The GNO tours Greece – A year of 100 free events in over 50 locations

A new chapter in nationwide presence

With this tour, the GNO underlines its role as a national cultural institution – supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture, which provides sustainable funding to the organisation. In addition to its established venues in Athens and Epidaurus, the GNO will bring its artistic, social and educational work to small and medium-sized cities, including Chania, Ioannina, Komotini, Kalamate, Patras, Rethymno and many more.

Giorgos Koumendakis, Artistic Director of the GNO, states:
“This tour is the realisation of a long-held dream – to bring our musical heritage and artistic innovation to the entire country. Our productions are designed to thrive even in limited technical conditions. The programme is intended to be sustainable – supported by a network of local partners that we have built up over many years.”

Opera meets everyday life – music at the heart of community

The GNO’s touring programme opens spaces for encounter, wonder and shared experience. Whether in schoolyards, cultural centres or on harbour piers, music, dance and theatre merge with the everyday lives of the audiences. The GNO does not view culture as an exclusive sphere, but as a shared offering for all: accessible, educational, inspiring.

Andreas C. Dracopoulos, Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, says:
“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.”

Interactive, creative, digital – opera you can touch

One of the GNO’s core missions is to give young people access to the world of opera and dance. Formats such as “Pocket Opera & Ballet”, “OperaBox”, and interactive workshops like “Dad… Shall We Dance?” or “Rigoletto – a multisensory experience” engage children, parents and schools alike. Particularly innovative is the digital education format OperaBox, which combines interactive applications, video games, educational texts and a specially produced opera film for young audiences.

A highlight is the “Musical Narrations” project, which reimagines traditional storytelling, music and folk wisdom in a contemporary, humorous and imaginative way.

Larger participatory projects also feature within the programme: „The Athlete’s Symphony“ combines musical theatre with sport, working with children’s and youth choirs as well as local music and sports groups throughout Greece, and conveys values such as team spirit and diversity in an artistic way. The shadow puppet opera „Karagiozis as Rigoletto“ humorously bridges the gap between traditional puppet theatre and Verdi’s opera classic, making opera accessible to young and old alike.

Highlights of the 2025/26 tour programme

Future Cargo – Dance on Wheels
In co-production with The Place London, the GNO Ballet brings Future Cargo, a futuristic dance spectacle, to the streets of Greece. In a converted 40-foot truck, four dancers perform on a conveyor belt to electronic music, visible through transparent walls. Audiences wear headphones for an immersive experience somewhere between science fiction and everyday life.
The production already visited the cyclades islands (Paros, Naxos, Syros) and 8 cities in Peloponnese, as part of the Kalamata International Dance Festival.

Shadow Theatre meets Opera
Shadow Puppet Opera • A Greek National Opera Alternative Stage production
Alexandros Melissinos / Dimitris Dimopoulos
Karagiozis as Rigoletto

Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Original libretto: Francesco Maria Piave
Musical adaptation: Lina Zachari
Text: Dimitris Dimopoulos, Alexandros Melissinos
Lyric translation: Dimitris Dimopoulos
Cast: Manos Kokkonis, Giannis Selitsaniotis, Marilena Striftombola
Shadow puppeteer: Alexandros Melissinos
Frixos Mortzos (piano)

The most famous and beloved hunchbacked jester in shadow puppet theatre, Karagiozis, is called upon to carry out… an operatic mission: to portray the most renowned hunchback in opera, Rigoletto! In the new shadow puppet opera production Karagiozis as Rigoletto, written by the prolific comedian, director, and librettist Dimitris Dimopoulos and the experienced shadow puppeteer Alexandros Melissinos, Karagiozis unexpectedly finds himself playing the lead role in Rigoletto at an opera house founded by the Vizier’s daughter in the saray (palace), all while learning with humour and a disarming innocence everything required to stage an opera.

The performance combines traditional shadow puppet theatre with excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi’s masterful opera Rigoletto, performed in Greek by three opera singers, humourously revealing the backstage of an opera house while imparting knowledge and abundant laughter in an alternative way!

