon is from the pedestrianised Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, a walkway linking Athens’ main archaeological sites (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival, © Thomas Daskalakis)

Stamatis Kraounakis, Lysistrata, A hilarious opera (12-13.6.2026) (left), Stathis Livathinos, Hecuba, Euripides (25-26.6.2026)(right)

In the shade of Plato’s Republic

As has already been announced, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus will open to the public for one month and will then close for several years so that essential restoration work can proceed, allowing the Roman theater to enter a new era. The venue will mainly host musical events and major tribute performances. Michail Marmarinos emphasized the importance of these tributes, noting that “through this, the festival expresses gratitude to individuals who shaped its course and what we are today as artists.”

PEIRAIOS 260

The Athens Festival venue at 260 Peiraios Street is a former industrial space  located at the Tavros district of Athens, and shares a city block with the Athens School of Fine Art (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival)

This year, the venue is celebrating its 20th anniversary, with a diverse program and various innovations aimed at keeping visitors at the venue until very late at night. As part of its anniversary celebrations, the festival is paying tribute to George Loukos, the artistic director who first established this venue, transforming a former industrial complex into the principal home of the Athens Epidaurus Festival and opening it to international artists and pioneering avant-garde works. Dance will take center stage this year, with a number of international productions making their Greek premiere. This year sees the debut of Gen 260, a platform designed to showcase and amplify the voices of young performing artists. In addition to dance, this year’s festival will spotlight contemporary music through the C-Music Now series and Greek theatre through new dramaturgical works alongside modern reimaginings of classical texts.

Teaċ Daṁsa – Michael Keegan-Dolan, MÁM (10-11.6.2026) (left), Tribute to Georges Aperghis, Quatuor Diotima, Works by Aperghis, Tzortzis, Ligeti (28.6.2026)

Gemma Hansson Carbone, The Gospel of Cassandra, by Dimitris Dimitriadis (4-5.7.2026)

Pireos 260 will once again keep the party going late into the night with its popular live events in the Garden and the Square, newly renamed AFTERS. This year, the festival is also introducing screenings of recorded stage productions, presented in the atmosphere of an open-air summer cinema as part of a new series, Starry Sky – Starry Nights.

ANCIENT THEATER OF EPIDAURUS

The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus is located within the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Asklepios, in the Argolis prefecture of the Peloponnese. It is a half-hour drive from Nafplio and approximately two hours from Athens (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival)

Alan Lucien Øyen, Antigone, Inspired by the work of Sophocles (7-8.8.2026)

At the Epidaurus Festival 9 different interpretations by Greek and international creators will be presented, based on both well-known and lesser-performed texts. The Festival opens on June 20 with the revival of Medea by Luigi Cherubini, the highly anticipated co-production with the Greek National Opera. This will be followed by The Persians by Aeschylus, directed by Christos Theodoridis (July 2 & 3), and The Bacchae directed by Deyan Donkov Gardev, featuring The Tiger Lillies live on stage (July 17 & 18). Next come Alcestis by Euripides, directed by Dimitris Karantzas, and Peace by Aristophanes, directed by Nikos Karathanos (July 24 & 25). The next production at the ancient theatre is The Trojan Women, directed by Eleni Efthymiou (July 31 and August 1), followed by Antigone by the Norwegian director and choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen, a choreographic approach inspired by and giving rhythm to tragic poetry. The Epidaurus Festival concludes with Lysistrata by the National Theatre of Northern Greece, directed by Asterios Peltikis (August 21 & 22), and Ion, directed by Thomas Moschopoulos.

LITTLE THEATER OF ANCIENT EPIDAURUS

The Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus is located in the Argolis prefecture of the Peloponnese. It is a half-hour drive from Nafplio and approximately two hours from Athens (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival, © Thomas Daskalakis)

Marta Górnicka, Mothers – A Song for Wartime (4.7.2026)

In recent years, Little Theatre of Epidaurus has no longer been intended solely for musical events, as it was in the past. This year, dance is also being incorporated into the program.

