2026/27 Programme

Music theatre • New production
Even If You Go Away…: Tribute to Marianina Kriezi
1, 3, 4, 7 October 2026
Starts at: 20.00
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Artistic curator: Dimitra Galani
Supervising director: Katerina Petsatodi
Art direction: Lila Sotiriou
Arrangements: Serafeim Giannakopoulos, Antonis Sousamoglou
Video animation: Eirini Vianelli | Lighting design: Eleftheria Deko
Children’s chorus mistress: Konstantina Pitsiakou
Performers: Dimitra Galani, Savina Yannatou, Yannis Palamidas
With the participation of an instrumental ensemble and the GNO Children’s Chorus*
* as part of its educational mission

Dimitra Galani will present a musical performance at the Greek National Opera dedicated to Marianina Kriezi, the lyricist who introduced playful everyday-life innuendos into singing. From the songs ‘Rosa-Rosalia’, ‘Koperti’, and ‘Plateia Amerikis’ to ‘Flight 201’, and from ‘Gyali-Dounias’ and ‘Serenata’ to ‘Ta Isycha Vradia’, Marianina Kriezi always exhibited a distinctive creative freedom, resisting any categorisation of her work.

She was a creator of rare sensitivity, with a restless and playful gaze and a profoundly feminine writing style that served less as an identity for her artistic work and more as a way to perceive the world. She wrote tenderly, ironically, and with subtlety, insisting on emotion and small details that often go unnoticed, with a pure perspective that was at times puckish, but always with a freedom she never lost. In her hands, language became a game, a song, a notice, and an innuendo. Finding poetry where most people see only daily life, Kriezi could turn the meaningless into something precious and meaningful.

Lyrics that became beloved songs in the Greek discography, plays for revues performed at the Eleftheri Skini theatre, poetry collections, radio shows, and an unwavering faith in the power of language and art—all form the creator’s multifaceted identity and her broad creative mosaic. Her name was inextricably linked to the legendary radio show Lilipoupoli, where children’s imagination encountered poetry, music, and singing. She wrote for those who want to be moved, to laugh, to remember, to resist pomposity and cynicism, and to continue winking at their inner child.

Working alongside celebrated composers such as Lena Platonos, Nikos Kypourgos, Dimitris Maragopoulos, Lakis Papadopoulos, and Yannis Spanos, she created an invaluable microcosm that stood apart from the demands of discography and the ephemeral shine of radio hits.

The performance Even If You Go Away…, conceived and curated by Dimitra Galani, is an encounter with this extraordinary universe. Four evenings dedicated to a creator who reminded us that poetry may be hiding within play, that sensitivity is power, and that within us there will always be a child who keeps dreaming. Joining Dimitra Galani onstage to perform Marianina Kriezi’s songs will be Savina Yannatou and Yannis Palamidas. The performance’s songs, arranged by Serafeim Giannakopoulos and Antonis Sousamoglou, cherished and deeply etched in the audience’s memory, will return through a new sonic approach, a ‘reworked’ sound that converses with today, highlighting the lyricism and playful element in Kriezi’s lyrics. The performance will feature a six-member instrumental ensemble. Katerina Petsatodi will serve as supervising director; Lila Sotiriou will be in charge of art direction; Eirini Vianelli will be responsible for the animations that accompany the songs’ stories; and Eleftheria Deko will create the lighting design.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Major Sponsor: Public Power Corporation (PPC)
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 June 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

 

The Greek National Opera Travels to New York • Concert
Nikos Kazantzakis: An Odyssey in Music
Works by Hadjidakis, Skalkottas, Mitropoulos, Koumendakis, Theodorakis
15 October 2026
Starts at: 20.00
Carnegie Hall – Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

Conductor: Vassilis Christopoulos
Soloists: Anita Rachvelishvili, Maria Kostraki
Featuring the GNO Orchestra and solo musicians

The Greek National Opera launches its tour programme for the new season with a special international event, bringing the beat of Greek musical creation to the heart of New York. On 15 October 2026, the concert titled Nikos Kazantzakis: An Odyssey in Music at the emblematic Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage) aims to take audiences on a vibrant journey through Nikos Kazantzakis’ world, through great works by Greek composers inspired by his contributions and personality. The concert is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the GNO’s artistic outreach and is part of the celebratory events marking the SNF’s 30th anniversary.

