On 14 March 2021 GNO TV becomes fully operational, with thirteen opera, dance, music and music theatre performances, shows for the whole family and recitals.

 

On 14 March 2021 GNO TV becomes fully operational, with thirteen opera, dance, music and music theatre performances, shows for the whole family and recitals.

Get to know GNO TV at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en

 From Sunday 14 March 2021 GNO TV, the new online television of the Greek National Opera, becomes fully operational. GNO TV is an on-demand platform providing viewers the possibility to watch GNO performances from the comfort of their home, at any time they choose and as many times as they wish, for a one-month period starting from the first streaming. Performances on GNO TV will remain available for the audience for 4 to 8 months. GNO TV was made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

GNO TV productions are video recorded on GNO’s stages with a multicamera system and special filmmaking techniques and are broadcast with subtitles available in Greek and other languages (English, and French and/or German on occasion). GNO TV’s programme includes productions that –due to the pandemic– have not been presented in front of a live audience and whose premiere will take place online, other productions that have been performed in front of a live audience and are now presented for the first time online, and some that are directly created for GNO TV.

From 14 March, the following GNO productions will be available on GNO TV:

WITH TICKET

• Madama Butterfly (available until 31 July 2021)
• Don Giovanni (available until 31 July 2021)
• Four Seasons (available until 31 December 2021)
• Requiem Akhmatova & The Anniversary (available until 31 July 2021)
• Weisse Rose (available until 31 July 2021)
• Twilight of the Debts (available until 31 July 2021)
• The Mikado (available until 31 July 2021)
• Prince Ivan and the Firebird (available until 31 December 2021)
• The Emperor’s Nightingale (available until 31 December 2021)

Advance tickets at 5€ & 10€ are available online at ticketservices.gr & tickets.public.gr (Information: GNO Box Office +30 2130885700)

 

FREE STREAMS

• No! You Won’t Get Up Our Noses! (available until 31 December 2021)
• Stéphanos Thomopoulos’ piano recital (available until 31 December 2021)
• Giorgos Konstantinou’s piano recital (available until 31 December 2021)
• Closed Rehearsal of the GNO Professional Dance School (available until 31 July 2021)

 

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

By the end of March two more productions will be available on GNO TV: Andrea Chénier and Human Behaviour.

 

GNO TV is part of a new strand of programming of the Greek National Opera aiming at spreading the artistic work of the only Greek opera house across the world, expanding the meaning of artistic outreach. Although GNO TV opened in the midst of the pandemic when GNO performances had been suspended, this new service is not just a response to the coronavirus; it signals the Greek National Opera’s digital transition to an era of different needs and new standards. GNO TV aims at attracting audiences from across the world, since, thanks to its artistic identity and the quality of its productions, it can participate on an equal footing in opera’s global online market.

GNO TV offers a great variety of opera and ballet productions performed in the Stavros Niarchos Hall, operettas, music theatre and festivals on the Alternative Stage, shows for the whole family, but also earlier GNO productions, online festivals and educational programmes. The list of GNO TV productions will be constantly renewed.

The goal of the Greek National Opera is to upload the majority of its new productions on GNO TV, but also its earlier historical productions, which, although preserved as archival films, have a great artistic, educational and research value.

GNO TV performances are streamed through Akamai player, a top cloud security, web performance and media delivery service, that ensures safe, fast and reliable broadcasts via any device and at any location. With more than 270,000 servers in more than 120 countries, Akamai distributes more than 40% of the worldwide internet traffic, as it supports over 3 trillion digital interactions on a daily basis, from 6,000 leading companies and organizations in their fields on a global level.

 

For productions of the Stavros Niarchos Hall, the e-ticket price is 10€ and for productions of the Alternative Stage 5€. There will also be a series of performances that will be streamed for free.