SYSTEMA

A major cultural policy announcement of the Festival is SYSTEMA – For the Greek Performing Arts, an important partnership between the Athens Epidaurus Festival, the National Theatre of Greece, and the Kalamata International Dance Festival, aimed at dynamically promoting Greek artistic creation abroad. In a joint statement, the Artistic Directors of the three institutions presented this initiative as a gesture of collaborative ethos.

VISUAL ARTS

VISUAL INSTALLATION Objects of Common Interest. The original light installation by the award-winning design studio Objects of Common Interest returns to Peiraios 260 this year, having by now become an integral part of the site’s visual identity. Founded by architects and designers Elena Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis – who work between Athens and New York – the studio focuses on the creation of sculptural objects and immersive environments that foreground the relationship between materiality and space.

(Source: https://www.athensvoice.gr/ /)

The post Athens Epidaurus Festival 2026 appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

The Athens Epidaurus Festival is Greece’s leading cultural organisation and one of the oldest running festivals in Europe. Spanning 70 years, the Festival has welcomed some of the greatest music, dance, and theatre artists from both the international and local scenes, in collaboration with prestigious Greek and international organisations, attracting large audiences from around the world (Cover photo: poster of the Festival by Beetroot).

In this landmark year, with 107 unique productions, more than 3,000 artists, across 14 venues and over 95 days, the Athens Epidaurus Festival promises an exciting artistic season aimed at an even broader audience. Legendary figures from the global stage will be featured, alongside the largest participation of young artists in the Festival's history. Of course, the artistic realms that gave birth to the institution and have been at the heart of its programme ever since —Ancient Drama and Classical Music— continue to hold a central role.

Stage Director and Artistic Director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, Katerina Evangelatos, stated that “this anniversary marks a moment of reflection, but also the birth of a new chapter. It is the perfect occasion to reassess the Festival’s relationship with its audience and the contemporary artistic scene”... “In this year’s anniversary programme, we welcome prominent figures of the Arts while simultaneously turning our gaze toward the future, offering a platform to the voices of the younger generation—on a scale unprecedented in our history! In addition, we launch thematic Cycles that draw from Literature and our cultural traditions. We give prominence to formidable women who are leading the way in Theatre, Dance, and Music. We create landmark global events in Epidaurus, unveiling a constellation of productions full of surprises. We invite artists from dozens of countries, making the international character of the festival more pronounced than ever. We initiate public discussions on the pressing agonies of our times, participate in film production, expand our free-access events, embark on new artistic journeys, and establish strategic partnerships that thrust the Festival into its next era”.

ODEON OF HERODES ATTICUS

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus - known as the "Herodeon" - is located on the southern slopes of the Acropolis, on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street. Entry to the Odeon is from the pedestrianised Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, a walkway linking Athens’ main archaeological sites (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival, © Thomas Daskalakis)

The programme at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus is defined by a cohesive Classical Music Cycle, featuring stellar names from the global stage. Grand orchestras and remarkable soloists, such as Yuja Wang, Daniil Trifonov, and Emmanuel Ax, will perform this year at the Roman Odeon, while, the supreme soloist Hilary Hahn will be performing with the Münchner Philharmoniker under the baton of conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Joining the celebration will be Greek “international” conductors, Constantinos Carydis and Teodor Currentzis. The programme of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus includes eminent figures of contemporary music, opera performances from the Greek National Opera, a grand tribute to the legacy of Mikis Theodorakis, Dance and Theatre productions.

