The ‘In Situ’ tour included the choir rehearsal room [Vangelis Zavos]
The journalists of Kathimerini can attest that one of the advantages of working for a legacy newspaper with a weighty name is access. All of us, chasing a good story or recording a news item, have found ourselves in places, spaces and locations that are not intended for everyone. The journalists on the culture beat especially have found themselves in places inaccessible to many – whether it is the backstage area of a major theater organization or a painter’s workshop. We have found ourselves next to art conservators working with masterpieces of world cultural heritage; we have seen antiquities up close just before they are exhibited to the public; we have watched how award-winning films are made and we have recorded rehearsals of theatrical productions that were later described as classics.
Kathimerini shares this experience of exclusive access with its readers almost every day through its pages and website, so we thought it would be great to also share it up close. This is how the idea for the “Culture in Situ” action was born: A series of carefully planned tours for small groups, curated by journalists covering culture, in places where culture is born, developed and preserved.
We had the pleasure of starting our first action on May 17 from the innermost sanctum of the Greek National Opera (GNO). A group of 20 people, we gained access backstage and heard, during a marvelous tour, how an entire performance is created and staged before the curtain rises. Our group consisted of young and old, opera enthusiasts, but also those who were curious to know about the GNO up close, even two little girls who came with their mothers and of course stole the show.
Our guide was Katerina Petsatodi, the stage director of the National Opera, who took us to the rehearsal room of the choir and orchestra (we sat carefully next to the lecterns and the musicians’ instruments), where we saw live ballet rehearsals, climbed (very) high up where experts raise and lower the famous opera sets, took a quick look at the costumes of the long-awaited “Turandot,” which will be performed at the Herodes Atticus Theater, and spoke with the artistic director of the GNO, Giorgos Koumendakis, who humorously shared the secrets of opera and the unexpected incidents that happen backstage. What happens, for example, if the soprano’s voice dies on the day of the performance?
On May 24, the group walked through Maria Callas’ Athens with Kathimerini’s Nikos Vatopoulos, and Vasilis Louras, director and writer of the documentary “Mary, Marianna, Maria: The Unsung Greek Years of Callas,” to explore the unknown Greek years of the famous soprano.
Next Saturday, “Culture in Situ” has planned a historic tour headed by Elias Maglinis, the arts editor of the Sunday edition of Kathimerini, who will tell the fascinating but also tragic story of the Trial or the Execution of the Six (the trial for treason, in late 1922, of the Anti-Venizelist officials held responsible for the Greek military defeat in Asia Minor). The tour will start from the Old Parliament building and end at the place of their execution.
You can register by clicking here (more.com/gr-en/tickets/happenings/1922-i-diki-kai-i-ektelesi-ton-eksi/). Our subscribers enjoy a discount for their participation.
At the end of the tours, participants receive the ‘In Situ’ tote. [Vangelis Zavos]
