The 2010 Olympics kick off tonight in Vancouver – but it will be hard for the opening ceremony to top this.
The Panathenean Stadium (Panathinaiko Stadio) of Athens, an ancient 90,000 seat all-marble stadium, was the site of the Opening Ceremony of the 6th IAAF World Championships in Athletics of 1997.
Vangelis Papathanasiou handled the music & the artistic direction of the event.
via 1964Byron:
Vangelis did not only write the music for the opening ceremony but he was also involved in the general direction of all other artistic aspects. During his personal concert performance which was accompanied by Montserrat Caballe, the infamous Spanish (Catalan) Soprano and her daughter Montserrat-Marti for two new creations of his and ended the event.Vangelis had also composed a new Anthem for the IAAF which was heard for the first time at the opening ceremony of the Panathenian Stadium.
As Reuters wrote in an interview of Vangelis, Whether it’s exploring space, conquering an athlete’s inner limits or discovering a new continent, Greek composer Vangelis has made the music to match.
The top-selling artist, who has an asteroid between Jupiter and Mars named after him, and his new choral symphony Mythodea, was chosen by NASA to accompany its Mars Odyssey mission and whose theme of “Chariots of Fire” won an Academy Award said that performing his work in Greece was “appropriate” as “They work more naturally here. They are a product of this country, the same way I am a product of this country”.
A record 200 countries participated in the event and was watched by 3.3 billion television viewers in 212 countries and many Greek officials believed helped give Greece the 2004 Olympic Games.
Many of the journalists present at the ceremony insisted that Vangelis ceremony was better than any prior Olympic Opening Ceremonies they watched.
The opening ceremony topped it. But hey, its 2010, and technology has come a long way.
The opening ceremony in Vancouver was even better than the Beijing opening ceremony last summer. The integration of the floor display technology with real effects was amazing. The line-up of top talent, singers, actors, etc., was beyond that for most prior ceremonies. The interaction of the audience with the show was multi-faceted and very creative. I thought the segment with the single flyer moving to the Joni Mitchell song was breathtaking. Way to go Canada!!!
The opening ceremony topped it. But it was of 2010, and technology has come a long way now. Apps like https://appspopo.com/tutuapp/ are trending all over the web.