Featuring works by Manos Hadjidakis, Nikos Skalkottas, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Giorgos Koumendakis, and Mikis Theodorakis, the programme creates a multilayered musical landscape, where literature converses with sound and Greek identity takes on a universal dimension. Under the baton of Vassilis Christopoulos, the concert will feature the internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili and soprano Maria Kostraki, highlighting the timeless impact of Kazantzakis’ universe through diverse musical styles, voices, and aesthetics, serving as a unique musical bridge that connects different generations of Greek composers. Manos Hadjidakis’ Captain Michalis, Nikos Skalkottas’ three Cretan Dances, Dimitri Mitropoulos’ Cretan Feast, Giorgos Koumendakis’ symphonic work Amor Fati, and Mikis Theodorakis’ Zorba the Greek craft a unique musical narrative, where Kazantzakis’ major themes, such as freedom, faith, conflict, and transcendence, transform into sound.

This concert serves as both a symbolic and effective bridge between Greece and the international cultural scene. The Greek National Opera’s presence at Carnegie Hall marks the continuation of a dynamic outreach journey, bringing Greek creation to the forefront as a vibrant, evolving, and deeply human artistic discourse. Through the universal language of music, Kazantzakis’ work gains new life, inviting audiences to an experience of reflection, emotion, and meaningful connection.

The concert will be held under the auspices of Consulate General of Greece in New York and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Archdiocese’s Hellenic Education Fund and Together for Children.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Lead Donor of the GNO & Tour Programme Donor: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

 Tickets will go on sale in June 2026 through Carnegie Hall.

 

Opera • New production
L’Orfeo
Claudio Monteverdi
A co–production with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the New York Metropolitan Opera
30 October & 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 November 2026
Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday, 1/11: 18.30, 8/11: 20.00)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: Konstantinos Terzakis
Stage director: William Kentridge
Sets: Sabine Theunissen | Costumes: Greta Goiris
Choreography: Gregory Maqoma | Lighting: Urs Schönebaum | Video: Janus Fouché
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Starring Christos Kechris, Petros Magoulas, Mary–Ellen Nesi, Maria Kostraki
Featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, and Chorus of the GNO

The Greek National Opera opens the 2026/27 season with a new grand international co-production with two leading opera companies from Europe and the United States: the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the New York Metropolitan Opera. Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo—a landmark work in the history of music that marks the birth of opera as a complete dramatic art—is presented for the first time by the GNO. Bearing the stamp of the renowned and versatile artist William Kentridge, this emblematic work transforms into a multilayered audiovisual landscape, where themes of memory, time, and loss take on form, movement, and material dimensions. L’Orfeo will run from 30 October for eight performances at the Stavros Niarchos Hall. The production is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the GNO’s artistic outreach.

Composed in 1607 at the Duke of Mantua’s commission, Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo successfully unites music, speech, and theatrical action into a single system of expression, in which each element serves the dramatic truth. Using the ancient Greek myth as a vehicle, the work that shaped the subsequent development of opera transcends time, addressing fundamental existential questions such as love, loss, the fear of death, and the invincible human desire to overcome it. Four centuries after its creation, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo remains a highly contemporary work that touches the core of human existence through the simplicity and purity of its form.

The plot unfolds between two realms: the living and the dead. The celebrations for Orpheus and Eurydice’s wedding are abruptly interrupted by her sudden death, leaving Orpheus faced with the unthinkable. Refusing to accept his fate, he decides to descend to Hades, attempting to move the dark deities with the power of his music and bring his beloved one back to life. This journey, filled with trials, becomes a deep inner quest in which hope coexists with doubt and redemption with loss.

A typical example of the early Baroque aesthetic, L’Orfeo combines structural simplicity with unprecedented expressive density. Through its recitatives, arias, choral and orchestral passages, Monteverdi crafts a musical universe in which speech and music operate inseparably, serving the drama with unparalleled directness. The famous aria ‘Possente spirto’, one of the opera’s highlights, captures music’s power to persuade and evoke emotion while also revealing the protagonist’s technique and expressive artistry.

Born in 1955 in Johannesburg, William Kentridge is recognised worldwide as one of the most renowned and versatile visual artists, with a unique presence in both the creation of audiovisual works and in opera and theatre performances. His method combines design, writing, film, performance, music, and theatre, along with collaborative practices, all aimed at creating works of art based on politics, science, literature, and history, through their contrasts and uncertainties. He has left his mark on emblematic opera productions, including Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Berg’s Wozzeck, and Lulu, which have been presented at the world’s most prestigious opera houses, such as the New York Metropolitan Opera, La Scala in Milan, English National Opera, the Lyon Opera, the Amsterdam Opera, and the Sydney Opera, as well as the Salzburg Festival. His works have also been showcased at some of the world’s greatest museums, including MOMA (New York), the Louvre Museum (Paris), Whitechapel, the Royal Academy of Arts (London), and the Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre (Madrid), among others.