Advance tickets at 5€ & 10€ are available online at ticketservices.gr & tickets.public.gr (Information: GNO Box Office +30 2130885700)

 

Every e-ticket provides the holder with a unique code, with which they:

• can enjoy the performance via nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en at the comfort of their home, at any time they choose, on their computer, ipad, television or even their smartphone.
• have the possibility for unlimited viewing of the performance for a 30-day period starting from the first streaming.
• have access to the performance’s online programme book.

 

Lead Donor to the GNO

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

PROGRAMME OF THE PERFORMANCES AVAILABLE ON GNO TV FROM 14.3.2021

 

Opera

Madama Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

Conductor Lukas Karytinos / Director Hugo de Ana

 

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en  until 31 July 2021

Filmed in the Stavros Niarchos Hall on 12 and 16 October 2020

With Greek, English and French subtitles

Ticket price: 10 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly was the first opera ever staged by the GNO in its long history –in 1940– and the first opera which introduced GNO TV last November, starring the internationally acclaimed soprano Ermonela Jaho in the title role. The production of Madama Butterfly and GNO TV were made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

Famous for its wonderful arias, strikingly melodic music and dramatic theatricality, Madama Butterfly offers timeless emotion and triggers intense feelings. Puccini does not hesitate to describe it as his favourite opera, and through his later modifications he makes his heroine’s alabastrine figure a symbol of inexhaustible patience and eternal, constant love.

The opera tells the story of the fatal love affair of fifteen-year-old geisha Cio-Cio-San with Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the United States Navy. After three years of absence the lieutenant comes back to Japan accompanied by his American wife, having learned that he has begotten a son by Butterfly. She agrees to give the child away only to Pinkerton himself, and after that she commits suicide.

Lukas Karytinos conducted the production and Hugo de Anna directed it and designed the sets and costumes. In the title role heart-breaking Ermonela Jaho along with Gianluca Terranova, Chrysanthi Spitadi, Dionysios Sourbis, Nicholas Stefanou, Marios Sarantidis, Yanni Yannissis, Petros Salatas, Dionisos Tsantinis, Theodoros Aivaliotis, Amalia Avloniti, Vaia Kofou, Fotini Hadjidaki. With the participation of the GNO Orchestra and Chorus. Video projections are designed by Sergio Metalli – Ideogamma SRL, and the lighting by Valerio Alfieri. Agathangelos Georgakatos is the chorus master.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the opera was presented in Ettore Panizza’s instrumentation for reduced orchestra (ed. Ricordi)

Production sponsor Piraeus Bank

Lead Donor to the GNO Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

 

Opera

Don Giovanni

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Conductor Daniel Smith / Director John Fulljames

 

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en until 31 July 2021

Filmed in the Stavros Niarchos Hall on 10, 12 and 15 December 2020

With Greek, English and French subtitles

Ticket price: 10 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.en using your ticket code.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni is the first of Greek National Opera’s international co-productions scheduled to be created and premiere in Athens, and then travel to the other two opera houses participating in the co-production, the Göteborg Opera (Sweden) and the Royal Danish Opera. Due to the pandemic the production was not presented in front of a live audience, but it was video recorded in the Stavros Niarchos Hall and its world premiere was presented on GNO TV on 14 February 2021. Don Giovanni’s production and GNO TV were made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

One of the greatest milestones of the operatic repertoire, Don Giovanni is a challenge not only for opera singers but also for the creative team called upon to stage it. Mozart’s exceptionally imaginative music conveys all the aspects of the course of a man who fights with God and takes his fate in his own hands, while managing to connect the world of the nobles with the comic characters, in an unprecedented way. In this emblematic work nothing is as it seems, since ambiguity runs through both the libretto and the music. The story is about the amorous adventures of the philanderer Spanish nobleman Don Giovanni. In one of them, he attempts to rape Donna Anna. In his effort to escape, he kills her father, who then returns from the world of the dead to take revenge. As Don Giovanni does not repent for his actions, he is led to Hell.

The production is conducted by Australian conductor Daniel Smith and directed by John Fulljames, with the participation of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Greek National Opera and starring distinguished Greek soloists Tassis Christoyannis, Vassiliki Karayanni, Yannis Christopoulos, Petros Magoulas, Anna Stylianaki, Tassos Apostolou, Nikos Kotenidis and Chrissa Maliamani.

