P R O G R A M M E J A N U A R Y / M AY 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
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Dear friends of the
Greek National Opera,
The beginning of the New Year is sealed by
the first fully staged indoor presentation
in Greece of Wagner’s opus absolutum,
the opera Tristan und Isolde (Megaron-the
Athens Concert Hall, January 2015). In
this major production, which will bear the
signature of the internationally acclaimed
Greek director Yannis Kokkos, I shall have
the honour to conduct the Greek National
Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
The season at Olympia Theatre continues
in February with Theophrastos Sakellaridis’s
operetta I Want to See the Pope!, a GNO
premiere, directed by Vassilis Papavassiliou.
Our brand new Cunning Little Vixen, the
first opera written by great Czech composer
Leoš Janáček to enter the GNO repertory,
is on March (Production originated at Welsh
National Opera and Scottish Opera).
The season at Olympia Theatre will come to
its end with the revival of Verdi’s masterpiece
La Traviata, one of the most popular love
stories in the opera repertoire ever, in a
classical staging by Nikos S. Petropoulos.
At the beginning of March, the GNO Ballet
will take up a big challenge: it will dance
Gioconda’s Smile, Manos Hadjidakis’s
outstanding composition, which will be
choreographed by the distinguished Greek
choreographer Angeliki Stellatou.
In April, the public will enjoy Johann Strauss’s
II delightful Cinderella in Alexandra Trianti
Hall at Megaron-the Athens Concert Hall,
choreographed by Renato Zanella, who
created this dance piece in 1999 for the
famous Wiener Staatsoper Ballet.
The GNO Children’s Stage continues apace
its performances of Nikos Kypourgos’s
opera Beware! The Prince Is Messy!, a work
for young people but… not only, based on
Thomas Moschopoulos’s libretto, who also
directed the production.
Moreover, the Olympia Theatre Foyer will be
hosting every first and last Sunday of each
month tributes to major Greek composers
and opera recitals performed by prominent
Greek artists.
In the meantime, the GNO educational
activities will bravely go ahead for the rest of
the season with our School of Dance, Opera
Studio, Children’s Choir, as well as with
our project “Interactive Opera for Primary
Schools” and the opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia,
which will travel to 25 more schools across
the country until June 2015, kindly funded by
the National Strategic Reference Framework
(NSRF).
By the end of January, Bizet’s emblematic
Carmen, presented in a flexible “Suitcase
Opera” format and directed by Angela
Saroglou, will start its tour in 22 Greek cities.
Carmen’s performances are generously
supported by Stavros Niarchos Foundation,
within the framework of a series of events
entitled Journey to the Stavros Niarchos
Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC).
Small “Pocket concerts” for one or two
voices with piano accompaniment will also
be held every week in the Visitors Centre at
the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural
Center, the future home of the Greek
National Opera. The SNFCC Visitors Centre
will also host in 2015 a series of lectures and
presentations to be developed along two
main thematic lines, opera and ballet, which
will culminate in the presentation of the
one-act comic opera Pimpinone by baroque
composer G. P. Telemann. I am absolutely
sure that you will love our staged version
signed by director Ion Kessoulis.
Furthermore, for the rest of the season, we
have programmed parallel events at the
Olympia Theatre, from which I especially
wish to mention our tribute to legendary
Greek―Canadian soprano Teresa Stratas in
cooperation with the Embassy of Canada in
Greece (end of May).
Dear friends, in the next few months we
invite you in our opera, operetta and
ballet productions, which you will have the
opportunity to read about in detail in the
following pages of this booklet. Furthermore,
I am sure that you will be thrilled by our
two major opera productions, this summer
at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus which
will be announced shortly. We thank you
wholeheartedly for supporting our work.
Myron Michailidis
Artistic Director
of the Greek National Opera
OPERA
BALLET
RICHARD WAGNER
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
Conductor Myron Michailidis
Director — sets — costumes Yannis Kokkos
ΜEGARON — THE ATHENS CONCERT HALL
Alexandra Trianti Hall
New production
21, 28, 31 January 2015
4 February 2015
Performances begin at 18.30
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, one of the
greatest works of music literature, will be
presented for the first time in Greece, in a
fully staged production in an indoor theatre
by Greek musical forces. It is also the first
time the work will be produced by 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. Its
musical language changed the course of music.
