GIANNIS GEORGANTELIS official site
Pictures: Caterina Veroutsou
The Carnival of Miracles and Monsters The Carnival of Miracles and Monsters is a musical fairy tale written by Michalis Makropoulos with lyrics and music by Giannis Georgantelis, for symphony orchestra, children’s choir and soloists.
In the magical city of Carnival the whole year passes preparing for the big celebration. On the one hand, there is the terrible King of the Night with his army of demons and monsters and the scary black cats, and on the other hand the bright queen of the day with her army of animals and birds. Two children arrive in the town with their parents. They wear the most beautiful costumes that have ever been made because their secret is the love of their mother. But the evil King bitterly jealous of these uniforms kidnaps the children to learn the secret.
And there begins the adventure including two courageous children , demons , cats , battles between good and evil, huge floats and much more.
Greek-Canadian production of Chromamusika ( Montreal ) with the Orchestre Symphonique Pop de Montreal and 45 children from the greek schools of Montreal (Socrates-Chromamusika choir) . Featuring soloists: Dimitris Ilias , Maria Diamantis , Marialena Spinoula , Makis Papgavriil and the children Constantinos Delis and Dina Willis Markopoulos. Orchestra conductor Mark Dharmaratnam. Choir conducors Dimitris Ilias - Maria Diamantis .
The recordings took place in Montreal and Athens.
Narration provided by Makis Papagavriil.
Published November 2009 by Nakas publishing house, Athens (Book & CD) and illustrated by Katerina Veroutsou.
 Recordings in Oscar Peterson Hall (Montreal) |  Orchestre Symphonique Pop De Montreal |
|---|---|
 Orchestra recordings with Prof. Dr Mark Corwin & Dimitris Ilias |  Theater performance in Phillipos Nakas Hall with the dance group "Dance of Art" |
 Maria Diamantis - Dimitris Ilias (rehersals) |  Rehersals (performance in Socrates Hellenic Schools - Montreal) |
 Orchestre Symphonique Pop de Montreal |  Marialena Spinoula , performance in "Phillipos Nakas" Hall. |
The Carnival of Miracle and Monsters
(The making)
Le Carnaval des merveilles et des monstres (French adaptation)
This is no ordinary city! It is the magical city of Carnival, home to the terrifying King of the Night and his demons, as well as the Queen of the Day and her army of birds and animals.
Olivier and Coralie live with their parents in a small village. Every year, they travel to the city for Carnival. For the occasion, they wear the costumes their mother makes for them from old pieces of fabric, sewn with great care and, above all, with lots of love.
As soon as they arrive, the two children are kidnapped by the envious King of the Night, who covets their costumes: for Olivier, the Sky, covered with clouds and stars; and for Coralie, the Earth, covered with multicolored flowers. But the children fight back bravely.
Will they emerge victorious from this ambush? To be continued… in this funny and wonderful story, full of adventure and music.
The CD is a production of Chroma Musika, in collaboration with the Laval School Board, under the musical direction of Maria Diamantis and Dimitris Ilias. The project was also joined by the magnificent choirs of Des Cèdres and Marcel-Vaillancourt schools, under the direction of Frédéric Brunel and Frédéric Lefebvre.
The original English text was written by Glen Huser, from Vancouver, and translated by Robert Paquin.
The illustrations are by Philippe Béha.
Narrator: François Lavalée.
The book was published by Planète Rebelle in October 2018.
In 2019, Carnival of Marvels and Monstersis also translated into English. The songs are again reworked in polyphony while there is also new material.
The translation was done by Marcia Couelle and the transcription of the songs into English was done by Dimitris Ilias and Maria Diamanti.
It was released by the publishing house Planéte Rebele.