Discover Ancient Choral Dances
A hands-on music-making course for all levels, set in the magical ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ Matera
19–23 January 2026
Led by Stefan Hagel & Ian Rutherford (Ancient Greek language & metrical scholarship), Stef Conner (voice & stagecraft), Barnaby Brown (aulos & polyrhythms), and Elisa Anzellotti (historically-informed dance)
- All
- Matera
- Workshops
- Group shots
Report
We had a wonderful week with our experts and participants. Excitingly, we made a lot of progress in our research into the rhythmic realisation of Pindar’s complex metres (particularly his 9th paean) with the support of Stefan Hagel and Ian Rutherford. We also learnt a strophe of Alcman’s Partheneion with Barnaby and explored some of the possibilities for how to dance to it with the help of Eliza Anzellotti. Sappho also made an appearance with a fascinating session on how to perform her Call to Aphrodite led by Stef Conner with fantastic contributions from Stefan and Evalyn Keefe (one of our participants).
We also enjoyed sessions on everything from lyre playing and singing technique to Attic Greek pronunciation with our wonderful tutors and even had time to explore Matera’s famous canyon, enjoy some of Matera’s excellent restaurants, and visit the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto (MArTA).
Brochure
Join a unique four-day course at ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ Matera, where ancient Greek choral song and dance come alive. Guided by world-leading tutors, you’ll explore the rich choral culture that developed in Sparta and Athens. We will focus on masterpieces from the seventh and fifth centuries BCE: Alcman’s Partheneion, Pindar’s Olympian 2, and Pindar’s Paean 9. Through group rehearsals, language and movement workshops, and one-to-one coaching, you’ll gain practical skills and fresh perspectives on an activity that was core to ancient Greek civilisation. We will explore how its rap-like polyrhythms brought society together in ritual and celebration. The course offers immersive vocal coaching, research-informed pronunciation practice, dynamic movement sessions, and synchronized rhythm training in an extraordinary setting.
- Immerse yourself in original songs by Pindar, Sappho and Alcman with historically informed pronunciation and lively ancient rhythms.
- Discover Greek song-dance culture, exploring how tongues and toes intertwined for enjoyment, celebration, and ritual, bringing every member of society together.
- Enjoy 22 hours of guidance from internationally recognised experts in ancient music, language, and dance.
- End the week with experimental choral-dance performances in ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ Matera’s magical setting, pushing research frontiers arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder with specialists.
- Join a close-knit ensemble (maximum 16 participants) and become part of an international community bringing Classical masterpieces out of silence, giving them new life and meaning.
A once-in-a-lifetime setting for ancient music
What makes this course unforgettable isn’t just the rare opportunity to bring ancient songs to life through voice and movement, but also the place and the people. Matera’s rock-hewn dwellings and timeless atmosphere create the perfect stage to reconnect with ancient traditions. In a small group, every voice is heard and every step counts, fostering a sense of belonging that traverses continents and epochs. You’ll be part of a creative community, guided by passionate tutors who blend scholarship and artistry to awaken ancient Greek choral art in ways you won’t find anywhere else.
This is the third course in an annual winter training programme developed by Lotos Lab for ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ Matera and open to all. Each month, the music-making course has a different focus. Our January focus is on molpē, the primordial intertwining of song, music, and dance associated with enjoyment, celebration, and ritual. Its rhythms are considered a precursor to formal poetry, and its muses are Terpsichore and Melpomene.
What participants say:
“I very much enjoyed the “experience first” based approach that mimics the aural tradition.”
“I felt completely safe doing things that are normally out of my comfort zone. The energy was so positive and I think that makes a huge difference, because it makes us more confident to explore and learn.”
“Having the individual instructor feedback is excellent and the information content is top tier.”