William Kentridge’s new directorial approach highlights the opera’s openness while drawing on its distinctive visual language. Through an elaborate blend of live action, animation, video projections, and collages, a multilayered stage environment is created. The direction does not seek to explain the work but rather to create space for various interpretations, calling attention to its gaps and silences as active elements of the dramaturgy.

 

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Major Sponsor: Public Power Corporation (PPC)
Lead Donor of the GNO & Production donor: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

 

Tickets will go on sale on 1 June 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

 

Opera for young audiences • Revival
The Emperor’s Nightingale
Lena Platonos
3, 5, 11, 12, 13 November, 27 December 2026 & 3, 9, 10 January 2027
Starts at: 11.00
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Arrangement: Lena Platonos, Stergios Tsirliagos
Libretto: Giorgos Voloudakis
Stage director: Katerina Petsatodi
Animation: Eirini Vianelli | Sets: Evangelia Therianou
Costumes: Alexia Theodoraki | Sound designer: Stergios Tsirliagos

What happens when the art of opera meets animation and the electronic sounds of synthesizers? The answer will be presented on the stage of the Stavros Niarchos Hall with the revival of Lena Platonos’ musical fairy tale, The Emperor’s Nightingale, scheduled to run from 3 November for nine performances. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name, the work returns to the Greek National Opera following the enthusiastic reception it received during the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons.

The story unfolds in the Chinese Emperor’s courtyard, in a world where technology seems to have replaced all authentic experiences. When the Emperor discovers a real nightingale, he is enchanted by its song and confronted with the overwhelming power of art. However, the arrival of a mechanical ‘perfect’ nightingale draws him away from this experience, gradually leading to his alienation. Only when the artificial construct stops functioning and he himself faces death does the return of the real nightingale restore the vital force of art and life.

Lena Platonos’ composition, which she herself has described as a ‘musical fairy tale with operatic elements’, with a libretto by Giorgos Voloudakis, transforms the fairy tale into a modern parable about humanity’s relationship with technology and nature. With her distinctive compositional language, which combines analogue and electronic sounds, Platonos creates a sonic universe of rare sensitivity, in which the melody’s simplicity blends with imagination and innovation. The coexistence of natural and artificial sounds, the imaginative use of animation and live performance, Lena Platonos’ melodic lines, and her masterful vocal writing make The Emperor’s Nightingale an ideal, multifaceted introduction to the magical world of opera for children.

Katerina Petsatodi’s direction and Eirini Vianelli’s animation craft a world that vibrates with colour and movement; a universe where palaces and gardens, machines, and imaginary creatures coexist in a delicate balance between the natural and the artificial. The image becomes part of the narration, serving as yet another hero who evolves as the action progresses.

The Emperor’s Nightingale is a profoundly poetic allegory that illustrates the value of authenticity over artificiality, the power of art that cannot be constrained, and the delicate balance between humanity and the world we create. With its enchanting simplicity and contemporary perspective, the work becomes a comprehensive stage experience that reaches and moves audiences of all ages.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 June 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

Opera • New production
The Queen of Spades
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
6, 9, 13, 17, 23, 27, 30 December 2026 & 5 January 2027
Starts at: 19.00 (Sunday: 18.30)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: Dmitri Jurowski
Stage director: Stephen Langridge
Sets, costumes: Katie Davenport
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Children’s chorus mistress: Konstantina Pitsiakou
Starring Dmitry Golovnin, Dionysios Sourbis, Tassis Christoyannis, Matilde Wallevik, Chrysanthi Spitadi, Yanni Yannissis
Featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, Chorus, and Children’s Chorus* of the GNO
* as part of its educational mission

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s widely popular opera The Queen of Spades, one of the darkest and most fascinating works of the late Romantic period, will be presented by the Greek National Opera in December 2026 and January 2027 in an ambitious new production that illuminates the delicate balance among romantic love, obsession, and self-destruction. In the internationally acclaimed stage director and artistic director of the Glyndebourne Festival, Stephen Langridge’s interpretation, the renowned opera transforms into a dark psychological portrayal, in which the concept of fate operates as a ruthless force that erodes human will.

The three-act opera The Queen of Spades, based on a Russian libretto by the composer’s brother, Modest Tchaikovsky, which itself was inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s novella of the same name, was first performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in 1890 and quickly became one of the masterpieces of the world’s operatic repertoire. In this work, Tchaikovsky reaches one of the highest peaks of his creative maturity, composing an opera in which dramatic tension and musical expressiveness coalesce into a single, unbreakable core. With rich orchestration, stark contrasts, and melodies of powerful lyrical force, he creates a soundscape that reflects the fluctuations of the human soul with unique precision.

