1. art and entertainment
2. music
3. music genres
4. opera

P R O G R A M M E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 / J A N U A RY 2 0 1 5
Artistic Director
Myron Michailidis
Board of Directors
Chairman
Athanassios K. Theodoropoulos
Vice Chairman
Giorgios Grammatikakis
Member
Thodoros Mavrommatis
Member
Nikos Kypourgos
Member
Christos Zerbinos
GNO is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports
3
4
5
Dear friends of the
Greek National Opera,
The 2014—15 season will be once again an
exciting one for the Greek National Opera,
featuring local and international premieres,
masterpiece revivals, partnerships with
outstanding European opera houses, as well
as new opera and ballet productions.
In the following months, from October 2014
to January 2015, two major productions are
the highlights:
The first Greek fully staged production
of Richard Wagner’s "magnum opus", the
legendary Tristan und Isolde, in which I shall
have the honour to conduct, whereas the
internationally acclaimed Greek director
Yannis Kokkos will undertake the direction, in
January 2015.
The world premiere of the new, sensational
opera by Giorgos Koumendakis, The
Murderess. Yannis Svolos’ libretto is based on
the eponymous masterpiece of Alexandros
Papadiamantis. The opera, which will be
presented in November at Megaron the
Athens Concert Hall, will be conducted
and directed by Vassilis Christopoulos and
Alexandros Efklidis respectively.
The opera Così fan tutte, one of Motzart's
leading comic works, opens the season at
Olympia Theatre. It is a new production,
conducted by Miltos Logiadis and JeanChristophe Sarron, and directed by Rodula
Gaitanou.
In December, the public will experience
the revival of the fabled La Bohème by
Puccini under Lukas Karytinos’ baton, an
all-times classic production directed by Lina
Wertmüller.
GNO also in December, introduces the
Renato Zanella's Nutcracker, a major
"blockbuster" of its Ballet’s repertoire.
The GNO Children's Stage presents once
more the opera for young audiences bearing
the imaginative title Beware! The Prince
is Messy by Nikos Kypourgos. Thomas
Moschopoulos wrote the libretto and signs
the direction.
We have also planned performances and
recitals that will take place every first and last
Sunday of the month at the Olympia Theatre
Foyer.
The GNO educational activities continue
unswervingly with the aid of the GNO's
Ballet School, the Opera Studio, and the
Children's Chorus, as well as through the
educational programme "Interactive Opera
for Elementary Schools", which pursues its
headlong journey across Greece with the
support of the National Strategic Reference
Framework—NSRF.
Upon the same steps of wandering
throughout Greece, the Suitcase Opera,
GNO's ever-travelling opera team, will
introduce two productions this season:
Bizet's emblematic Carmen, directed by
Angela Saroglou and supported by the
Stavros Niarchos Foundation within the
framework of the events entitled A Journey
to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural
Centre (SNFCC); and the lyrical, and also
wandering, I Pagliazzi by Leoncavallo, under
the direction of Isidoros Sideris.
"Pocket concerts" with free entrance for the
public are also being scheduled to take place
every week at the SNFCC Visitors Centre.
We are wholeheartedly thankful for your love
towards the Greek National Opera and we
promise that our forthcoming productions,
about which you will read in detail in the
pages of this programme, not only are
high-standard cultural events, but also truly
bewitching for you!
Myron Michailidis
Artistic Director of the Greek National Opera
OPERA
6
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan tutte
Conductors Miltos Logiadis
— Jean-Christophe Sarron
Director Rodula Gaitanou
Olympia Theatre
New production
24, 25, 26, 31 October 2014
1, 2, 8, 9 November 2014
contemporary music language, draws upon
elements of the Greek folklore tradition in
a productive manner. This is precisely the
aspect of Koumendakis's music that matches
ideally with Papadiamantis’ Murderess, this
masterwork of the modern Greek literature,
on which this new opera is based.
