ORIGINS / director’s cut

final scene

OPENING CEREMONY
FIRST EUROPEAN GAMES

conceived, visualised and directed by
DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU

Baku 2015

the final fifteen minutes that lit the fire of the first European Games
on 12 June 2015 in Baku

a story created with the ingredients of Azerbaijan, land of FIRE

an iconic Azerbaijani CARPET
the sound of MUGHAM
the mud volcanoes that make vast CRACKED EARTH landscapes
a SEMENI plate with green sprouting wheat, symbol of NOVRUZ,
a festival rooted in ZOROASTRIANISM that celebrates spring and rebirth
FIRE MOUNTAIN (YANAR DAG), where eternal fires burn from the ground
prehistoric PETROGLYPHS — among the earliest images created by humans — carved into the rocks at GOBUSTAN
the CASPIAN sea
a traditional MALE DANCE
the story of LEYLI & MAJNUN, a legendary unfulfilled love from the epic poem by NIZAMI
where Majnun becomes a “holy fool”, a hermit on a MOUNTAIN who envisions
the image of Leyli as the manifestation of the divine

featuring mugham legend ALIM QASIMOV
orchestral scores by Azerbaijan’s great composers GARA GARAYEV and FIKRET AMIROV
and the theme from the traditional song SARI GELIN

this is the story of an epic wedding of FEMALE and MALE forces
the perfect alignment of the MOON and SUN to create an ECLIPSE
like the one seen over EUROPE on the first day of Novruz in 2015

with

ALIM QASIMOV
mugham legend

NARGIZ NASIRZADA
woman

AYDAMIR AYDAMIROV
man

and over 1750 volunteer performers from Azerbaijan

orchestral score by
GARA GARAYEV
FIKRET AMIROV

traditional music
“Sari Gelin” song
“Yalli” dance

mugham poetry written specially by
KHOSRO SARTIPI

ORIGINS storyboard artwork by DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
download the PDF (2.4MB) here: bit.ly/dpORart

ORIGINS (2015)

conceived, visualised and directed by DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU

TEODOR CURRENTZIS & VANGELINO CURRENTZIS
music directors

THANASSIS DEMIRIS & EVA MANIDAKI
production designers

ROBERT A. DICKINSON
lighting designer

YASHI
costume designer

ERIC TUCKER
pyrotechnic designer

NIKOS LAGOUSAKOS
male dance & yalli choreographer

TINA PAPANIKOLAOU
associate artistic director

STEPHANOS DROUSSIOTIS
artistic associate & music script

KYRIACOS KARSERAS
artistic associate & texts

CATHERINE UGWU
director of ceremonies

NICK ELTIS
senior technical director

SCOTT GIVENS
executive producer

video edited by DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
with footage from show night and two dress rehearsals

directed for television by GREG BREAKELL

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