We made the following video on the December course. It is is a kind of karaoke track to help us memorize the Ancient Greek words rhythmically; also to solicit multi-perspective feedback. We are on a journey, testing and developing experimental solutions for Pindar’s polymetric song-dances, so we can hit the ground running on 19 January and build something durable as a team:
All the practical info
Dates and times
Programme details may change slightly
Arrivals (ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ check-in from 15:00)
18:00 – 18:45 Water sanctuary ritual (for ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ residents only, max 6 people)
19:00 – 20:00 Symposium (for ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ residents only, period dress compulsory! Ancient Greek chitons will be provided)
20:00 Welcome meal at Le Botteghe (a 1-minute walk below the ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ). Fixed price of €7 or €12 for ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ course participants throughout the week for lunch and dinner
Tutors present today: Iain Rutherford, Stef Conner, and Barnaby Brown
10:00 – 10:30 Physical warm-up and introduction to the course with Barnaby
10:30 – 11:00 Introduction to the repertoire, historical context, and research questions with Ian
11:00 – 11:40 Pindar, Olympian 2, 1st rehearsal
11:40 – 11:50 Break
11:50 – 12:30 Alcman, Partheneion, 1st rehearsal
11:50 – 12:30 Pindar, Paean 9, 1st rehearsal
13:15 – 15:00 Lunch & rest time
15:00 – 15:45 Participatory workshop on the Sapphic stanza with Stef, experiencing alternative approaches singing the Call to Aphrodite
15:45 – 17:45 Individual practice time or sign up for one-to-one / small-group sessions with the tutors
17:45 – 18:00 Break
18:00 – 18:45 Water sanctuary ritual for ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ residents (max 6 people)
19:00 – 20:00 Symposium (period dress compulsory! Ancient Greek chitons will be provided)
20:00 Group dinner at Le Botteghe
Tutors present today: Stefan Hagel, Iain Rutherford, Stef Conner, and Barnaby Brown
9:00 Cars depart for an optional trip to MArTA (Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Taranto) where Stefan Hagel and Kamila Wysłucha have been measuring musical instruments
13:15 Lunch at Le Due Fontane, Via Anfiteatro, 54 (a five-minute walk from MArTA)
14:30 Cars depart from Le Due Fontane, bringing Stefan back to Matera with us
16:00 – 16:45 Pindar, Olympian 2, 2nd rehearsal
16:45 – 17:30 Alcman, Partheneion, 2nd rehearsal
17:30 – 17:45 Break
17:45 – 18:30 Pindar, Paean 9, 2nd rehearsal
18:45 – 19:45 Special water sanctuary ritual for course participants & tutors (period dress compulsory! Ancient Greek chitons will be provided)
20:00 – 21:30 Symposium led by Ian and Stefan, with poetical and musical contributions from course participants, ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ staff, Barnaby, and Stef
Tutors present today: Stef Conner, Iain Rutherford, Stefan Hagel, and Barnaby Brown
10:00 – 10:30 Vocal warm-up with Stef & synchronized movement training with Barnaby
10:30 – 11:30 Pindar, Olympian 2, 3rd rehearsal
11:30 – 11:45 Break
11:45 – 12:30 Alcman, Partheneion, 3rd rehearsal
12:30 – 13:15 Pindar, Paean 9, 3rd rehearsal
13:15 – 15:00 Lunch & rest time
15:00 – 15:45 Participatory workshop with Stefan on the questions, insights, and anxieties generated by our experiments thus far
15:45 – 17:45 Individual practice time or sign up for one-to-one / small-group sessions with the tutors
17:45 – 18:00 Break
18:00 – 20:00 4th rehearsal of all three dances, preparing for Elisa’s arrival, interwoven with symposium discussions exploring the questions:
- Why sing and dance solidly for over ten minutes, synchronising movements as a group?
- What are we aware of in living cultures that may help us to understand molpē better?
- Why do some societies integrate singing and rhythmic movement, while others separate the two activities?
- What cultural values and beliefs are being reflected and reinforced in these three compositions?
- What are the potential benefits of molpē to health and wellbeing today?
- How do we take our experience here in the ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ out into the world?
Tutors present today: Elisa Anzellotti, Barnaby Brown, Stefan Hagel, and Iain Rutherford
10:00 – 10:30 Physical warm-up and introduction to evidence-based movement with Elisa
10:30 – 11:30 Pindar, Olympian 2, 5th rehearsal
11:30 – 11:45 Break
11:45 – 12:30 Alcman, Partheneion, 5th rehearsal
12:30 – 13:15 Pindar, Paean 9, 5th rehearsal
13:15 – 16:00 Lunch & rest time. If it’s not raining, optional expedition to caves on the other side of the canyon with picnic lunch (hiking footwear essential)
16:00 – 17:15 Pindar, Olympian 2, dress rehearsal & video production for YouTube, sharing and discussing our experiment. What did we learn?
17:15 – 18:30 Alcman, Partheneion, dress rehearsal & video production for YouTube, sharing and discussing our experiment. What did we learn?
18:30 – 18:45 Break
18:45 – 20:00 Pindar, Paean 9, dress rehearsal & video production for YouTube, sharing and discussing our experiment. What did we learn?
20:00 Farewell dinner at Le Botteghe
Departures after breakfast OR lessons by arrangement with Elisa Anzellotti, who remains for staff training on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th
Location
ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ Matera, Gradelle S. Nicola del Sole, 3, Sassi di Matera, Italy
What’s included
- Tuition (22 hours in total)
- Course materials (including pronunciation guides, karaoke videos, and sheet music)
- Final collaborative performance
Who’s it for?
Open to beginners, enthusiasts, and experienced performers alike: anyone keen to dance and sing in Ancient Greek, to play aulos/lyre leading choruses, or to refine their research (linguistic or musical) through embodied experience and multi-perspective collaboration.
Course fees
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- Standard £400 Covers all of your small group and individual tuition with Ian Rutherford, Stef Conner, Barnaby Brown, Stefan Hagel, and Elisa Anzellotti: 22 hours of formal tutor time.
- Supporter £500 In addition to the above, help us provide access for all, enable us to run more of these events with world-class tutors, and to create more music available for everyone.
- Discounted £300 For participants who cannot afford the standard rate.