OPERA
The Greek National Opera inaugurates its
new season with the opera Così fan tutte,
one of the most famous comic works of
the repertoire. This is the third and last
co-operation of Mozart with Lorenzo Da
Ponte, following Le nozze di Figaro and Don
Giovanni. The libretto is steeped in plot twists
and unexpected situations that occur when
two young officers decide to put into test
the faithfulness of their respective beloved
fiancées. Mozart's score is full of familiar arias
and smart, agile vocal ensembles.
Giacomo Puccini
Giorgos Koumendakis
The Murderess
Conductor Vassilis Christopoulos
Director Alexandros Efklidis
ΜEGARON - THE ATHENS CONCERT HALL
Alexandra Trianti Hall
New production
Commissioned by the Greek National Opera
19, 21, 23, 26 November 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
By commissioning the composition of a new
opera to Giorgos Koumendakis, the Greek
National Opera proves its support to Greek
creativity. Koumendakis is one the most
important Greek composers with a clear
and distinct personal idiom, who, although
remaining within the context of a
OPERA FOR CHILDREN
Richard Wagner
Nikos Kypourgos
Conductor Myron Michailidis
Director — sets — costumes Yannis Kokkos
ΜEGARON - THE ATHENS CONCERT HALL
Alexandra Trianti Hall
New production
Conductors Yorgos Aravidis
— Chryssanthos Alissafis
Direction — libretto Thomas Moschopoulos
Olympia Theatre
Tristan und Isolde
Performances begin at 20.00
OPERA
OPERA
La Bohème
Conductor Lukas Karytinos
Director Lina Wertmüller
Olympia Theatre
6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 28, 30, 31
December 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
(on 31/12, at 18.30)
The Greek National Opera re-emerges with
one of its oldest productions: a work loved
by the audience all over the world, Puccini’s
popular La Bohème, in the version of the
celebrated Italian director, Lina Wertmüller.
Images evoking nostalgic postcards flooded
with colour, and sets and costumes inspired
by Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris will revive at the
Olympia Theatre stage. The plot is about the
love of a poet, Rodolfo, for a seamstress, Mimi,
against the backdrop of a freezing Paris in
Christmas, from the moment they first meet
until the death of the girl from tuberculosis.
23, 27, 31 January 2015
4 February 2015
Performances begin at 18.30
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, one of the
greatest works of the world's music literature,
will be staged for the first time in Greece, in
a full, indoor staging with local musicians and
the Greek National Opera Orchestra and
Chorus, conducted by GNO Artistic Director,
Myron Michailidis. This pivotal romantic
masterpiece is a major œuvre, full of bursting
emotions, and the novelties in its harmonic
structure changed the course of music.
BALLET
Renato Zanella /
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker
Conductors Yorgos Vranos — Zoi Tsokanou
Choreography — lighting Renato Zanella
20, 21, 23, 24 December 2014
3, 4, 9, 11 January 2015
Performances begin at 20.00
The "loveliest Christmas tale" is restaged
during the festive Christmas period at the
Olympia Theatre and once again will be the
best Christmas gift for children and adults
alike. Tchaikovsky's famous music, marked
by its emotional force and theatricality, the
dreamy choreography by Renato Zanella
and the sets and costumes directly from the
Vienna State Opera transport the audience to
the world of fairy tales.
7
Beware!
The Prince is Messy
Evening performances (begin 20.00):
7 & 22 November 2014,
24 & 30 January 2015
Matinées (begin 11.00):
11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23
November 2014
21, 23, 24 December 2014
14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25,
27, 28, 29 January 2015
1, 3, 8, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20
February 2015
5, 6, 8 March 2015
This Greek work, one of the greatest artistic
and box-office successes of the previous
season, is restaged, since the waiting lists
were legendary long. Νikos Kypourgos’s comic
opera, directed by Thomas Moschopoulos,
who also penned the libretto, is based on the
fairytale The Swineherd by Hans-Christian
Andersen. The story is about a young prince
who disguises himself as a swineherd in order
to win the affections of a stuck-up princess.
In Kypourgos’s version everything has been
twisted and nothing is as it first appears.
Dramatic events mix with comedy, emotions
with cynicism and charm with disillusionment.
