Download 1 OPERA Gioachino Rossini Cinderella Conductors George Petrou

OPERA
Gioachino Rossini
Cinderella
Conductors George Petrou – Constantinos Diminakis
Director Rodoula Gaitanou
Sets - Lighting Simon Corder
Costumes Alexia Theodoraki
Choir conductor Agathangelos Georgakatos
Olympia Theatre
25, 26, 30 October 2013
1, 2, 3, 10, 13 November 2013
Performances begin at 20.00
One of Rossini’s most delightful comic operas, Cinderella is, of course, based on the famous tale by
Charles Perrault, but this time with a few major differences that relate to the period in which the
piece was written. For example, it was inconceivable at the time for the leading lady to display her
legs on stage, so there is no little glass slipper in the opera. Instead, the prince found his beloved
thanks to a bracelet. The new production, which kicks off the season for the GNO this year, also
presents a few variations of its own. The action is set in the 20th century in a place and time that
correspond with the narrative but include references that are more familiar to a contemporary
audience. The production’s young director, Rodoula Gaitanou, will be making her debut at the Greek
National Opera, though her resumé includes important collaborations with the Royal Opera House in
London and other significant British opera companies.
The main roles are performed by: Mary-Ellen Nesi, Irene Karayianni, Artemis Bogri, Antonis
Koroneos, Vassilis Kavagias, David Menendez, Haris Andrianos, Carlos Esquivel and Dimitris
Kasioumis
With the participation of the GNO Orchestra and Choir
OPERA
Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto
Conductor Lucas Karytinos
Director, Sets, Costumes Nikos S. Petropoulos
Choirmaster Agathangelos Georgakatos
Athens Concert Hall – Alexandra Trianti Hall
6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 December 2013
Performances begin at 20.00
One of Verdi’s most popular operas, Rigoletto returns to the GNO in the successful production of
director Nikos S. Petropoulos, who has also designed the sets and costumes. He transports the
action from 16th century Mantua to Mussolini’s Italy just before the outbreak of the Second World
War. The decadent environment of the wanton Duke of Mantua is a perfect match for this age of
conspiracy and arrogance. Verdi’s intensely dramatic music ties into the atmosphere of a time when
everyone and everything exists in the shadows.
The main roles are performed by: Carlos Almaguer, Nelson Martinez, Mario Zaffiri, Yiannis
Christopoulos, Vassiliki Karayianni, Maria Mitsopoulou and Christina Poulitsi
With the participation of the GNO Orchestra and Choir
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OPERA
Giuseppe Verdi
Macbeth
Conductor Myron Michailidis
Director Lorenzo Mariani
Athens Concert Hall – Alexandra Trianti Hall
17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 January 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
One of Verdi’s most thrilling operas, Macbeth is the GNO’s first production for 2014 and will be
staged at the Athens Concert Hall’s Alexandra Trianti Hall at the beginning of the New Year. Based on
the play of the same title by William Shakespeare, the opera offers a rare insight into the psychology
of the leading roles, General Macbeth and his wife, two ruthless characters prepared to go to
extremes in order to take the throne of Scotland. The powerful and dramatic music evokes the
intensity of the characters and the action. The opera will be presented together with the ballet that
Verdi composed for the Paris staging of the piece. The direction is by the acclaimed opera director
Lorenzo Mariani, who has worked on numerous major productions with leading opera companies in
Europe and the United States.
The main roles are performed by: Dimitris Tiliakos, Dimitris Platanias, Tasis Christoyiannopoulos,
Dimitra Theodosiou and Tatiana Melnychenko
With the participation of the GNO Orchestra and Choir
OPERA
Jules Massenet
Werther
Conductor Ilias Voudouris
Director Spyros A. Evangelatos
Sets – Costumes Yorgos Patsas
Olympia Theatre
11, 12, 13, 26, 27, 30 April / 2, 3 May 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
One of the most popular operas of the French repertory, Werther by Jules Massenet returns to the
Greek National Opera after 30 years. The opera was written about a century after the epistolary
novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther, on which it is based.
Massenet masterfully evokes the poetic nature of the idealist Werther and of Charlotte, a young
woman trapped by social convention. Like Goethe’s Faust (which gained widespread recognition
mainly after Gounod’s adaptation for the opera), Werther captured the hearts and minds of the
public after being set to music by the French composer. Massenet’s opera was hugely successful; it
was translated into numerous languages and had a widespread impact, influencing everything from
the ethos to the fashions of the time. The operatic version of Werther follows its own rules, with
essential departures from the original text. While maintaining the theme of challenging prevalent
conventions, it puts aside Goethe’s philosophical quandaries. The story of the star-crossed lovers
described by Goethe inspired the French composer to pen a score of great lyricism and rare
tenderness, with grand dramatic outbursts.
