International music festival in Crete

It started as a daily concert and today it has become the most important international music festival in the area of Makrigialos and probably in all the island of Crete... The Casa dei Mezzo Music Festival started in 2004 with two music concerts in a single day and over the years it has matured quickly. Run by a non-profit organization, Casa dei Mezzo presently hosts a 6-day festival of international music. Greeka.com contacted Mr Nikos Tsikalakis, one of the organizers of the festival who narrated us its story. "The mastermind and president of this festival is Gunnar Stromsholm, who had the idea during the construction of his villa named Casa dei Mezzo in Makrigialos. In particular, he thought that the yard of the villa could perfectly work as a concert space. Therefore, with good infrastructure and artistic visions, the festival started in 2004 with a piano concert of Oystein Sevag, who composed and dedicated to the newly-constructed villa the musical work Casa dei Mezzo, which is included in his CD entitled Caravan. It took only 5 years for the festival to become a 6-day celebration of Greek and Classical Music for all over Crete." What kind of events does the festival include? The festival presents classical music, Greek and international music, chorus and orchestras. Soloists and groups come from Norway, Spain, Ukraine, Italy, France, UK, Germany and other countries to this small piece of land in Makrigialos, South Eastern Crete, to charm us with their music. Artists are mostly friends and acquaintances of the directors of the festival, which is why the majority comes to perform without profit. Gunnar Stromsholm, in particular, as a sponsor of London Symphony Orchestra and member of the famous Norwegian music festival RISOR, is friend with artists of international fame. In fact, every year more and more remarkable Greek and foreign artists are interested to take part in Casa dei Mezzo festival. As all these artists stay in Makrigialos during the festival, a charming and artistic atmosphere is created. Our ambition is to make Makrigialos famous all over the world as a tourist destination, like other places in Crete, such as Samaria, Knossos or Vai. When will the 2010 festival take place? The next festival, which is the 7th in the row, will take place in June 24th-29th, 2010.