SIDE EVENTS
7
Evenings
at the foyer
The Greek National Opera hosts for yet
one more season the successful event
cycle Evenings at the Foyer, offering thus its
audience the opportunity to attend firstrate concerts just before the beginning of
the Sunday performances. The programme
of this Cycle includes opera, operettas and
chamber music with the participation of
small instrumental ensembles. Thanks to the
contribution of prominent Greek artists, it
expands to a great range of music idioms and
genres.
From this year onwards, concerts will take
place on the first and last Sunday of each
month, as always at 18:00, at the Olympia
Theatre Foyer.
8
EVENTS AT THE VISITORS Suitcase Opera
CENTRE SNFCC
26 October 2014
Opening Opera Gala with GNO leading artists
With: Irini Tsirakidou (mezzo-soprano), Sophia
Mitropoulou (soprano), Yannis Christopoulos
(tenor), Petros Salatas (baritone), Tassos
Apostolou (bass), Frixos Mortzos (piano).
2 November 2014
Concert for violin and piano
Yannis Georgiadis, Nefeli Mousoura
30 November 2014
Tribute to Yannis Konstantinidis (1903—1984)
— Works for voice and piano
With: Mina Polychronou (soprano),
Karolos Zouganelis (piano).
7 December 2014
Atrapos — Works for oboe and piano
(1935—1939)
With: Spyros Kondos (oboe),
Litó Thomou (piano).
28 December 2014
Greek and Italian canzonettas
of the Interwar Years
With: Charalambos Velissarios (tenor),
David Nahmias (piano).
4 January 2015
Nikos Hadjiapostolou, First Love (1929)
25 January 2015
Songs from Slovenia and Slovakia
With: Zinovia-Maria Zafiriadou (soprano),
Barunka Preisinger (mezzo-soprano).
31 January 2015
Tribute to Richard Wagner
— Nikos Laaris, piano
The Greek National Opera presents a series
of small-scale events at the Visitors Centre
of the construction site of the Stavros
Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre
(SNFCC).
Pocket concerts
Every week, the GNO presents a small,
“pocket” concert for one or two voices,
accompanied by piano. The new building of
the Greek National Opera at the SNFCC
serves as the set, enabling thus the GNO
soloists and musicians to get acquainted
with their new home, as well as with the new
landscape under construction at the SNFCC.
October 2014:
Georges Bizet
Carmen
Director: Angela Saroglou
​Sets: Yorgos Kollios
Costumes: Dina Antonopoulou​
Bizet’s legendary Carmen is being selected
by the Greek National Opera to travel across
Greece with the GNO’s excellent singers,
a piano instead of an orchestra and the
purpose of meeting and charming new
audiences. The performances are possible
thanks to a donation from the Stavros
S. Niarchos Foundation within the context
of the “Journey to the Stavros S. Niarchos
Foundation Cultural Centre” initiative.
4, 11, 18, 25 at 12.00
November 2014:
1, 8, 16 at 12.00 & 23, 30 at 18.00
December 2014:
Saturday 6, 13 at 12.00
Lectures Presentations
14 November 2014 from 17.30 until 19.30 —
Ballet stories (meeting for adults)
30 November 2014 from 11.30 until 13.30 —
Ballet stories (meeting for children)
3 December 2014 from 18.00 until 18.45 —
Opera stories
20 December 2014 — Pimpinone one-act
baroque comic opera by G. P. Telemann
For your transport to and from the SNFCC Visitors
Center, you may use free of charge the shuttle
bus connecting the Metro Station Syggrou-Fix
with the Visitors Centre of the SNFCC (Departure
point: Kallirois Avenue; Arrival point: beginning
of the Esplanade). Bus service available
30' before each event.
Information: 210 877 8396-8
Email: [email protected]
Carmen will travel to the following cities:
Veroia, Kastoria, Corfu, Ioannina, Korinthos,
Tripoli, Kalamata, Sparta, Livadeia, Lamia,
Chania, Heraklion, Agios Nikolaos,
Alexandroupoli, Drama, Thessaloniki, Grevena,
Volos, Larissa, Nafpaktos, Agrinio, Preveza.
Admission to all venues is free of charge
The dates and the locations of the venues will
be announced shortly at www.nationalopera.gr