The production is directed by acclaimed theatre director and President of the Athens Academy
Spyros A. Evangelatos.
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OPERA AT THE HEROD ATTICUS THEATRE
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Don Giovanni
Conductor Lucas Karytinos
Director Yiannis Houvardas
Herod Atticus Theatre
Dates to be announced
For its first production in the summer of 2014 at the open-air Herod Atticus Theatre, the GNO has
selected one of the greatest masterpieces of Western culture, Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Through his
music, Mozart evokes all of the phases experienced by a man who challenges God and takes his fate
into his own hands. Nothing is as it seems in this emblematic piece, which heralded the advent of
musical Romanticism in the most poignant way. The production is directed by Yiannis Houvardas, an
acclaimed Greek director and until recently director of the Greek National Theatre. Houvardas has
had extensive experience in directing operas at leading houses in Europe, such as at the operas of
Gothenburg and Copenhagen. In Greece, this is the first time he is directing an opera and his first
collaboration with the GNO. For an opera like Don Giovanni which was so innovative for its time,
Yiannis Houvardas’s incisive approach is greatly anticipated at the Roman-era amphitheatre.
OPERA AT THE HEROD ATTICUS THEATRE
Giuseppe Verdi
Otello
Conductor Myron Michailidis
Director Yiannis Kokkos
Herod Atticus Theatre
Dates to be announced
The GNO’s second production at the Herod Atticus is an opera by Verdi and represents the second
time that the Italian composer turned to a work by Shakespeare toward the end of his career. In the
twilight of his creative course, Verdi chose to work on one drama and one comedy. The dramatic
piece was the tragedy Othello. The heroic but gullible Moorish general of the Venetian army is
duped by the envious and sly Iago into believing that his wife is being unfaithful and smothering her
to death. Music that is at once powerful and impressively reserved evokes the tragedy of the tale.
Following the success of his production of The Flying Dutchman, the acclaimed Greek opera director
Yiannis Kokkos takes on the task of directing one of his own favourites, offering a reading that is
entirely different to anything we have seen before.
OPERETTA
Johann Strauss II
Die Fledermaus (The Bat)
Conductor TBA
Director Alexandros Efklidis
Olympia Theatre
22, 23, 26, 28 February 2014
1, 5, 7, 8 March 2014
23, 24 April 2014
4, 7, 14, 18 May 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
Die Fledermaus, the most popular operetta penned by Johann Strauss II and the first to be staged by
the Greek National Opera back in 1940, returns in a new production. A light-hearted piece with
plenty of humour and plot twists, it is defined by the majestic music of royal Vienna. The GNO’s new
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production will again be performed in Greek, but this time with a new translation of both the prose
and the lyrics by Dimitris Dimopoulos. Alexandros Efklidis, who has produced several successful
operetta revivals already, transports the action to the Athens bourgeoisie of the 1960s, where
Strauss’ heroes meet with surprise guests at Prince Orlofsky’s wild party.
BALLET
Renato Zanella / Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Nutcracker
Conductors Yorgos Vranos - TBA
Choreography Renato Zanella
Olympia Theatre
23, 24 November 2013
12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 28, 29, 31 December 2013
3, 4, 5 January 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
In The Nutcracker, one of the world’s loveliest Christmas tales, there is an indistinct line between
reality and dreams. Tchaikovsky’s legendary ballet is being restaged at the GNO, for a run of 15
performances, by Renato Zanella, whose impressive choreography is based on the original story by
E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. In the ballet’s second act, Zanella further uses
a part of the music from the Overture-Fantasia of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. In the GNO
Ballet’s production, which was staged for five sold-out performances in the 2012-13 season, the
choreography focuses on the dream of Clara, presenting it as a dramatic transition into adulthood
through love and fear. The distinguished German set and costume designer Christof Cremer has
created dreamy sets and costumes for the production, evoking an atmosphere that lives up to the
descriptions of the famous fairytale.
