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The Delphic Preview 2025
Festival of the Muses: Along the Sacred Way
Friday, August 22nd through Saturday, August 23rd, 2025
Hosted by Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, D.C.
Free of charge
Join us for this two-day gathering that celebrates the living spirit of the ancient Delphic Games through a contemporary lens—where myth breathes, music resounds, and the Muses rise anew. Presented by Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in collaboration with the Isadora Duncan International Institute, the Ecumenical Delphic Union, and the Committee for the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games, the Festival marks a vital step in the international movement to restore these sacred traditions globally.
Through lectures, performances, workshops, and discussions, participants engage with ancient Greek culture in vibrant, modern forms—poetry, dance, theater, sport, song, and ritual—culminating thematically in an experiential procession along the “Sacred Way.”
This “Delphic Preview” serves as a practicum for the upcoming full five-day Festival for the Reinstatement of the Delphic Games, to be held in Delphi, Greece, in Summer 2027, and extends into the Garden of the Muses, a growing archive of creative offerings in word, sound, and movement.
Scholars, artists, and the public are warmly invited to attend. We welcome proposals from academics and enthusiasts alike—whether presentations, performances, or workshops—on themes relating to Delphi, the Delphic Games, Apollo, the Muses, mythology, and their unique ties to the Delphic tradition in sport, art, music, dance, poetry, theater, and song.
This event is free to the public and will culminate in a festive performance at 7pm on Saturday the 23rd
Presented by
Panos Kaltsis, Founder and President, Ecumenical Delphic Union
Zoie Lafis, Festival Co-Chair, Executive Director, Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies
Jeanne Bresciani, Festival Founding Chair, Artistic Director, Isadora Duncan International Institute
with Committee Members
Rosemary Cooper, Isadora Duncan International Institute
Mary DiSanto-Rose, Skidmore College
Cynthia Word, Word Dance Theater
Please note that general workshop participants are invited to perform in movement choir dances and
poetic tableaux vivants during the performance
Honored Guest Presenter
Paris Katsivelos
Paris (Paraskevas) Katsivelos is a Greek Actor, Director, and Professor of the Dramatic Arts. He comes from the island of Thassos, Greece. He studied Acting, Directing, Stage Design – Costume design, Monody - Melodramatics, Kinesiology - Choreography, and Scenic Art. For more than four decades, he has taught Acting, Education of Speech, Improvisation, Specialized Dramatic Art Workshops, Special Dramatic Art Retraining Seminars for professional Actors, in Higher Schools of Dramatic Art, Theatrical Workshops, and at Universities in Greece and abroad. He is a tenured professor at the European Institute of Communication (ECI), Austrian University D.U.K. and the NTUA (National Technical University of Athens), at the master's program “Quality Journalism and New Technologies,” where he teaches his own section “Education of Quality Communication – Dramatics for Communicators.”
He has played characteristic roles in twenty-nine theatrical and forty-three TV productions. He has participated in four motion pictures and several serial or one-off radio shows. He has been a permanent Announcer, Radio and Music Editor of the radio broadcasts of the Ministry of Rural Development for thirty years. He is an Honorary Doctor of the Academy of Education and Sciences of Ukraine and a Doctor of Practical Philosophy and Philosophy of Sciences W.PH.F. University (USE, UNO). He is the Chairman and VP of the Organising Committee of the World Philosophical Forum, Responsible for the Development of Culture and Intercultural Dialogue and a permanent speaker at it. For the World Philosophical Forum, he is also: World Ambassador of Peace, World Ambassador of Good and Light, Ecumenical Ambassador of Intellect and Arts, Citizen of the World.
2025 Schedule and Further Presenters Coming Soon...
A Sampling of Past 'Preview' Workshops and Lectures
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Welcome from Zoie Lafis, Co-Chair
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Introduction, “A Return to Greece” by Jeanne Bresciani, Founding Chair
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Keynote Address “A Lifelong Delphic Vision” by the Honorable, Former Mayor of Delphi, Panagiotis Kaltsis
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Plenary Session on the “Delphic Ideal”
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Interdisciplinary ‘Tableaux Vivants’ in the Lively Arts - Intimations of Parnassus: The Dancing Grounds
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"Epic, Hymns, and Invocations" - Live solo musical performance by Bettina Joy de Guzman, followed by a discussion about ancient Greek music
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“Sensing Divinity: On Ancient Greek Spirituality” - Dr. Christoph Quarch, Philosopher, Author, Founder of The New Platonic Academy
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Variations on "Gaia Rise" - Artemis Herber, Chair of Material Culture
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“Ripples: Duncan & Wilde” Open Reading - Ravenna Wilde, Author and Playwright
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“The Pythian Games: The Real Modern Olympic Games” - Jeffrey O. Segrave, Ph.D., Olympic and Pythian Games Specialist, David H. Porter Endowed Chair, Skidmore College
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“Sappho and Isadora: Once Again This Time” - Cynthia Word, Soloist, Choreographer and Founding Director, Word Dance Theater
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“The Art of Improvisation - Jazz Improv and Artificial Intelligence” - Dimitri Vassilakis, Internationally Acclaimed Greek Saxophonist, Vocalist, Composer and Educator
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“The Greek Logos” - Pr. Paris Katsivelos - Pr. in European Communication Institut, University Kremps
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"Rekindling the Ancient World" - 3D Immersive Reconstructions of the Temple of Apollo, Vince Gagliardi
View Excerpts from the
2021 Leaders' Colloquia
Amidst the global pandemic the Delphic Preview was held onsite in Delphi, Greece amongst core committee members, presenters and delegates as an organizing, planning experience
Event Details:
Date: Friday, August 22nd through Saturday, August 23rd, 2025
Location: The Center for Hellenic Studies
3100 Whitehaven St NW, Washington, DC 20008
Schedule:
Coming Soon