Upcoming events
Our events are open to anyone interested in Greek and Cypriot culture. Most events are free and conducted in English.
Filter events
Apollo Cokkinis: Proud Greek, Proud Briton: From Odessa and Smyrna to London and Dorking
Alan Charlton ex British diplomat and author of Apollo Cokkinis – From Odessa To Dorking, An Extraordinary Life (published June 2022) will talk about the amazing life of Apollo John Cokkinis, son of international Greek opera singers with whom he travelled widely as a child.
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required

Smyrna On My Mind
35th Levantine Heritage Foundation gathering in London with guest speaker George Galdies
Presentation and launch of the book “Smyrna On My Mind” by George Galdies; a collection of his late father’s thought-provoking memories of Smyrna in the 1920s, and the author’s own narratives on growing up in the Izmir of the mid-twentieth century.
Organised by the Levantine Heritage Foundation
Members LHF / HC £5, Non-members £10 tickets available from Eventbrite

St Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Abbot Hadrian
A talk by historian Michael Wood.
Organised by the Anglo-Hellenic League.
The Refugee Lesson: Life in Kokkinia Among the Mikrasiates of 1923
An illustrated presentation about life in Kokkinia/Nikaia, a settlement created to house Orthodox Christians expelled from their homeland through the Lausanne Convention of 1923. The speaker Professor Renée Hirschon lived there for over a year in 1970 and has maintained her ties up to the present day.
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required

Story Telling in Mathematics
Story telling in mathematics can be a fascinating way to draw connections between mathematical discoveries (or inventions!) and the needs of the times they were emerging.
Ioanna Georgiou will discuss some of the stories that have been used in teaching and workshops, and that feature in “Mathematical Adventures!” and “Peculiar Deaths of Famous Mathematicians”, her two illustrated children’s books with special focus on Greek mathematicians.
Organised at The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required

How will Technology Continue to Impact Our Everyday Lives?
While Technology is part of almost every aspect of daily life now, the emergence of smart technologies will shape our wellbeing in the future.
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required
Thessaloniki during the Byzantine Era
An illustrated lecture.
Organised by the Macedonian Society of Great Britain
Tears, Treachery… and Just A Little Murder
Dame Siân Phillips and Stephen Greif give voice to the different responses of male and female figures in Greek literature as they experience the big emotions like love, desire and hate. Both genders show they can be extremely vengeful. It’s as if very little has changed in the last 2,000 years, only the scenery.
Organised by the Hellenic Centre
£20

Byzantine Music: an Ode to God and its Path through Time
A talk in Greek and English with live chanting.
Organised by Omilos Eksipiretiton.
Free entry; bookings: 07960 797435 or info@omilos-eksipiretiton.gr
Screening of Bouboulina
Premiere of Bouboulina (Kostas Andritsos, 1959) with English subtitles with an introduction by Dr Lydia Papadimitriou.
Starring Irene Papas in one of her early, but highly influential roles, Bouboulina is the only biopic of the notorious heroine and one of the relatively few historical films on the Greek Revolution. A low-budget production and a labour of love for its unassuming director-editor Kostas Andritsos, the film presents a chronological account of Laskarina Bouboulina’s life focusing on her free spirit, her mental and physical strength, and her dedication to the cause of national liberation.
Image caption: Irene Papas as Bouboulina gives an inspirational speech at the launch of the Revolution. Still from Bouboulina reproduced with permission from Alexis Andritsos and Panagiotis Kakavias.
Organised by the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London, the Society for Modern Greek Studies and supported by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required

Smyrna Day – Songs of Asia Minor
Asia Minor music reflects the synthesis of the western tradition of polyphony with the eastern tradition of modes and microtones. During the great population movement in the Balkans in the early 20th century, outstanding musicians from Constantinople, Smyrna and the west coast of Asia Minor settled on the Greek islands and ports. They integrated into the local music scenes and gave shape to a new musical genre identified as “Asia Minor Song”, “Santurovioli” or “Early Rebetika”.
Music by Kyriakos Gouventas Collective.
Organised by the Hellenic Centre
£15, HC Members and concessions £13
Combined ticket with The Promise £20, HC Members and concessions £18