At its core is Herman, a man torn between his need for love and his fury to control his own fate. He falls in love with Lisa, who is betrothed to Prince Yeletsky. His passion soon drives him to seek the secret of an elderly countess, which reveals a legendary combination of three cards that can always guarantee victory in the game. When he attempts to extract the secret combination, he terrifies the countess to death. This act plunges him even deeper into insanity. Despite Lisa’s love for him, Herman cannot escape his obsession. In despair, she kills herself, while he, believing he now possesses the secret, loses everything in the game. Facing his demise and haunted by his guilt, he ends his own life.

Stephen Langridge’s directorial approach highlights the inherent crack between the outer and inner worlds. The world of the performance is not presented as stable and objective, but rather as a fluid realm where Herman’s inner conflicts both shape and erode reality itself. As the stage director characteristically notes: ‘Our production is set in the flamboyant, reckless court of Catherine the Great—a world fuelled by gambling, drink and restless desire—where a young aristocratic woman strains against the suffocating role she has been given, and an impoverished officer risks everything to seize a place among those who exclude him.’

The Queen of Spades made its Greek National Opera debut at the Olympia Theatre on 15 February 1963, conducted by Andreas Paridis, directed by Mladen Sabljić, and featuring sets and costumes by Yannis Stefanellis. In this new production by the Greek National Opera, The Queen of Spades emerges as a work about the boundaries of desire and logic, the thin line between faith and illusion. It is a dark, captivating journey into the world of a man who thought he could outsmart fate, only to lose himself in it.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Production sponsor: Piraeus Bank
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 June 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

Ballet • Revival
Giselle
Music by Adolphe Adam, with additions by Friedrich Burgmüller and Boris Asafyev
20, 22, 24, 26, 31 December 2026 & 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 January 2027
Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday, 24 & 31/12: 18.30)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Choreography revival, adaptation: Verónica Villar, Elena Iglesias, based on Marius Petipa’s original choreography (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot)
Conductor: José Salazar
Sets, costumes: Dido Gogkou | Lighting: Eleftheria Deko
Starring Maia Μakhateli, Elisabeth Tonev, Ksenia Ovsyanick, Carollina Bastos, Leticia Dias, Young Gyu Choi,Alejandro Virelles, and others
Featuring the Orchestra, Principal Dancers, Soloists, Demi-Soloists, the Corps de ballet of the GNO, and students from the GNO Professional Dance School

 

The Greek National Opera’s 2026/27 season brings Giselle back to the Stavros Niarchos Hall, the production that enchanted audiences during winter 2025/26, underscoring the enduring allure of the most famous ballet of the Romantic era. Adolphe Adam’s masterpiece will be presented for eleven performances in December 2026 and January 2027, in a new, impressive interpretation of Marius Petipa’s classical choreography by distinguished choreographers Verónica Villar and Elena Iglesias. This GNO Ballet production, featuring world-class ballet stars, promises an experience of high aesthetic standards, where technical perfection meets profound emotional expression.

Giselle is one of the most famous ballets of all time and a landmark in the history of dance. Although it had remained forgotten in Europe for a time, it made a dynamic comeback in the early 20th century, reclaiming its place in the global repertoire. The title role, often described as ‘the Hamlet of ballet’, remains the ultimate challenge for a ballerina to this day, demanding a rare combination of technical mastery and powerful dramatic performance.

The story revolves around the young peasant girl Giselle’s unfortunate love for Count Albrecht, who hides his true identity from her. When the truth is revealed and his betrayal becomes unbearable, Giselle is driven to madness and death. In Act II, in a dreamlike, eerie world, the Wilis—the spirits of betrayed young women—return to take revenge by luring men into a relentless dance until they collapse from exhaustion. Yet love overpowers death, as Giselle protects Albrecht and, through forgiveness, gives him life.

Giselle is not just a tale of romance and betrayal; it is a profoundly poetic work about the power of love that transcends the very limits of existence. Adam’s music and the choreography, featuring subtle shades between the realism of Act I and the ethereal, poetic atmosphere of Act II, create a unique stage universe, dominated by a sense of silent tension and transcendental beauty.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Ballet Sponsor: Prodea Investments
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

 

Tickets will go on sale on 1 June 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

Opera • Revival
Tosca
Giacomo Puccini
24, 26, 28, 30, 31 January & 3, 7, 11 February 2027
Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday: 18.30)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: Pier Giorgio Morandi
Stage director, sets, costumes: Nikos S. Petropoulos
Revival stage director: Ion Kesoulis
Lighting: Christos Tziogkas
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Children’s chorus mistress: Konstantina Pitsiakou
Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Cellia Costea, Charles Castronovo, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Riccardo Massi, Dimitri Platanias, Tassos Apostolou
Featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, Chorus, and Children’s Chorus*of the GNO
* as part of its educational mission

Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, one of the most fascinating and popular works in the operatic repertoire, returns to the Greek National Opera in an emblematic production featuring stage direction and set and costume designs by Nikos S. Petropoulos.

