Kavala has the second oldest festival in Greece after Epidaurus: the Philippi Festival, which since 1957 has staged theatre and concerts at the ancient theatre of Philippi and across the city from early July to early September. Around it, Cosmopolis brings world music to the Old Town, the Castle fills with concerts in July and August, and a rap weekend at Akontisma closes July.
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The Philippi Festival began in September 1957 with Euripides' Electra at the ancient theatre of Philippi, sixteen kilometres from the city on the road to Drama, just past Krinides. It is now run by the Kavala municipal theatre, DIPETHE, and has stretched to two months, from the first week of July to the first weekend of September. The weight is on ancient drama, but the festival opens and closes with concerts: a beach party at Elikodromio on the first night and big names at the ancient theatre, such as Nikos Portokaloglou with Giannis Kotsiras or Giannis Haroulis for the closing. In between come music nights at the Castle, the Imaret, the Halil Bey mosque, even on the Thassos ferry. Tickets are around 20 euros through more.com, ticketservices.gr and the visitor information centre on the central square, and on performance nights the KTEL runs a bus to the ancient theatre at a quarter past seven.
Cosmopolis is the municipality's world music festival, with roots in 2000 and a few years of pause. It is set in the Old Town, with the main stage on Mehmet Ali Square below the Castle, in the first days of July. The programme starts at six in the afternoon with street events, food and small free stages, and the evening concerts, with names like Asian Dub Foundation, Tiken Jah Fakoly or Amparanoia, cost ten euros a night or twenty-five for the three days.
The Castle of Kavala has its own municipal summer programme, with concerts inside the walls from late June to August: from Giorgos and Nikos Stratakis and Omar Faruk Tekbilek to Christos Thivaios with Panagiotis Margaris and tribute nights. On the last weekend of July, EMEIS Fest brings three days of Greek rap to the small theatre at Akontisma, with tickets through more.com. With a car, Drama celebrates its Eleftheria from mid-June to early July with concerts on Eleftherias Square, and Xanthi closes the summer with its Old Town Festival at the end of August.
From the first week of July to the first weekend of September. The concerts usually fall at the opening and the closing, at the ancient theatre of Philippi, with music nights at the Castle and the Imaret in between. Each year's dates are on Mood.
It is sixteen kilometres from Kavala on the road to Drama, past Krinides. On performance nights the Kavala KTEL has a bus leaving at a quarter past seven and returning after the show, for a few euros with a valid ticket.
Most of the events in the Old Town are free. The main concerts on Mehmet Ali Square cost around ten euros a night or twenty-five for the three-day pass.
At the ancient theatre of Philippi for the festival's big names, at the Castle of Kavala for the municipal summer programme, on Mehmet Ali Square for Cosmopolis, on Elikodromio beach for the opening party and at Akontisma for EMEIS Fest.