OPERETTA
BALLET
OPERA FOR CHILDREN
ANGELIKI STELLATOU /
MANOS HADJIDAKIS
RENATO ZANELLA /
JOHANN STRAUSS II
NIKOS KYPOYRGOS
Conductor Konstantia Gourzi — TBA
Choreography Angeliki Stellatou
OLYMPIA THEATRE
New production
Conductor Elias Voudouris
Choreography Renato Zanella
ΜEGARON — THE ATHENS CONCERT HALL
Alexandra Trianti Hall
New production
Conductors Yorgos Aravidis — Chryssanthos
Alissafis
Direction — libretto Thomas Moschopoulos
OLYMPIA THEATRE
Evening performance (begin at 20.00)
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CINDERELLA
BEWARE!
THE PRINCE IS MESSY
Performances begin at 20.00
24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30 April 2015
30 January 2015
This production is one of the major highlights of
this season's programme. It represents a great
challenge for the National Greek Opera, as the
GNO Ballet will present a choreography based
on a work by Greek eminent composer Manos
Hadjidakis. One of the pieces to be performed
is the gripping Gioconda's Smile, one of the
most emblematic works in the Greek music of
the 20th century, choreographed by Angeliki
Stellatou, under the artistic supervision of
George Hadjidakis.
Few are acquainted with the fact that Johann
Strauss II, the well-known «Waltz King », also
composed ballet music towards the end of his
life. Yet, he died before Cinderella’s premiere
in 1901. In 1999, Renato Zanella, the GNO
Ballet Director, choreographed this work for
the famous Vienna State Opera Ballet, whereas
in 2013 his version was staged at Teatro Colón,
Argentina.
GIOCONDA’S SMILE
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 March 2015
OPERA
LEOŠ JANÁČEK
THE CUNNING
I WANT TO SEE THE POPE! LITTLE VIXEN
THEOFRASTOS SAKELLARIDIS
Conductor Andreas Tselikas ― Yorgos Aravidis
Director Vassilis Papavassiliou
OLYMPIA THEATRE
New production
14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22 February 2015
17, 19 April 2015
Conductor Jaroslav Kyzlink ― Ondrej Olos
Director David Pountney
ΟLYMPIA THEATRE
First staging by the Greek National Opera
Production originated at Welsh National
Opera and Scottish Opera
Performances begin at 20.00
28, 29 March & 1, 3, 4, 5 April 2015
Following last year's great success of its
abridged presentation at the GNO Foyer, the
once-upon-a-time most celebrated operetta
by Theophrastos Sakellaridis returns this year
in a new, fully staged production at Olympia
Theatre’s principal stage. The operetta I
Want to See the Pope! is based on ethics
and attitudes of Sakellaridis’ own time, that
undermine the foundations of bourgeois life
and judge harshly the institution of family.
The Cunning Little Vixen is the first opera by
the great Czech composer Leoš Janáček to
be added in the GNO’s repertoire. It is a hymn
to the cycle of life, rendered with tenderness,
humour and realism; an allegorical work of
dreamy music that Janáček composed in the
twilight of his creative course. It is a production
the Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera
especially arranged for the GNO.
Performances begin at 20.00
Performances begin at 20.00
OPERA
GIUSEPPE VERDI
LA TRAVIATA
Conductor Matteo Beltrami ― TBA
Director — sets — costumes — lighting
Nikos S. Petropoulos
OLYMPIA THEATRE
15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23 May 2015
Performances begin at 20.00
The GNO winter season at the Olympia
Theatre comes to a close with the mostly
celebrated La Traviata by Verdi, recounting the
tragic tale of The Lady of the Camelias that will
be presented on stage in Nikos S. Petropoulos’
classic production. Beloved arias and duets
give life to one of the best known love stories,
thwarted by social conventions. The opera is
a narrative of the love of courtesan Violetta
Valéry for the spawn of a well-to-do family. The
affair brings about the reaction of the young
man's family; the couple parts, only to meet
again just before Violetta perishes.
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Matinées (begin at 11.00 a.m.)
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29
January 2015
1, 3, 4, 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20
February 2015
1, 5, 6, 8, 10 March 2015
This Greek work, one of the greatest artistic and
box-office successes of the previous season,
returns to the stage of Olympia Theatre, since
the waiting lists were extremely long. Νikos
Kypourgos’s comic opera, directed by Thomas
Moschopoulos, who also penned the libretto, is
based on the fairytale The Swineherd by HansChristian 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.
RECITAL
Tribute
to Teresa Stratas
OLYMPIA THEATRE
With the kind support of the Canadian
Embassy in Athens, the Canadian Opera
Company and the Metropolitan Opera Guild
28 May 2014
Performance begin at 20.00
The GNO hosts an important tribute to honour
the legendary Teresa Stratas -born Strataki- the
Greek-Canadian soprano who has enjoyed an
immense world career, with a high record of
performances at the New York Metropolitan
Opera. With: Alexia Voulgaridou (soprano), Myrtò
Papatanasiu (soprano), Andrew Haji (tenor).
