Guide to the Greek National Opera

Cherubini’s Medea is a bloody tale of filicide rooted in Ancient Greek myth, the story of her vengeance against Jason (he of Golden Fleece legend) who abandoned her for another woman. Premiered in Paris in 1797, the opera didn’t meet with huge success, languishing in obscurity for decades, until a Greek soprano – the one and only Maria Callas – rescued it from the shadows. Callas was born in 1923 and it’s no accident that Medea returns to Athens in her centenary year to headline Greek National Opera’s season, a signal of the company’s lofty international ambitions.

Founded in 1939, the Greek National Opera is a public body and the sole opera house in Greece. It produces and stages operas, musical theater, operettas, and ballets, and multi-disciplinary productions for its two stages at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), the 1400-seat Stavros Niarchos Hall and the 400-seat Alternative Stage, as well as at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a 5000-seat open-air theater in the center of Athens.

The company’s repertory covers four centuries of lyrical theater, from the works of Claudio Monteverdi to those of contemporary composers. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Greek National Opera were both founded in 1939 alongside the opera company, then a part of the Royal Theatre, and a Children’s Chorus was founded in 2012. In addition to its opera programming, the GNO also encompasses the GNO Professional School of Dance, as well as education and community programs aimed at all age groups.

The GNO’s vision is to be one of Europe’s most innovative opera houses with a unique artistic identity that engages global talent and inspires large and diverse audiences. Led by artistic director Giorgos Koumendakis and supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), its mission is to offer audiences high caliber productions by presenting operas, ballets, operettas, operas for children, and music recitals, among other events.

A turning point in its history came in 2017 when the GNO relocated to a new state-of-the-art building at the architecturally striking Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), designed by Renzo Piano. The hall’s inaugural production in October 2017 was Strauss’ Elektra, starring the celebrated Greek mezzo Agnes Baltsa as Klytaemnestra. The GNO’s programming has included, among others: Verdi’s Don Carlo, a co-production of the Royal Opera House, London, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the Norwegian National Opera ,Oslo, directed by Sir Nicholas Hytner; Berg’s Wozzeck directed by Olivier Py; Marina Abramović’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, a co-production with Opéra national de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Teatro di San Carlo; and Verdi’s Otello, a co-production with Festspiel Baden-Baden directed by Robert Wilson.

Also, in 2020 the Greek National Opera has presented GNO TV, the new online television for opera, ballet, music and music theatre. GNO TV is part of a new strand of programming of the Greek National Opera aiming at spreading the artistic work of the only Greek opera house across the world, expanding the meaning of artistic outreach.