The programme at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus includes, among other performances (from upper left to lower right): Greek National Opera, Turandot by Giacomo Puccini (June 1-8), Katerina Evangelatos, Hippolytus by Euripides, National Theatre of Greece (June 18-19), The Stranglers (June 23), Athens State Orchestra – Lukas Karytinos – Emanuel Ax, Works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn (June 28) Sydney Dance Company, Impermanence (July 4), The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra – Andrés Orozco-Estrada – Hilary Hahn, Works by Brahms and Dvořák (July 6), Chamber Orchestra of Europe – Constantinos Carydis – Francesco Piemontesi, Works by Koukos, Liszt, Purcell, Berlioz (July 10), Mikis Τheodorakis – Odysseas Elytis, Axion Esti, Athens State Orchestra conducted by Myron Michailidis (July 13), Greek National Opera—Derrick Inouye—Katerina Evangelatos, Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi (July 27-31)

PEIRAIOS 260

The Athens Festival venue at 260 Peiraios Street is a former industrial space  located at the Tavros district of Athens, and shares a city block with the Athens School of Fine Art (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival)

First-time participants in the Festival, young Greek creators, as well as trailblazing voices from the international stage, will present original works of Theatre and Dance at Peiraios 260. At the heart of this year’s programming lies the representation of as many artistic disciplines and languages as possible, embracing every breath of artistic expression, diverse forms, dramaturgies, repertoires, and creative contributors. However, the 70^th anniversary of the Festival would not be complete without some legendary figures, whose journeys have been intertwined not only with the history of the institution, such as Ariane Mnouchkine and the historic Théâtre du Soleil, and the visual artist and director William Kentridge.

The programme at Peiraios 260 includes, among other performances (from upper left to lower right): Christina Gouzelis - Paul Blackman, Far from the End (June 6-8), Back to Back Theatre, The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes (June 6-8), Idio Chichava, Vagabundus (June 6-8), El Conde de Torrefiel, La luz de un lago (June 12-14), Alexandra Waierstall, HEART MOMENT (June 12-13), Io Voulgaraki, Comemadre, based on the book by Roque Larraquy (june 13-16), Alexandros Stavropoulos, Who’s gonna tell her? (June 14-16), Thanasis Dovris, Sotiria, based on the short story collection by Chara Romvi (June 19-21), Faye Driscoll, Weathering (June 27-29)

Panagiota Kallimani Somehow, if not, at all, together (June 27-28), Carolina Bianchi—Cara de Cavalo, The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella /A Noiva e o Boa Noite Cinderela (July 5-6), Christos Thanos, War correspondents (July 5-8), Emily Louizou, Blindness, Based on the novel by José Saramago (July 5-8),  Miet Warlop, INHALE DELIRIUM EXHALE (July 7-8), Dafin Antoniadou, Darkest White (July 21-22), Katerina Giannopoulou, Phenomenon, By Greg Liakopoulos (July 21-24),  Sofia Antoniou, Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman Based on the book by Didier Eribon (July 21-24), Patricia Apergi, Hystory (July 21-24)

Handspring Puppet Company – William Kentridge, Faustus in Africa! (June 20-22). Within a meticulously orchestrated universe—populated almost entirely by puppets!— Kentridge tells the story of the protagonist who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for unlimited joy and everlasting youth—this time, setting it in Africa!

Live at the Platea: Live performances will take place throughout the artistic programme at Peiraios 260, following the main performances. Musical groups performing a diverse array of styles—from gypsy jazz, funk, and Latin to hip-hop, world music, and Balkan rhythms (May 30-July 27)

ANCIENT THEATER OF EPIDAURUS

The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus is located within the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Asklepios, in the Argolis prefecture of the Peloponnese. It is a half-hour drive from Nafplio and approximately two hours from Athens (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival)

A cornerstone of programming at Epidaurus, Ancient Drama remains the unwavering protagonist of a rich, pulsating tradition that constantly seeks new avenues of expression and communication with the current cultural momentum. In recent years, the Festival has designed and established initiatives that strengthen research, foster fruitful dialogue, and renew the genre. The Contemporary Ancients Cycle, is a project celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. From 2021 to 2024, thirteen original works have been presented at both theatres of Epidaurus by internationally acclaimed creators who responded to our call, demonstrating the timeless appeal of ancient myths.