With the GNO’s Orchestra, Principal Dancers, Soloists, Coryphees and Corps de Ballet
BALLET
Yannick Boquin / Frederic Chopin
Chopin in Love
Piano TBA
Choreography Yannick Boquin
Olympia Theatre
Avant-Premiere Thursday 28 November 2013
10, 11, 16, 17 May 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
This poetic ballet by French choreographer Yannick Boquin is inspired by the epistolary novel The
Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and uses pieces by Frederic Chopin for
the piano as its score. Boquin tells the tale of the tragic love affair between Werther and Lotte
through the enchanting and eminently romantic music of the Polish composer. Greek premiere of
the production.
With the GNO Ballet’s Principal Dancers, Coryphees and Corps de Ballet
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BALLET
Renato Zanella / Eleni Karaindrou
Journey to Eternity
Conductors Miltos Logiadis - TBA
Choreography Renato Zanella
Thessaloniki Concert Hall – 28 & 29 September 2013 at 21.00
Olympia Theatre
1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 February 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
The GNO’s extremely successful production, Journey to Eternity, which was first presented in the
2012-13 season, returns in a new version that features the addition of new themes by composer
Eleni Karaindrou, for six performances at the Olympia Theatre in February 2014. Karaindrou’s poetic
and highly resonant music, which formed the backdrop of numerous films by internationally
acclaimed late director Theo Angelopoulos, are what inspired choreographer Renato Zanella to
create this dance journey. Coupled with the costumes and sets designed by Katerina Angelopoulou,
and the movement of the Greek National Opera Ballet’s dancers, it brings to the stage scenes,
themes and symbols from Angelopoulos’s ecumenical films.
With the GNO’s Orchestra, Principal Dancers, Soloists, Coryphees and Corps de Ballet
BALLET
Renato Zanella / Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake
Conductor Ilias Voudouris
Choreography Renato Zanella
Athens Concert Hall – Alexandra Trianti Hall
15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 March 2014
Performances begin at 20.00
After the success of the GNO’s production of Romeo and Juliet, which was staged for two
consecutive seasons, Renato Zanella, artistic director of the GNO Ballet, choreographs exclusively for
the company one of the world’s most romantic dance dramas, Swan Lake to music by Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky. The enchanting tale of Prince Siegfried, the Swan Queen Odette, the evil sorcerer Von
Rothbart and his daughter Odile is told here from a completely new point of view.
With the GNO’s Orchestra, Principal Dancers, Soloists, Coryphees and Corps de Ballet
OPERA FOR CHILDREN
Nikos Kypourgos
Beware! The Prince is Messy
Conductors Nikos Vassileiou – Yorgos Aravidis - TBA
Director – Libretto Thomas Moschopoulos
Sets Evangelia Therianou / Costumes Claire Bracewell
Lighting Lefteris Pavlopoulos / Movement Xenia Themeli
Olympia Theatre
Premiere Saturday 9 November 2013 at 20.00
Matinees (begin 11.00):
10, 13, November 2013 / 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 December 2013
12, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26 January 2014 / 2, 4, 5, 9, 23, 25, 26, 28 February 2014
16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 27, 30 March 2014
Evening performances (begin 20.00):
9 & 16 November 2013, 1 December 2013, 23 January 2014, 27 February 2014, 28, 29 March 2014
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Nikos Kypourgos’s comic opera, directed by Thomas Moschopoulos who also penned the libretto, is
based on the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen The Swineherd. 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 tweaked and nothing is as it first appears. Everything is
topsy-turvy: Princes and princesses who are something of slobs, muddy little animals with many
human characteristics, and adults who act like children in the process of growing up. Humour plays
with emotion and tenderness with satire. Moschopoulos returns to the GNO two years after he
presented his successful production of Puss in Boots, with the promise of a fun and exciting tale for
children and adults with a kid’s heart. This is the first time that the GNO will be scheduling evening
performances for an opera written especially for children, as we believe that it will be appreciated
by children and adults alike.
The leading roles are performed by: Nikos Stefanou, Charalambos Alexandropoulos, Yiannis
Kavouras, Marianna Mansola, Maria Mavrommati and Vassia Zacharopoulou
With the GNO’s Children’s Theatre Orchestra
GNO CHILDREN’S CHOIR
A Christmas Tale
Olympia Theatre
21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29, 31 December 2013, / 3, 4, 5 January 2014,
Performances begin at 11.00
This is a celebratory concert-performance with the Greek National Opera’s Children’s Choir, directed
by Mata Katsouli and featuring musical themes inspired by Christmas. The full cast and crew of the
production will be announced shortly.
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