The people who worked alongside Fulljames for Don Giovanni’s spectacular staging are associate director Aylin Bozok, set designer Dick Bird who designed the impressive sets representing all the aspects of a city hotel, costume designer Annemarie Woods who marked her stamp on the modern costumes, choreographer Maxine Braham, lighting designer Fabiana Piccioli, video designer Will Duke and video programmer Dan Trenchard.

The performance contains nudity.

Production sponsor Alpha Bank

Lead Donor to the GNO Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

Opera

Requiem Akhmatova & The Anniversary

Haris Vrondos

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 July 2021

 

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 12 November 2020

With Greek and English subtitles

Ticket price: 5 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

Two one-act chamber operas by Haris Vrondos, one of the most consistent voices in the Greek music theatre scene of the last decades, are presented in a double bill by the GNO Alternative Stage. The performance is conducted by Nicolas Vassiliou and directed by Angela-Kleopatra Saroglou. It had been initially scheduled for November 2020, but due to the pandemic it was filmed without the physical presence of an audience, and premieres now on GNO TV.

Requiem Akhmatova, to a libretto by Haris Vrondos, based on Anna Akhmatova’s poetry and on the adaptation of a poem of Anne Carson by Haris Vlavianos, starts off with the life of the great Russian poetess and raises questions about the relationship between art and power. As the composer notes, “Requiem Akhmatova includes, in the form of lyrics, incidents of extermination, cold blood murder, imprisonment and exile of poets and artists who didn’t blindly succumb to the doctrine of socialist realism in art”.

The Anniversary, based on a libretto by the composer and by poet Yannis Ioannidis, features writer Yannis Beratis in a play between incidents of the Greek Civil War and its perpetuation in the field of historical memory.

The leading roles in both works are performed by two distinguished soloists of the GNO, Marissia Papalexiou and Yanni Yannissis. The sets and costumes are by Konstantinos Zamanis, lighting by Stella Kaltsou and video projections by Vassilis Kehagias.

With the participation of an 8-member musical ensemble.

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

Opera

Weisse Rose

Udo Zimmermann

The performance will be available nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 July 2021

Filmed on the Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 18 November 2018

With Greek and English subtitles

Ticket price: 5 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

A lyrical hymn against Nazism, the contemporary masterly opera Weisse Rose (1986) by acclaimed German composer Udo Zimmermann, one of the most stunning works of the late 20th century, received its Greek premiere by the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage in November 2018. The emblematic work, that established itself at the world’s most prestigious theatres enthralling audiences and critics, was conducted by GNO conductor Nicolas Vassiliou and directed by Themelis Glynatsis, one of the most distinguished directors of his generation.

Inspired from the resistance of 24-year-old Hans and 21-year-old Sophie Scholl, two siblings from Munich, who were the founding members of the anti-Nazi student group Die Weisse Rose, Zimmermann composed a music work full of emotional power, unfolding right before the Scholl’s execution for high treason. Historical re-enactment gives its place to a heart-wrenching, personal exploration of moral integrity, death and political responsibility.

Hans Scholl is performed by the distinguished tenor Christos Kechris and Sophie Scholl by the talented soprano Afroditi Patoulidou. Alongside them Andonis Gritsis and Irini-Anastasia Vougiouka. The sets and costumes were designed by Alexia Theodoraki, the lighting by Stella Kaltsou and video projections by Marios Gambierakis and Chrysoula Korovesi.

With the participation of a 15-member musical ensemble.

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

Reworked opera

Twilight of the Debts

Kharálampos Goyós / Dimitris Dimopoulos / Alexandros Efklidis

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 July 2021

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 12 and 14 October 2017

With Greek and English subtitles, and with special subtitles showing the musical motifs in Greek and English

Ticket price: 5 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

The much-discussed reworked opera Twilight of the Debts, which was also the opening work of the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage at the SNFCC in October 2017, comes to GNO TV. It is a ground-breaking adaptation of Richard Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods in a musical adaptation by Kharálampos Goyós, with a libretto by Dimitris Dimopoulos, and directed by Alexandros Efklidis.