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SIDE EVENTS
EVENTS AT THE VISITORS Lectures
CENTRE SNFCC
Presentations
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. Thanks to the
contribution of prominent Greek artists,
the porgramme expands to a great range of
music idioms and genres. It includes opera,
operettas and chamber music with the
participation of small instrumental ensembles.
Τhe concerts take place on the first and last
Sunday of each month, as always at 18:00,
at the Olympia Theatre Foyer. General
admission €5.
30 January 2015 (Friday)
Tribute to Richard Wagner
With: Julia Souglakou (soprano),
Nikos Laaris (piano), Angelos Liakakis (cello).
1 February 2015
Giuseppe Verdi, Stiffelio (1850)
8 February 2015
Songs from Slovenia and Slovakia
With: Zinovia-Maria Zafiriadou (soprano),
Barunka Preisinger (mezzo―soprano),
Dimitris Vezyroglou (piano).
22 February 2015
Ioannis Komninos, Kiki-Koko (1928)
1 March 2015
Theophrastos Sakellaridis,
The Possessed (1919)
29 March 2015
Skriperou Philharmonic Orchestra Wind
Ensemble
Conductor Spyridon Rouvas
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5 April 2015
Experiment 278
With: Maria Kokka (soprano), Maria-Christina
Harper (harp), Thalia-Marie Papadopoulou
(piano).
26 April 2015
Dionyssios Lavrangas, Fakanapas (1935)
3 May 2015
Gioachino Rossini, L’ inganno felice (1812)
With: Antonis Koroneos (tenor), Vassiliki
Karayanni (soprano), Tassos Apostolou (bass),
Dimitris Kassioumis (bass), Petros Magoulas
(bass).
17 May 2015
Emilios Riadis Quartet
Members of the Quartet: Andreas
Papanikolaou (violin), Georgios
Kougioumtzoglou (violin), Alexandra Voltsi
(viola), Lila Manola (cello).
OPERA AND FASHION
Il sogno ― 21 May 2015
This is the third season in a row that the
Opera encounters Fashion. Il sogno (The
Dream) is the title of this season's production,
based on an idea of journalist Isma Toulatou,
who also has the overall supervision of
this project. The production is directed
by talented director and choreographer
Konstantinos Rigos. This season’s invited
designer is Loukia, the great lady of the Greek
fashion.
With: Dimitris Giakas (music supervision),
Vassiliki Karayanni (soprano), Myrsini
Margariti (soprano), Maria Kokka (soprano),
Artemis Bogri (soprano), Vassilis Kavayias
(tenor), Tassos Apostolou (bass) and students
of the GNO Dance School.
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 Center (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.
January 2015
11, 18 at 18.00
February 2015
14 January 2015 at 18.00
Opera stories Italian romanticism
11 February 2015 at 18.00
Οpera stories Musical realism
15 February 2015 at 18.00
Introduction to Dance
15 March 2015 at 18.00
Introduction to Dance
For your transport to the GNO, you may use free
of charge the shuttle bus connecting the Metro
Station Syggrou-Fix with the Visitors Centre
of the SNFCC (Departure point: Kallirroe street;
Arrival point: at the top of the Esplanade).
Bus service available 30' before each event.
Information: 210 877 8396-8
8, 22 at 18.00
Email: [email protected]
8, 22 at 18.00 & 28 at 12.00
Suitcase Opera
March 2015
Pocket Opera
Georg Philipp Telemann’s baroque comic
opera Pimpinone, set the framework to a
series of similar works in the composer’s
era and is presented in the form of “Pocket
Opera”. The opera is presented in a lightstage production based on theatre-based
improvisation and in direct audience address.
Pimpinone tells the story of Vespetta, a
spiteful tempered and manipulative maid who
succeeds in dominating her rich bachelor
employer, the old Pimpinone, once she
marries him.
January 2015
31 at 12.00
February 2015
28 at 12.00
Georges Bizet, Carmen (1875)
Director Angela Saroglou
Sets Yorgos Kollios
Costumes Αlexia Theodoraki
Piano Yiannis Tsanakaliotis,
Sofia Tamvakopoulou, Domna Halari
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 Niarchos
Foundation within the context of the “Journey
to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural
Center” initiative. Admission to all venues
is free of charge. The dates and the locations
of the venues will be announced shortly
at www.nationalopera.gr