The character of Karagiozis is brought to life with liveliness and originality by Alexandros Melissinos, making this performance a fresh and interactive take on shadow puppet theatre. Karagiozis as Rigoletto is a production suitable for both young and older audiences, promising to entertain and educate while demonstrating that tradition and the art of opera can be combined with humour and creativity.

Tour dates:
29–30 August 2025 – Akronafplia Festival, Nafplio Station
6 November 2025 – Kalamata Dance Megaron
8 November 2025 – Malliaropoulio Theatre, Tripoli
11 November 2025 – Municipal Theatre of Kiato
13 November 2025 – Trikala Cultural Centre
15 November 2025 – Municipal Conservatory of Larissa
18 November 2025 – Municipal Theatre of Volos “Vangelis Papathanasiou”
20 November 2025 – City & Regional Theatre of Kozani
22 November 2025 – Giannitsa Cultural Centre
25 November 2025 – Veria Art Centre
27 November 2025 – City & Regional Theatre of Serres
29 November 2025 – Antigoni Valakou Theatre, Kavala
2 December 2025 – Komotini Concert Hall

Return of the Summer – Dance Diptych by the GNO Ballet
Choreographies by Ioannis Mandafounis (Point of No Return) and Konstantinos Rigos (Les Nuits d’été) celebrate summer through dance, with music by Giorgos Koumendakis and Hector Berlioz.

Tour dates:
6 September 2025 – Petrokaravo, Vrontados, Chios (Chios Festival) | 19:00
22–23 November 2025 – Kalamata Dance Megaron

I Want to See the Pope! – Rediscovery of a Comic Opera Gem
The satirical operetta by Theophrastos Sakellaridis tours Greece again for the first time. Directed by Natasha Triantafylli, the work becomes a witty and biting mirror of bourgeois morality – entertaining and musically superb.

Tour dates: (same as Rigoletto)
6 November 2025 – Kalamata Dance Megaron
8 November 2025 – Malliaropoulio Theatre, Tripoli
11 November 2025 – Municipal Theatre of Kiato
13 November 2025 – Trikala Cultural Centre
15 November 2025 – Municipal Conservatory of Larissa
18 November 2025 – Municipal Theatre of Volos “Vangelis Papathanasiou”
20 November 2025 – City & Regional Theatre of Kozani
22 November 2025 – Giannitsa Cultural Centre
25 November 2025 – Veria Art Centre
27 November 2025 – City & Regional Theatre of Serres
29 November 2025 – Antigoni Valakou Theatre, Kavala
2 December 2025 – Komotini Concert Hall

Silence, the King Is Listening & Isadora Duck – Family-friendly Music Theatre
Two music theatre productions specially created for children bring big themes to the stage in an age-appropriate way. Isadora Duck, inspired by The Ugly Duckling and dancer Isadora Duncan, celebrates individuality and the courage to express oneself. Silence, the King Is Listening introduces the fundamentals of musical structure in a fairy-tale world echoing Mozart.

Tour dates:
4 November 2025 – Kalamata Dance Megaron
6 November 2025 – Malliaropoulio Theatre, Tripoli
8 November 2025 – Municipal Theatre of Kiato
11 November 2025 – Trikala Cultural Centre
13 November 2025 – Municipal Conservatory of Larissa

Music theatre & film screening with live music:

The Athlete’s Symphony
Music theatre becomes a platform for exploring values such as sportsmanship, discipline, and diversity – involving local music and sports groups.

Tour dates:
March 2026 – Agios Nikolaos, Chania, Rethymno, Sitia, Ierapetra
April & May 2026 – Ioannina, Konitsa, Preveza, Arta, Drama, Kavala, Doxato (Drama Region), Komotini, Chrysoupoli (Kavala Region), Eleftheroupoli (Kavala Region)
Exact dates and venues to be announced soon.

Parigi o cara
This production combines operatic excerpts with silent film – performed live with singers and piano.

Tour dates:
To be announced. The tour is expected in the first half of 2026.

Rodinos
This documentary music theatre piece tells the moving life story of a Cretan lyra player – poetic, musical, and full of emotion.

Tour locations:
Rethymno
Chania
Sitia
Ierapetra
Anogeia
Exact dates and venues to be announced soon.

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.

pictures: Greek National Opera, artwork Trabaho