This operatic thriller, in which love, power, and violence blend, is an overwhelming journey into tragedy. From its premiere in Rome in 1900 to the present, Tosca has continued to mesmerise audiences with its fast-paced action and the dramatic tension of Puccini’s music.

At the work’s core stands Floria Tosca, a woman who loves with total intensity and chooses to confront power, fear, and her own fate. Her love for Cavaradossi becomes a battlefield as the world around her collapses under the pressure of the ruthless chief of police, Scarpia, who seeks to dissolve all sense of morality, driving Tosca to an act of violence born of the need for freedom and the restoration of dignity. Tosca is a story unfolding through a relentless game of salvation and disaster, in which the heroine’s redemption proves to be an illusion, leading her to a dead end with no room for escape.

The production of Tosca, staged by Nikos S. Petropoulos, had its Greek premiere at the Olympia Theatre in 2007, following an invitation from the then artistic director of the Greek National Opera, Stefanos Lazaridis. By shifting the action to the years of World War II, Nikos S. Petropoulos’ directorial vision lends the work a dark, almost cinematic pulse, creating a world steeped in fear, betrayal, and silent threats. The production’s black-and-white aesthetic, stark contrasts between light and shadow, and evocative atmosphere are reminiscent of film noir, in which violence and sadism manifest with ruthless realism. In constant dialogue with the onstage action, Puccini’s music walks a fine line between underlying, menacing tensions and explosive, heart-wrenching climaxes, following the heroes at every step and revealing their darkest and most vulnerable aspects. As the director notes: ‘In February 1944, in a Rome that seems like a travesty of a Città aperta, overrun with refugees, spies, double agents, informers, collaborators of the Germans, traitors, torturers, and fugitives, amidst the barrage of Allied bombings, the constant movement of German troops, and widespread panic, Tosca weaves a perfect thread to lead us into a 20th-century realist historical drama.’

The production features internationally acclaimed performers, including Sonya Yoncheva, Cellia Costea, Charles Castronovo, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Riccardo Massi, Dimitri Platanias, Tassos Apostolou, etc.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 November 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

 

Ballet • New production
A Streetcar Named Desire
Valentina Turcu
Based on Tennessee Williams’ play of the same name
A co-production with the Maribor Slovene National Theatre
12, 20, 21 February & 6, 7 March 2027
Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday: 18.30)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Choreography: Valentina Turcu
Sets: Marko Japelj | Costumes: Alan Hranitelj
Lighting: Aleksandar Čavlek | Video: Martin Svobodník
Featuring the Principal Dancers, Soloists, Demi-Soloists, and the Corps de ballet of the GNO

 

‘Some stories belong to a nation. Some belong to an era. And some refuse to remain in one time, because they speak of the human fracture itself. Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those stories’, notes the creator Valentina Turcu about the ballet production of the same name, which will be presented by the Greek National Opera Ballet in February and March 2027. Based on Tennessee Williams’ emblematic play, this work offers a contemporary, profoundly psychological interpretation of one of the 20th century’s most important texts, conveying its dramatic tension through physical language and movement. A Streetcar Named Desire is a co-production with the Maribor Slovene National Theatre, made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the GNO’s artistic outreach.

The story revolves around a woman marked by an early traumatic experience that determined her entire life. Blanche DuBois takes refuge in her sister Stella’s house, seeking protection. There, she is confronted by a world dominated by Stanley, a man who embodies force and instinct. The tension between them grows as a blend of attraction and conflict, as Blanche’s fragile illusion clashes with the harsh truth he imposes on her.

Turcu’s interpretation focuses on the heroes’ open wound, the exploration of desire as a need, illusion as a survival mechanism, and memory as a space. Her choreographic approach, drawing on elements of classical and modern vocabularies, shapes a hybrid style that brings the characters’ inner lives to the fore.

The musical dramaturgy, designed by the creator herself, serves as an underlying pulse that runs through the performance, heightening dramatic tension and illuminating the characters’ inner fluctuations.

