The Greek National Opera launches a large-scale tour programme across all of Greece for the first time in its history. Fifteen productions, including opera, music theatre, operetta, shows for the whole family, mixed spectacles, concerts, and a series of learning and participation programmes, will be presented at over 50 venues throughout Greece, spanning from Crete to Macedonia, and from Ioannina to Thrace and the Aegean islands, with free admission for audiences. The programme “The GNO tours Greece” is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.
Celebrating its 85th anniversary, the Greek National Opera announces the expansion of its artistic activities throughout Greece, reaffirming its national character as an entity supervised by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, which provides it with enduring funding. Next year, alongside the performances in Athens and Epidaurus, the Greek National Opera will introduce its diverse artistic, educational, and social work to broader audiences across Greece, offering them a unique opportunity to experience the art of opera, dance, music theatre, and music.
The Artistic Director, Giorgos Koumendakis, notes: “We are delighted that, thanks to the grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the support of the Ministry of Culture, we can finally carry out a large-scale tour programme across Greece, something we have been working on with significant commitment over the past few years. Since 2017, when I assumed the artistic direction of the GNO, showcasing our work in cities throughout Greece has been a key priority, equally important as our company’s strategy to enhance its international outreach by partnering with leading opera houses in Europe and America and collaborating with world-class artists. Assessing our needs, restrictions, and opportunities, we have created a diverse programme consisting of fifteen productions designed to tour and be presented at small and medium-sized venues that lack the technical infrastructure of an opera house. Aiming to achieve sustainability for this programme and to remain consistent with audiences in the periphery, we have built a network of partners across Greece who will host our productions and help present them over the coming years. I would like to thank all the collaborating artists for their participation, as well as the Municipalities, Regions, and all the local authorities, for their exceptionally warm reception of our proposals. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, for her substantial support and encouragement for this initiative. Moreover, I wholeheartedly thank Andreas C. Dracopoulos, the Co-President of the SNF, for his personal interest in the tours across the Greek periphery, and his collaborators at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, who have provided us with all the necessary means to carry out this so important and challenging project.”
The tour programme, which will be constantly enriched, includes stops in Anogeia, Ierapetra, Sitia, Rethymno, Chania, Agios Nikolaos, Kalamata, Kozani, Paros, Naxos, Syros, Lefkada, Nafplio, Sparti, Astros, Tripoli, Xylokastro, Pylos, Ancient Olympia, Ioannina, Komotini, Chios, Kiato, Trikala, Larissa, Volos, Giannitsa, Veria, Serres, Kavala, Konitsa, Preveza, Arta, Drama, Doxato, Chrysoupoli, Eleftheroupoli, Thebes, Patras, Orestiada, Didymoteicho, Soufli, Alexandroupoli, etc.
It is noted that the GNO has established strategic partnerships with the Municipalities of Ioannina, Kalamata, Rethymno, Chania, Sitia, Ierapetra, and Anogeia, aiming to build a long-term collaboration for presenting a significant number of productions.
From Sakellaridis’ operetta I Want to See the Pope! to Verdi’s Rigoletto in shadow puppet opera form; from Future Cargo to Return of the Summer by the GNO Ballet; from The Athlete’s Symphony to Cine-pastiche; and from the productions for the whole family Silence, the King Is Listening and Isadora Duck to a series of special concerts and learning and participation initiatives, the GNO tour programme across Greece will offer audiences a unique opportunity to be introduced to the magical world of the Greek National Opera and become involved in the great art of music through opera, dance, and singing.
Admission to all performances of the programme “The GNO tours Greece” will be free for the public.
The Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Andreas C. Dracopoulos, remarks: “Broadening access to high-quality works of culture for all is a long-standing objective for us at SNF. Through our exceptional partnership with the Greek National Opera (GNO) and its artistic director, Giorgos Koumendakis, we are striving to explore creative solutions in this direction. The touring programme that we are supporting, with the aim of strengthening the GNO’s artistic outreach, is to a certain extent a revival of one of our first collaborations with the GNO: support for small-scale productions that travelled to the Greek provinces during the construction of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) so that people living there could get to know the GNO’s multidimensional work. Today, thirteen years later, this initiative remains just as relevant and essential, and it is now expanding to reach even more people through a rich, robust, and high-quality programme. We are confident that it will be met with a warm response, and that the performances travelling to every corner of the country will in turn transport audiences to magical and unexplored worlds.”
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