The course fee does not include refreshments, meals, accommodation, or the optional trip to MArTA. Rooms are available at the Moyseion at a special reduced rate for course participants staying 4+ nights: €90 for single occupancy, €115 for double occupancy per night (over 50% off). This includes the Water Sanctuary Ritual, use of magnificent subterranean pools (a sacred space dedicated to the goddess Demeter with replicas of archaeological finds), and sumptuous breakfast carefully curated by food anthropologists and historians. Unforgettable! To book, please contact: info@moyseion.com / +39 0835 197 1880.
Meet the tutors!
Stefan Hagel is a scholar of ancient music and instrument archaeology whose research bridges technical history, excavation evidence, and performance practice. Based at the Austrian Archaeological Institute, he investigates Greek musical theory, tuning systems, ancient instrumental design and the reconstruction of early sound-worlds. His major publication Ancient Greek Music: A New Technical History (2009) underpins much of his work in revealing how notation, tuning, and instrument technology intertwined in antiquity. He has also edited volumes on sound and music archaeology in ancient Europe, and leads projects that bring together theoretical, archaeological and practical musical inquiry.
Hagel’s scholarship integrates analysis of ancient texts and iconography with measurements of surviving instruments and reconstruction experiments. His writings explore topics such as aulos design, solmisation, tuning, modulation, and rhythm in ancient Greek music, often developing software to make sense of substantial and perplexing data. As an academic whose focus spans both historical-technical inquiry and tangible engagement with music archaeology, he contributes a deep and nuanced understanding of how ancient sound-cultures were constructed, experienced and transmitted.
Ian Rutherford is a distinguished classical scholar whose work bridges Greek poetry, ancient religion and intercultural encounter. As Professor of Greek at the University of Reading, he explores early Greek lyric and choral forms, the journeys of sacred delegates (theōroi) in antiquity, and the intersections of Greek, Anatolian and Egyptian religious worlds. His publications range from a full reading of Pindar’s Paeans to studies of pilgrimage-networks in the ancient Mediterranean, and most recently a monograph on Hittite texts as they relate to Greek religion. In bringing his research into the classroom and beyond, he emphasises how performance, ritual movement and cross-cultural flows shaped the ancient world. He frequently teaches and collaborates across disciplines and traditions.
Stef Conner is a composer, singer, and researcher whose work reimagines the sounds of the ancient world through contemporary performance. Described as ‘brutal but harmonically radiant’ (The Guardian), she combines scholarly interpretation with sonic imagination, drawing on Mesopotamian, Greek, and medieval sources. As a performer, she has toured internationally with The Unthanks, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening, and Sequentia. As a composer, she has written for ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Ligeti Quartet, and Marian Consort. Her albums The Flood and Riddle Songs have been acclaimed for their fusion of historical language, reconstructed instruments, and emotional depth. She is a Lecturer in Music at the University of York, where she teaches courses in composition, singing, and Early music.
Barnaby Brown is a performer-researcher whose work bridges scholarship, instrument reconstruction, and creative practice. Internationally recognised for reviving ancient polyphonic pipes and early Scottish bagpipes, he combines deep historical knowledge with a passion for performance. His collaborations span universities, conservatoires, and leading ensembles, where he shares expertise in ancient musical craft, tuning systems, and vocabelising: how to “sing” the pipes. A co-founder of Lotos Lab, he creates projects that bring ancient soundscapes to life, balancing rigorous research with imaginative artistry.
Elisa Anzellotti is a performer-researcher whose work connects cultural heritage, dance scholarship and creative movement practice. With a PhD in Cultural Heritage, specialising in theatre and dance, she has immersed herself in the reconstruction of ancient and traditional dance forms – particularly those of the Etruscan, Greek and Roman worlds. Based in Italy (with roots from Tarquinia) she works internationally, combining rigorous historical investigation with a practical, stage-ready approach: she has taught courses that integrate movement, iconography and performance in archaeological-site contexts. Her collaborations span musicians, scholars of ancient gesture and dance-theatre makers; she brings to Lotos Lab workshops a deep commitment to embodied heritage, the choreography of ritual gesture and the interplay between past and present movement vocabularies.
About the setting
The course takes place in ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ Matera, a unique cultural space in the heart of Matera’s ancient Sassi district. This feature article in The Guardian is one of many that have appeared in recent months. Moyseion is part living museum, part creative laboratory: a place where archaeology, music, and imagination meet. Its stone interiors and carefully curated reconstructions evoke thousands of years of human history, offering an inspiring setting in which to explore ancient music.
Workshops unfold in spaces designed to heighten a sense of connection – to the past, to Mother Nature (after which Matera is named), and to each other. Here, the architecture itself shapes the experience, turning every session into a dialogue between musicians and the deep past.
Only 16 places available: reserve now and join us in Matera this January for an unforgettable experience!
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A collaboration between Lotos Lab and ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ Matera
Lotos Lab: +44 78 1000 1377 • events@lotos-lab.com • www.lotos-lab.com
ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ: +39 0835 197 1880 • info@moyseion.com • www.moyseion.com