Just as Elia Kazan’s film adaptation of the play marked a new era for the art of acting, so Valentina Turcu’s choreographic staging offers a contemporary approach to storytelling in ballet, a physical theatre where emotion is not reenacted but experienced. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the choreography gives the story a physical dimension, revealing the profound human need for love, recognition, and survival in a world that often does not forgive vulnerability.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Ballet Sponsor: Prodea Investments
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 November 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

Opera • New production
The Rake’s Progress
Igor Stravinsky
5, 10, 13, 17, 19 March 2027
Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday: 18.30)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: Jacques Lacombe
Stage director: Alexandros Efklidis
Dramaturgy: Kharálampos Goyós
Sets: Yiannis Katranitsas
Costumes: Mayou Trikerioti
Lighting: Christos Tziogkas
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Starring Christos Kechris, Dimitri Platanias, Danae Kontora, Anita Rachvelishvili, Yannis Kalyvas
Featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, and Chorus of the GNO

Igor Stravinsky’s three-act opera The Rake’s Progress, one of the most distinctive and multilayered works of the 20th century, an allegorical tale about the pursuit of happiness, the ambivalence of ethical choices, and the limits of free will, will be presented by the Greek National Opera in the 2026/27 season in a new production that engages in a creative dialogue with the very history of opera. Staged by distinguished director Alexandros Efklidis, the work is approached as a living opera museum, a wandering through time, in which different eras and aesthetics coexist, illuminating the enduring tension between tradition and contemporary perspectives.

The opera features an English libretto by the renowned poet Wystan Hugh Auden and Chester Kallman, inspired by William Hogarth’s engravings that satirised 18th-century English society and depicted moments from the life of Tom Rakewell, the son of a wealthy merchant who squanders his entire fortune on gambling and a luxurious lifestyle. The work was first performed in 1951, six years after the end of World War II, at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

At the heart of the story is the journey of the young Tom Rakewell, a character whose life is shaped less by his choices than by his abandonment of them. Tom rejects the prospect of an honourable yet conventional life in the country to seek his destiny in cosmopolitan London. Carried away by the enigmatic, Mephistophelian figure of Nick Shadow, Tom abandons his faithful fiancée, Anne Truelove, and plunges himself into a world of exhibitionist consumption, moral confusion, and irrational decisions. Through a series of unfortunate decisions—from an eccentric marriage to a woman he doesn’t love to an investment in a deceitful ‘miraculous’ machine—Tom gradually loses control of his destiny. What begins as fruitless idealism and the pursuit of pleasure ends in existential ennui and painful economic and mental bankruptcy. Despite Anne’s selfless efforts to save him, Tom’s journey ends tragically in Bedlam’s psychiatric hospital, where, having already lost his identity, he seeks redemption in his illusions.

Reflecting the work’s dual nature, which moves between the past and the present, between memory and reenactment, the new production’s direction creates an aesthetic universe that draws on elements from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The performance explores the concepts of historicity and dramatic representation, offering an interpretation in which opera itself becomes an object of reflection. As the stage director Alexandros Efklidis characteristically notes: ‘The Rake’s Progress is considered by some as the “last opera” and by others as the first “meta-opera”. Whether we regard it as a late neoclassical work or a forerunner of postmodernism, it remains a piece made of the ingredients of the opera of the past, yet fully aware of the genre’s crisis. However, it is very far from being an anachronistic work. In the new staging of The Rake’s Progress assigned to me by the GNO, I approach the work as an opera museum, playing with its temporal framework and the overall concept of historicity. Remaining within the general context of historicity and “period” performances, I journey through the period between the 18th and 20th centuries—the era that serves as the primary source of music-theatre material for most creators and that most contemporary opera houses use as the core of their repertoire.’

Stravinsky’s music, with its characteristic purity, ironic spirit, and constant dialogue with the past, forms the core of this stage experience. Drawing on the classicist aesthetic while deconstructing it, the score highlights the artificiality of theatrical conventions and illuminates the characters’ deeper contrasts. At times satirical and at others deeply existential, although the work seems to look backward, in reality it blazes new trails for the future of opera, remaining to this day a fascinating and sharp-edged study of human nature.

The production will feature distinguished and emerging Greek and international protagonists, including Christos Kechris, Danae Kontora, Dimitri Platanias, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Yannis Kalyvas.