In the Twilight of the Debts, the original’s motifs, Wagner’s famous “leitmotifs”, are replaced by widely known Greek musical themes, such as the National Hymn and the children’s song “Where’s the ring”, producing thus a palimpsest where the Wagnerian creation engages in an immediate dialogue with the emotional world of the Greek audience. The added Greek musical motifs are shown in detail in the innovative special subtitles accompanying the production, exclusively for the audience of GNO TV.

With an excellent cast of GNO soloists: Julia Souglakou, Dimitris Paksoglou, Tassos Apostolou, Petros Magoulas, Yanni Yannisis, Myrto Bokolini, Irini Karaianni, Margarita Syngeniotou. The sets and costumes are by Konstantinos Zamanis, the lighting by Melina Mascha, and dramaturgy by Eleni Triantafyllopoulou.

With the participation of a 9-member instrumental ensemble.

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

 

Comic opera

The Mikado

Gilbert and Sullivan

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 July 2021

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 30 December 2017

With Greek and English subtitles

Ticket price: 5 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

In December 2017, all flirting on the GNO Alternative Stage was abruptly banned in a series of sold out performances of the hilarious exotic opera The Mikado by the forerunners of Monty Python and Marx Brothers.

Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera The Mikado (1885) was presented in a co-production with the music theatre company Rafi, conducted and orchestrated by Michalis Papapetrou and directed by Akilas Karazisis.

The libretto was translated by two distinguished translators, Giorgos Tsaknias, who translated the prose parts, and Katerina Schina, who adapted the lyrics into Greek.

The creators of The Mikado, leading lights in the field of English comic opera, were inspired by the atmospheric Far East to compose this acerbic satire on the socio-political mores of the 19th century. Violence, corruption, populism, hypocrisy and Puritanism are all in the firing line of this ingenious artistic duo, who satirize their times with humour and lightheartedness. Akilas Karazisis directs the work. In the magical land of Titipu where the Great Emperor (the Mikado) had banned flirting, philandering tailors become executioners so that they don’t have to behead… themselves, parliamentary deputies declare themselves “masters of everything” and flirting, although banned, flourishes in the most unexpected ways.

The sets and costumes are by Alexia Theodoraki, movement by Hara Kotsali and lighting by Yannis Drakoularakos. The cast includes Marios Sarantidis, Thanos Lekkas, Dimitris Nalbandis, Nikos Spanatis, Anastasia Kotsali, Lito Messini, Lydia Angelopoulou and Varvara Biza.

With the participation of a six-member instrumental ensemble.

Production sponsor: Dior

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

Music theatre for children and young audiences

Four Seasons

Patari Project

Based on Antonio Vivaldi’s work of the same title

 

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en until 31 December 2021

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 13 December 2020

With Greek and English subtitles

Ticket price: 5 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

 

The production of the GNO Alternative Stage Four Seasons by the Patari Project, based on Antonio Vivaldi’s work of the same title, continues its journey on GNO TV. A “green” performance for children aged 6 to 96, which touches upon major issues related to our attitude toward the environment and the dangers threatening it.

A timeless masterpiece praising the natural cycle and the circularity of time, Four Seasons enthused young and old in a successful run of performances (November 2019 – January 2020) on the GNO Alternative Stage. Due to the pandemic the performances that were scheduled for the period November 2020 to January 2021 were cancelled. However the performance was filmed in mid-December 2020 on the Alternative Stage and now comes to offer a new digital experience.