This year, the Cycle is significantly enriched, among others by the distinguished dramaturg and director Wajdi Mouawad who will present Europa’s pledge, leading an international cast, celebrated French film actress Juliette Binoche.  Masters of theatrical Αrt, such as Theodoros Terzopoulos, Yannis Houvardas, and Michail Marmarinos, will bring their creations to the stage of the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus—a distillation of their remarkable journey in Theatre.

National Theatre of Northern Greece - Cyprus Theatre Organisation - Michail Marmarinos, ζ – η – θ The stranger, A return to the sources: a visit to three Odyssey rhapsodies (July 11-12)

Yannis Houvardas: Oedipus, Ancient Theater of Epidaurus. The story of a transformation: from darkness to light.  (July 25-26)

National Theatre – Theodoros Terzopoulos, Oresteia by Aeschylus (August 22-23)

LITTLE THEATER OF ANCIENT EPIDAURUS

The Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus is located in the Argolis prefecture of the Peloponnese. It is a half-hour drive from Nafplio and approximately two hours from Athens (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival, © Thomas Daskalakis)

At the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus, the month of July is purely dedicated to the Contemporary Ancients Cycle, featuring a programme not strictly theatrical but also rich in music-theatre and film projects, initiating an intriguing fusion of diverse genres and languages that proposes a brave and multi-dimensional approach for the future.

In an unexpected collaboration, the Festival joins hands with the Hellenic Film Academy to produce a film inspired by Sophocles’ Electra, directed by seven filmmakers—a direct nod to the seven decades of the institution’s existence.

GRAPE

GRAPE, the platform dedicated to promoting and exporting Greek performing arts worldwide, has reached its third year and become an indispensable part of the Festival. This year’s edition (July 21–26) welcomes more than 90 guests from over 30 countries. Alongside its rich programme of dynamic Greek artists—whose work will be showcased to artistic directors and heads of programming from across the globe—it launches a major collaboration with the European Festivals Association, and hosts an international forum on performing arts on July 23.

Greek artistic performances presented in the framework of GRAPE 2025. The performances included are also scheduled on dates outside the duration of the platform

SUBSET FESTIVAL – ATHENS CONSERVATOIRE

The Athens Conservatoire remains a steadfast companion in the organisation of the Subset Festival—returning this year with a more pronounced international character than ever. Featuring Ryoji Ikeda, Mouse on Mars ft. Dodo NKishi, Christina Vantzou, and many more artists and soloists, ensembles, and groups from Greece and abroad, the festival further boasts workshops, commissioned works, sound installations, and an enveloping electrifying atmosphere that showcases the new music right here in the heart of Athens. The series of concerts will take place across the Ioannis Despotopoulos Amphitheatre, the New Stage, and the Arts’ Foyer of the Athens Conservatoire.

VISUAL ARTS

On the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the Festival, Objects of Common Interest, the award-winning design studio, presents an innovative light installation at the spaces of Peiraios 260. The installation consists of tube lights in various shapes, arranged in countless configurations (June 1 – July 24)

Tenant is the title of a video installation by artist and video designer Pantelis Makkas, presented at Peiraios 260: a translucent house filled with images born and crafted for theatrical productions in which he has collaborated over the past fifteen years (July 5-24)

A travel back in time through posters that have adorned the Athens Epidaurus Festival during its 70 consecutive years of operation. In order of appearance, creators of the posters are (from  upper left to lower right): 1955 Giorgos Anemogiannis, 1968 Nikos Kostopoulos, 1975 Nikos Kostopoulos, 1989 Nikos Kostopoulos, 1994 Takis, 2022 Kostas Tsoklis, 2017 Iphigenia Vasileiou, 2024 Beetroot (Source: Athens Epidaurus Festival)

I.A.

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