Page 24 - Programme

Opera Interactively Into Schools 24

Director’s Offenbach’s La belle Hélène is first of all a new work
commissioned from the composer Kornilios Selamsis
note and subsequently from the rest of the production’s
creative team, a work destined to be integrated into an
educational programme that introduces young students
to the world of opera and urges them to interact with it.
This double starting point, along with the perspective
of working with these particular artists, have been the
most interesting motivation for me to enter into this
collaboration. All kinds of reworkings and adaptions not
only prolong the life of works but also build them from
scratch.

We all worked together to create a production that is
modern, easy to understand, and interesting, while
meeting opera’s high standards. We tried to hear the
concerns of modern-day teenagers, mainly as far as
issues of identity, roles and gendered stereotypes are
concerned, with the utmost sincerity.

I would like to thank everyone who worked together
for La belle Hélène. We anxiously anticipate its journey
across Greece.

— Yannis Kalavrianos