onstantine Cavafy (1863-1933), the great Greek poet who was born and lived in Alexandria, Egypt became known to a broad audience after WWII when he became the poet of Lawrence Durrell’s city in the four novels of the “Alexandria Quartet”. Politics, history, eroticism, art and love of learning are the ostensible subjects of this very particular voice, conveying a pagan sensitivity to physical pleasure and a bittersweet sense of historic futility. E.M. Forster, Arnold Toynbee, and T.S. Eliot were among the earliest promoters of Cavafy in the English-speaking world before the Second World War. His work was championed by and reflected in the work of some of the greatest poets and writers of our age, including W.H. Auden, who once said “if Cavafy were unknown to me, I should have written quite differently or perhaps not written at all.” More recently, Jacqeline Kennedy Onassis was a great admirer of Cavafy’s work and his poem, Ithaka, was read at her funeral. Cavafy is the only modern Greek poet who is so well-known and admired that his work in translation has become part of English literature.

Emmy Award winner Yannis Simonides evokes the remarkably prescient spirit that inhabits Cavafy’s work, gracefully weaving the author’s poetry into the story of his life in cosmopolitan, multi-cultural Alexandria. The riveting performance is accompanied by music and images of Cavafy’s time as well as of his beloved Alexandria.

Tickets to the presentation and party are $100. Proceeds from this special event benefit curatorial work at the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society Museum, a non-profit organization with the mission of preserving the rich history, heritage, and beauty of our Long Island communities.

Your additional support will sponsor student attendance at the performance.

For more information please visit:
bbhsmuseum.org/events or call 631-776-7640