20 September 2017
At the invitation of Chinese Minister for Culture Mr Luo Shugang, Ms Lydia Koniordou, Minister for Culture and Sports of the Republic of Greece, visited China from September 17 to 25, 2017, during which bilateral talks will be held. At the same time, Minister Koniordou will attend the second Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Exposition and a series of activities within the framework of the "Sino-Western Cultural Exchange and Cultural Industry Cooperation Year".. Taking advantage of her visit to China, the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) invited Minister Koniordou to open the Greek Theatre Research Center of STA and discuss the cooperation between Greece and STA.
Minister Koniordou has a special and deep feeling towards STA. She said that visiting STA again is like coming back home. In 2013, Mr Long Junjie, dean of STA Acting Department at that time, visited the National Drama School of Greece and signed an agreement inviting them to send an excellent teacher to hold workshops at the Acting Department of our school. Thus, in 2014, the National Drama School of Greece appointed Ms Lydia Koniordou (who was a professor at the National Drama School of Greece at that time) to hold a week-long workshop on the theme of ancient Greek drama for the students of the Year 2013 Inner Mongolia Class of the STA Acting Department, which was warmly responded by the students. In 2015, Mr Long Junjie invited her to come to STA again to direct a production of the ancient Greek tragedy “Alcestis” with the Year 2012 students of the Acting Department, which was once again a great success. In July this year, Ms Lydia Koniordou, in her capacity as Greek Minister for Culture and Sports, invited Mr Gong Baorong, Vice President of STA, to visit Athens, Greece for discussions on cooperation matters.
At the meeting, Mr Lou Wei, Chairman of STA first expressed his warm welcome on behalf of STA to Minister Koniordou and the Greek Consul General in Shanghai Mr Vassilis Xiros for their visit. He hoped that through the visit of the Minister, the exchanges between the two peoples as well as the arts and culture circles could be increased. Ancient Greek drama has a profound influence on the western drama and the development of contemporary drama continues to draw inspiration from the ancient Greek drama constantly. STA has established the Greek Theater Research Center, hoping to use this as a platform to strengthen cooperation with Greek art institutions and artists in the future to better promote domestic research on ancient Greek drama and Greek contemporary drama. Minister Koniordou reviewed the experience of teaching at the STA, and the teachers and students of STA have left her a deep and pleasant impression. She also talked about her understanding of Chinese opera. Both China and Greece have a long tradition of theatrical art and "with the ancient art of drama as a breakthrough point, we can carry out artistic practice and exchange across time and geographical space”. Minister Koniordou hoped that in the future, the artists of the two countries can further strengthen the cooperation in research and culture through the intercollegiate exchange platform, and expressed her keen willingness to provide resources for such cooperation and exchange.
Finally, Minister Koniordou and Chairman Lou Wei unveiled the plaque for the Shanghai Theater Academy Greek Drama Research Center. Participants at the unveiling ceremony also included Greek Consul General in Shanghai Mr Vassilis Xiros, STA Vice President Mr Gong Baorong and the relevant department/office heads of STA.