Four Seasons is brought to life on stage by the subversive theatre company Patari Project under the directorial guidance of the talented Sofia Paschou. Vivaldi’s original material was arranged and expanded by composer Nikos Galenianos into a new orchestration which is combined with original instrumental and vocal interventions. The dramaturgy is by Juan Ayala, costumes by Claire Bracewell, the set by Evangelia Therianou, movement by Annie Pui Ling Lok and lighting by Sofia Alexiadou. The cast includes Alexis Vidalakis, Yannis Yannoulis, Theodosis Konstas, Katerina Mavrogeorgi, Stefi Poulopoulou, Erifyli Stefanidou, Apostolis Psychramis.

With the participation of a 5-member musical ensemble.

The production Four Seasons is a creative synergy between the Greek National Opera and Lidl Hellas and one more step in a collaboration that began already in 2008, with Lidl Hellas becoming a sponsor of educational workshops of music, music theatre and artistic creation.

Production sponsor: Lidl Hellas

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

 

Opera for children and young audiences

The Emperor’s Nightingale

Lena Platonos

Libretto Giorgos Voloudakis / Director Katerina Petsatodi

 

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 December 2021

Filmed in the Stavros Niarchos Hall at the SNFCC on 3 November 2019

With Greek, English and German subtitles

Ticket price: 5 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

An extraordinary work by Lena Platonos based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the same title was turned into an animated opera by the Greek National Opera. Lena Platonos wrote The Emperor’s Nightingale, a “musical fairy tale with operatic elements”, as she has described it, in 1989, based on Hans Kristian Andersen’s fairy tale of the same title, to respond to the wish of counter-tenor Aris Christofellis. Her previous involvement in the legendary children’s musical Lilipoupoli played a decisive role in the setting of this particular work, with synthesizers taking the lead. In fact, the libretto written by poet-biologist Giorgos Voloudakis started with a child’s voice asking if the little synthesizer could compete with the Nightingale!

It is a work of rare beauty and sensitivity in an impressive production, where opera becomes available to children through animation, creating a new, magical and fascinating world. The work’s modern message, the combination of analogue and electronic music, natural and artificial sound, the imaginative use of animation and live performance, the melodic lines of Lena Platonos and her masterly vocal writing make The Emperor’s Nightingale an ideal way of introducing children to the magical world of lyric art.

The performance’s animation designer was Eirini Vianelli. Using different animation techniques which combine high technology with the aesthetic of handmade creation, Eirini Vianelli brings The Emperor’s Nightingale to life, frame by frame, with strong references to Chinese art. As she says, “the final result, a colourful universe of forests, palaces, gardens and factories, tells us of man’s relationship with nature and creation”. The performance is directed by Katerina Petsatodi, a directress with significant experience in the field of opera and music theatre. The directress saw the work as a fairy tale that combines in an ideal way two seemingly unrelated but in the end so harmonically intertwined arts, opera and animation, with inspiration, imagination and imaginativeness”. The set is by Evangelia Therianou, costumes by Alexia Theodoraki, musical direction and teaching by Michalis Papapetrou, sound design by Stergios Tsirliagos, lighting by Christos Tziogkas. Starring: Nikos Kotenidis, Giorgos Roupas, Marilena Striftombola, Yannis Filias, Niki Chaziraki, Dimitris Nalbandis. Narrator: Maria Skoula.

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

Opera for children and young audiences

Prince Ivan and the Firebird

Theo Abazis

 

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 December 2021

 

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 30 December 2017

With Greek subtitles

Ticket price: 5 euros / The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

The fascinating opera for children and young audiences Prince Ivan and the Firebird by leading composer and director Theo Abazis was presented with great success by the GNO Alternative Stage during the 2017/18 season. The work is based on a famous Russian folk fairy tale, which was also the source of inspiration for Igor Stravinsky’s ballet. It is targeted at children aged 5-12 and is an ideal introduction to the world of the lyric art. The libretto was penned by Sofianna Theofanous and the 6-member musical ensemble was conducted by Michalis Papapetrou.

