GNO Alternative Stage's new programme, January - July 2022

The Alternative Stage of the Greek National Opera announces its programme for the first seven months of 2022, while completing five years of operation at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.  Having left its mark as an important hub of creativity in the field of contemporary music theatre while engaging in a cutting-edge dialogue with the rest of the performing arts, the GNO Alternative Stage presents, for the second half of the 2021/2022 season, a rich and diverse programme that runs with boldness and knowledge through the high, the popular and the intellectual, under the guidance of its artistic director Alexandros Efklidis.

From January to July 2022, audiences will have the chance to enjoy new commissions, national premieres, musicals, operas for children and young audiences, modern dance performances, performance art events, co-productions with foreign arts organisations, festivals, concerts, and tributes on the GNO Alternative Stage. The programme is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach and support the tribute to the 2021 bicentennial of the Greek Revolution.

• In 2022, the Alternative Stage opens its season with the enchanting lyric fairy tale A Cloud In Love, based on Nazim Hikmet’s tale of the same title, with music by Sofia Kamayianni, a libretto by Eleni Zafeiriou, and starring the multi-awarded children’s chorus Rosarte ( 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16/1), as well as with the modern dance triptych Human Behaviour in its first full presentation by the GNO Ballet (21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30/1).

• February belongs to Cheap Smokes, collectors of moments and goldfishes… Renos Charalambidis’ famous film, which was wildly loved by the younger generation, is turned into a musical by the Alternative Stage with music by Panagiotis Kalantzopoulos and directed by Konstantinos Rigos, scheduled to run from 11/2 for 23 amazing performances.

• March holds in store the premiere of K. Bhta and Nikos Patrelakis’ new electronic work Neapoly, with music by both of them and original videos (17, 18, 19, 20/3), while the legendary singer Yovanna will present a special programme dedicated to the ever-present great Greek singers who still remain with us though they have passed away (27/3).

• On 7, 8, 9, and 10 April, the Sacred Music Days and the Piano Festival of the GNO Alternative Stage come back with sacred music works for solo piano curated by Charalambos Angelopoulos. The programme also includes the interartistic concert-performance titled Hello to Emptiness that is based on the tradition of Greek dirges, directed and choreographed by Stephanie Thiersch and composed and conducted by Martha Mavroidi (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17/4).

• May brings along a great Tribute to Iannis Xenakis on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of this major pioneer of 20th-century music (7, 8, 20, 22, 26/5), as well as the concert Mikis Theodorakis: Lyric Images with songs by Theodorakis curated and orchestrated by Yannis Belonis and performed by Yiannis Kotsiras, as part of the three-year tribute cycle to Mikis Theodorakis (12, 13, 14, 15/5).

The Artistic Director of the Alternative Stage Alexandros Efklidis notes:
“This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Alternative Stage, which thus completes its first cycle of life. Over these five years, more than 100 productions were presented, with the participation of 500 artists, targeted at more than 200,000 audience members. Most of all, however, the Alternative Stage managed to expand the creative space and the possibilities in the field of music theatre, by commissioning dozens of new works of different genres, inviting important artists to try their hand at music theatre, and giving chances to young artists to participate in high-class productions. I owe a big, heartfelt thanks to the small team of the Alternative Stage, that made the implementation of its ambitious programme over the last five years possible. Without the committed contribution of the people of the Alternative Stage, this first life cycle wouldn’t have been completed. Giorgos Koumendakis’ constant and ardent commitment to the initial goals he himself had set for the Alternative Stage was the condition for their achievement. Last but not least, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, through its successive grants, not only provided the wonderful hall and the resources so that the Alternative Stage would turn into a major creativity centre, but also the wider setting, the great urban experiment of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. 

After two years of pandemic, we have learnt to focus on what is essential and feasible. That is where we aim at for the programming of the next seven months, offering our audiences a series of exceptional productions, marked by an all-encompassing range of genres and our effort to reach out to different audiences and keep the dialogue with our time open.”

Tickets for January, February and March 2022 will go on sale on Monday 20 December 2021 and will be available at the GNO Box Office (2130885700, daily 09.00-21.00) and online at ticketservices.gr.

Tickets for April, May, June and July 2022 will go on sale on Monday 7 March 2022 and will be available at the GNO Box Office (2130885700, daily 09.00-21.00) and online at ticketservices.gr.

Founding donor of the Alternative Stage