Smyrna Day – The Promise
With award winning performance storyteller Anna Conomos-Wedlock
The Promise is a powerful and evocative story written and dramatically performed by the award-winning international Performance Storyteller, Anna Conomos-Wedlock. Anna’s performance of the story is dynamic, interactive and theatrical, drawing on the meaning of homeland, displacement, memory and friendship and set against the backdrop of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1922.
The Promise is a story suitable for both adults and children over the age of 7.
Organised by the Hellenic Centre
Adults £10, Children (7 years and above) £7
Combined ticket with the Songs of Asia Minor Recital £20, HC Members and concessions £18

The Nicosia Airport – A Photographic Journey
Award winning photographer, Marina Antoniou, will share her experience of photographing the Nicosia airport.
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, optional donation appreciated. RSVP required
Life After Life: Greeks of Istanbul
Film screening of “Life After Life: Greeks of Istanbul” by Dr. Gonul Bozoglu & Cem Hakverdi and a follow-up discussion with Dr Gonul Bozoglu who produced and co-directed it. Dr. Bozoglu will also talk about the ‘memory map’ project she has been developing as part of her research, a repository of histories and memories of the Greek ‘Rum’ Community of Istanbul.
Organised by The Association of Constantinopolitan Greeks in the UK (ACGUK) and The Hellenic Centre.
RSVP latest by Monday 7th November

Greek Maritime Tradition & Innovation: The Oinoussians
An event organised by Isalos.net, Naftika Chronika and the Oinoussai Benevolent Fund.
A Family Christmas Concert with Asterakia and Rebetiko Carnival
Come and join us for an interactive family concert! Our star has fallen out of the sky and landed on earth. With a fun storyline and live musical instruments, we will get ready for Christmas. Asterakia is collaborating with great musicians from the Rebetiko Carnival. At the end of the children will have the opportunity to try the piano, the violin, the bass, the cello, the clarinet and the percussion instruments.
Organised by the Hellenic Centre
£12 adults, £8 children, £35 family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children)
A Vain Endeavour : Greek Rule in Asia Minor, 1919-1922
Against the backdrop of intense military operations, complicated diplomatic negotiations, fraught domestic politics and the inexorable rise of Turkish nationalism, Dr Victoria Solomonidis-Hunter FKC (UCL) will assess the pioneering work of the Greek Administration of Asia Minor which attempted to govern equitably over a widely disparate population.
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required

Lyktos, “the most ancient city in Crete, and the source of the bravest men” (Polyb. 4.54): from Foundation to Destruction
A lecture on the history and archaeology of Lyktos from its alleged foundation to its dramatic destruction by its arch rival, Knossos, in 220 BCE.
Organised by the Greek Archaeological Committee UK.
Free entry; further information: www.gacuk.org or admin@gacuk.org.
Biennial Andrew David Memorial Lecture
Political Prizes, Human Costs
Author and journalist Bruce Clark, drawing on his book “Twice A Stranger” and subsequent research, explains why a near-total and compulsory population exchange seemed expedient to all the parties at the Lausanne conference – and considers the long-term consequences for both Greece and Turkey.
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry – optional donation appreciated; booking essential

Smyrna, September 1922: Memories of “others”
A talk by Dr Victoria Solomonidis-Hunter FKC (UCL) consisting of readings from the memoirs of three Americans and one Turk who all witnessed the fire and have written about it.
Organised by the Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required
Christoforos Savva: Unbound
Curated by Marina Christodoulidou, is the first ever show in London for the pioneering Cypriot artist, Christoforos Savva.
Organised by The Cultural Services of the Cyprus Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth and The Hellenic Centre
Free Entry

The Wake of 1922 in Literature
A talk by Dr Natasha Lemos on emblematic works of Greek and Turkish literature inspired by the war of 1919-1922 and its aftermath which continue to shape public perceptions of the events themselves.
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free entry, RSVP required
Opera Classics
An introduction to the very best of the Operatic world. If you think you’re not familiar with arias (songs in Opera), join Christina Tsirogianni and pianist Eunji Han for a pleasant surprise!
Organised by The Hellenic Centre
Free Event, RSVP required