The story is about the firebird, a big, beautiful bird with magical powers and majestic feathers evoking the colour of fire. But what’s most important is that it brings trouble to anyone who tries to catch it. An unusual, magical and stunning being, the firebird symbolizes absolute freedom and that is why capturing it is associated with the realization of the most difficult goals and greatest desires. Using a magical closet as a vehicle, we travel across evergreen woods, palaces and otherworldly places, where everything is possible. Vivid colours, magic tricks and transformations happening on the stage compose an unforgettable music theatre journey.

Sets and costumes are by Kenny MacLellan, movement by Stavroula Siamou, and lighting by Nikos Sotiropoulos. The cast includes: Dimitris Nalbandis, Panagiotis Athanassopoulos, Vassilis Dimakopoulos, Yannis Kalyvas, Yannis Filias, Nicolas Maraziotis, Vassia Zacharopoulou, Lito Messini, Maria Katrivesi.

Production sponsor: Hellenic Petroleum

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

FREE PERFORMANCES ON GNO TV

 

Eugene Trivizas

No! You Won’t Get Up Our Noses!

Music George Dousis

A show for the whole family

Commissioned by the Greek National Opera for GNO TV

 

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 December 2021

 

Filmed at the National Observatory of Athens and on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 20 & 22 January 2021

With Greek and English subtitles

The performance will be streamed for free

The performance’s online programme booklet can be accessed at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en using your ticket code.

A new work commissioned by the Greek National Opera for GNO TV portrays in a fantasy and poetic way COVID-19’s attack against humanity, through a composition of the art of the fairy tale, storytelling, music and animation. No! You Won’t Get Up Our Noses! is an adaptation of Eugene Trivizas’ book of the same title, with music by George Dousis, directed by Natasha Triantafylli, with sets and costumes by Tina Tzoka and animation by Panagiotis Rappas and Thodoros Sarafis. Text editing: Maria Koutsioumba.

Eugene Trivizas narrates, while the two leading roles are performed by two distinguished soloists of the GNO: Tassis Christoyannis and Petros Magoulas. With the participation of members of the GNO Chorus under chorus master Agathangelos Georgakatos, and the GNO Children’s Chorus under chorus mistress Konstantina Pitsiakou.

On a far-away planet, alien anteaters weave a devious plan to conquer Earth and destroy its inhabitants. Their first and primary target is children! So, one morning, with a wild battle cry echoing in the universe, the invaders’ space fleet headed by ferocious general COVID-19 the Vile, advances unstoppable. Who will prevail in the terrible confrontation that will follow?

Will the plan of the alien invaders work, or will the children of Earth find a way to vanquish them? A compelling adventure full of explosive surprises.

Eugene Trivizas notes: “I am convinced that expecting to persuade them to act responsibly by exhortations, threats of punishment, or by invoking dangers, is a waste of time. We ought to plan long term. Today’s children will be tomorrow’s teenagers. If they develop appropriate ways of thinking and behaving from an early age, they will become mentally armoured, and when in a few years they will enter adolescence, it will be less likely to behave irresponsibly or to fall prey of all short of unfounded rumours and conspiracy theories. This is the goal of my play; through an entertaining allegorical story, to address children that, due to the pandemic, had gone through periods of seclusion at home, away from their friends and classmates.”

Lead Donor to the GNO Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

 

 

Stéphanos Thomopoulos

Piano recital with works by Giorgos Koumendakis

Held as part of the 2020 Piano Festival of the GNO Alternative Stage

 

The piano recital will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/ennationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 December 2021

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 24 October 2020

The recital will be streamed for free

The 2020 Piano Festival’s programme booklet is available at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en

 

Acclaimed pianist Stéphanos Thomopoulos in an exceptional piano recital, performing Giorgos Koumendakis’ work for solo piano The caterpillar and the treble-bar of L. van B. (1999), as part of the 2020 Piano Festival of the Alternative Stage, which was dedicated to Beethoven’s piano music. The work A Cricket in the Blackbird’s Gorge features Theodore Tzovanakis and Stefanos Nasos. “Giorgos Koumendakis’ work as a piano composer has been unfolding for years, while having great variety and cohesion. From baroque to avant-garde, from minimalism to impressionism, the composer revisits many styles which he adapts to his own reflective, metaphysical world, always with a strong element of Greek traditional music and Greek nature. For a pianist, working on these scores is a demanding task, but it offers access to an inexhaustible kaleidoscope of colours, rhythms, and piano techniques. Combining the fluid and spectacular with the obsessively rhythmical and in some way neoclassical, Koumendakis’ piano works are strongly reminiscent of those of Ravel’s”, notes Stéphanos Thomopoulos.