 

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Production sponsor: Metlen Energy & Metals
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 November 2026.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

Opera • Revival
Otello
Giuseppe Verdi
A co-production with the Baden-Baden Easter Festival
8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23 April & 6, 9 May 2027
Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday: 18.30)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: Vassilis Christopoulos
Stage director, design, lighting: Robert Wilson
Co-director, revival stage director: Nicola Panzer
Associate set designer: Serge von Arx| Costumes: Jacques Reynaud, Davide Boni
Associate lighting designer: Marcello Lumaca| Hair & make-up artist: Manuela Halligan
Video: Tomasz Jeziorski| Dramaturg: Konrad Kuhn
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Children’s chorus mistress: Konstantina Pitsiakou
Starring Brian Jagde, Hovhannes Ayvazyan, Cellia Costea, Tassis Christoyannis, Yannis Christopoulos, Tassos Apostolou
Featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, Chorus, and Children’s Chorus* of the GNO
* as part of its educational mission

Verdi’s Otello in Robert Wilson’s unparalleled staging returns to the Greek National Opera in April and May 2027 for eight performances. The revival of this unique production, which premiered at the GNO in 2022 to great acclaim, is an ultimate tribute to the renowned creator, who left a legacy that redefined the language of opera. The opera, based on Shakespeare’s masterpiece of the same name, unfolds through a directorial vision of high aesthetic and powerful innerness, bearing the stamp of a great creator who subverts the rules of narration, giving a leading role to light, time, and movement, and creating a stage experience that serves as both a musical and a visual event.

Verdi’s masterpiece, which premiered in 1887 at La Scala in Milan, is among the composer’s most mature and dramatically condensed works. With an exemplary economy of expressive means, Verdi offers a captivating psychological portrait of the leading figure, capturing his heroism, jealousy, and destruction, while crafting a musical universe in which the characters’ external actions and inner worlds are inextricably intertwined.

At the heart of the tragedy, a man who was invincible on the battlefield proves to be defenseless against himself. Otello, torn between love and insecurity, gradually turns from a hero into a victim of an inner storm. Alongside him, Desdemona embodies purity that cannot survive within suspicion, while Iago pulls the strings unseen behind the scenes, like a shadow feeding on human weakness.

In Wilson’s interpretation, Otello is a ‘foreigner’ caught in a constant inner conflict. Through his absolutely distinct style, the stage director gives music precedence, creating images reminiscent of tableaux vivants. As he remarked, a while before the work’s premiere in 2019 at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival: ‘Otello is dealing with the question: What is it like to be a foreigner? It sure is contemporary, but it is a classical conflict. And one finds these classical conflicts throughout all literature, throughout all history. One can say it is contemporary, but I would rather say it´s full of time. It is not timeless, but full of time. We can go back to the 16th century or to the 19th century or we can be in the 21st century, we still have the same old conflicts.’

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Production sponsor: Eurobank
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 February 2027.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

 

Staged version • New production
Missa solemnis
Ludwig van Beethoven
As part of the composer’s 200th anniversary of his death
23, 26, 28, 30 May & 2 June 2027
Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday: 18.30)
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: tba
Stage director: tba
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Soloists: Vassiliki Karayanni, Anna Agathonos, Yannis Christopoulos, Tassos Apostolou
Featuring the Orchestra, Chorus, and Ballet of the GNO

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (Solemn Mass in D major, op. 123) is one of the most majestic and demanding masterpieces in Western music, a deeply spiritual work that transcends the boundaries of liturgical music, transforming into a personal confession, a prayer, and a hymn to peace.

Beethoven began composing this work in 1819 to mark the appointment of his patron, student, and friend, Archduke Rudolf of Austria, as the Archbishop of Olomouc. However, the scale and ambition of the piece led to a four-year creative process, and it ultimately premiered in 1824 in St Petersburg.

Based on the text of the Catholic Holy Mass and structured in five sections—Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei—, Missa solemnis combines explosive drama, mystic innerness, and musical complexity unprecedented for its time, remaining one of the most taxing works in the choral and symphonic repertoire.

The work will be performed for the first time by the Greek National Opera in a stage version featuring the full artistic forces of the GNO (Orchestra, Chorus, Ballet).

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Ballet Sponsor: Prodea Investments
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 February 2027.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

Opera • Revival
Madama Butterfly
Giacomo Puccini
25, 27, 29 June & 1, 3, 11, 18 July 2027
Starts at: 20.00
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: Sesto Quatrini
Stage director, sets, costumes: Hugo de Ana
Video projection: Sergio Metalli – Ideogamma SRL
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Starring Ermonela Jaho, Cellia Costea, Marcelo Puente, Anita Rachvelishvili, Tassis Christoyannis
Featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, and Chorus of the GNO

Giacomo Puccini’s ‘Japanese tragedy’, Madama Butterfly, one of the most iconic and timeless works in the operatic repertoire, will return to the Stavros Niarchos Hall for seven performances in June and July 2027. Hugo de Ana’s revived staging will bring to the fore one of the GNO’s most beloved productions, which began at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and was then tailored for the Stavros Niarchos Hall. Through stunning projections, minimalist yet symbolic props, and high aesthetic costumes, a visual universe emerges in which traditional Japan engages in a creative conversation with Western modernism, offering a highly atmospheric and aesthetically captivating experience.

From its 1904 debut at La Scala in Milan, which ended in a blatant failure, to Puccini’s revised version, presented just a few months later in Brescia, Madama Butterfly evolved into one of opera’s greatest achievements. It also marks a significant milestone for the GNO, as it was its first production in 1940, and continues to evoke deep emotion in the audience to this day, more than a century after its creation.

The plot, set in the early 20th century, tells the story of the tragic love between the young geisha Cio-Cio-San, the so-called Butterfly, and American naval officer Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton. To her, their marriage represents a sacred bond and a promise for life; to him, however, it means something else. When Pinkerton returns to the United States, Butterfly faithfully waits for him with their child for three long years. Yet when he returns, he is accompanied by his new American wife, bringing the heroine face-to-face with the harsh truth. After deciding to hand the child over to his father, Cio-Cio-San is driven to an earth-shattering act of self-sacrifice, sealing her destiny with a tragic end.

The staging of this production reconstructs the atmosphere of early-20th-century Japan with subtlety, crafting a poetic setting where Eastern aesthetics meets Western dramaturgy. The costumes and sets, inspired by tradition and theatrical minimalism, underscore the conflict between two worlds—Japanese culture and the American presence—that lies at the heart of the opera. With his distinctive aesthetic, Hugo de Ana develops a directorial style that balances ‘big spectacle’ with detail in performances, bringing out the characters’ psychological nuances. The cast will feature internationally acclaimed protagonists, including Ermonela Jaho, Cellia Costea, Marcelo Puente, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Tassis Christoyannis.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Major Sponsor: Public Power Corporation (PPC)
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

 

Tickets will go on sale on 1 February 2027.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.

 

Opera • Revival
Rigoletto
Giuseppe Verdi
17, 20, 22, 23, 25, 28, 30 July 2027
Starts at: 20.00
Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO – Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Conductor: Lukas Karytinos
Stage director, sets, costumes, lighting: Nikos S. Petropoulos
Revival stage director: Ion Kesoulis
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos
Starring Dimitri Platanias, Dionysios Sourbis, Vassiliki Karayanni, Yannis Christopoulos, Petros Magoulas
Featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, and Chorus of the GNO

Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, one of the most daring and popular works in the world repertoire, a story that illuminates the fiercest sides of human nature, will return to the Stavros Niarchos Hall in July 2027 for seven unique performances. In this iconic production by the Greek National Opera, featuring stage direction and set, costume and lighting design by Nikos S. Petropoulos, the action is reimagined from Renaissance Mantua to 1938 Milan. Set against the backdrop of Italy, misled by the illusion of Mussolini’s fascist glory and plunged into moral decay, the stage transforms into a suffocating film noir universe, where shadows seem more real than light, and power is displayed with cynical, extreme arrogance.

The drama revolves around Rigoletto, one of the most complex and contradictory characters in the operatic repertoire, who struggles to protect his daughter from the very world he serves. Yet, fate, heralded as a curse from the outset, looms over the story like a shadow. Love turns into weakness; revenge into a trap; and sacrifice into tragic irony. In her effort to save the man who betrayed her, Gilda is driven to self-destruction, while Rigoletto is led to his final downfall.

Verdi’s music, showcasing unprecedented compositional boldness for its era, crafts detailed psychological portraits of the characters. As critic Tommaso Locatelli had remarked at the 1851 premiere, here, the orchestra ‘speaks, weeps, and moves the audience’ in an overwhelming way, following the violent shifts between cynicism and affection. From its menacing overture to the heart-wrenching finale, the score engages in a perfect conversation with the atmosphere created by the direction, reminding us that the arrogance of power and the need for revenge are timeless. In this ‘realist historical drama of the 20th century’, redemption proves a painful fallacy, and tragedy culminates in ruthless determinism, leaving the audience exposed to the grandeur of a destiny that allows no room for escape.

In Rigoletto, nothing remains innocent; neither love, nor power, nor even justice itself. The work remains, to this day, a fascinating study of power, innocence, revenge, and sacrifice, on a ruthless path towards destruction.

Portraying Rigoletto will be one of the world’s leading performers of this role, the Greek baritone Dimitri Platanias. In the second cast, the exceptional baritone Dionysios Sourbis from the GNO will make his debut in the title role.

The GNO is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Major Sponsor: Public Power Corporation (PPC)
Lead Donor of the GNO: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Tickets will go on sale on 1 February 2027.
Booking for members of the operaclub.nationalopera.gr has already opened.