 

 

Giorgos Konstantinou’s recital

Held as part of the 2020 Piano Festival of the GNO Alternative Stage

 

The piano recital will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 December 2021

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 23 October 2020

The recital will be streamed for free

The 2020 Piano Festival’s programme booklet is available at ebooks.nationalopera.gr/en

 

Distinguished pianist Giorgos Konstantinou performs works of Ludwig van Beethoven in a unique recital, which was presented as part of the 2020 Piano Festival of the Alternative Stage, that was dedicated to Beethoven’s piano music. Giorgos Konstantinou performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, No. 3 and Piano Sonata No. 26 in E♭ major, Op. 81a, known as Les Adieux.

 

 

Founding Donor of the Alternative Stage

Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org]

Dance

Closed Rehearsal of the GNO Professional Dance School

 

The performance will be available at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 14 March until 31 July 2021

 

Filmed on the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC on 16 July 2020

It will be streamed for free

 

The students of the Professional Courses for dancers and dance teachers of the Greek National Opera Professional Dance School perform choreographies by Myrto Grapsa, Iris Karayan, Yiannis Tsigkris and Marius Petipa curated by Natasha Siouta, as part of their preparation for the 2020 final and graduation exams.

Despite the challenging circumstances caused by the pandemic, the month-long absence from the studio and the so little time for preparation, we decided to organize this closed rehearsal on the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, giving our students the chance to experience some of the magic of having their work presented on stage.

Without costumes or make up, and in a very short time, our students took the plunge with unbounded enthusiasm, creativity and consistency, proving their talent and devotion to the art of dance. Decisive was the contribution of the School’s teachers, Myrto Grapsa and Yiannis Tsigkris who offered their contemporary choreographic compositions, and Natasha Siouta who curated the classical variation. Iris Karayan was invited to create the choreography for our senior students, especially for the occasion. The original music is by Ted Regklis, composer and accompanist in the School. We wholeheartedly thank them.

The rehearsal is dedicated to the memory of our beloved Aleksandar (Saša) Neškov, distinguished Principal Dancer of the GNO Ballet and teacher at the Greek National Opera Professional Dance School, who passed away unexpectedly in May 2020. His kindness, high moral character and rare talent will remain engraved in the minds and hearts of all of us.

Artistic curator

Yorghos Matskaris, Director of Studies of the Greek National Opera Professional Dance School

1st year Pavlos-Orfeas Argyropoulos, Maria-Despina Vazaka, Anastasia Galati, Anastasia Themistocleous, Lambros Kazeros, Konstantina Koletta, Fotis Konstantinou, Angeliki Michalaki, Styliani Biraki, Georgia Nikolopoulou, Kiara Dailani, Marina-Andriani Pantelaki, Parthena-Zoe Papadopoulou, Theoni Peraki, Dimitris Stavrianopoulos, Iliana Ifanti, Eleni Fotou, Sophia Hadjigeorgiou

2nd year Maria Violaki-Georgiladaki, Calliope Voidaski, Katerina Devetzi, Anastasios Kalabokis, Sophia Koskina, Eleni Makri, George Margis, Georgia Petroleka, Nectarios Ramias, Aspasia Tsagada, Maria Harutyunyan, Orfeas Hadjispyrou, Alexandra Chryssikopoulou

3rd year Ιfigenia Vlaikou, Chryssoula Dimaki, Angela Ioannou, Apostolos Kousinas, Eleni Myriagou, Maria Nikolitsa, Anastasia Pattelaki, Michalis Pinos, Stathis Tzouvaras