The Final Act Is Always Stained in Blood, Yet Always Wonderful Too!

A programme featuring works inspired by the Old and New Testaments, the Holy Passions of Christ, religious worship throughout the centuries, and the contemplation of the Divine. It includes arias vividly portraying the religious sentiments of heroes from operas by Mozart, Massenet, Humperdinck, Meyerbeer, Poulenc, and others.

PROGRAMME

Alessandro Stradella (1643-1682)
Pietà, Signore…
Soloist Yannis Kalyvas

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Oh cielo clemente! Il figlio è innocente…
From the opera Idomeneo
Soloist Yannis Kalyvas

Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
O bien-aimé…
From the oratorio Marie Magdeleine
Soloist Marissia Papalexiou

Georgios Sklavos (1888-1976)
Lord, I know, my sins are many…
From the opera Kassiani
Soloist Anna Stylianaki

Jules Massenet
Astres étincelants…
From the opera Hérodiade
Soloist Τassos Apostolou

Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921)
Abends, will ich schlafen gehn…
From the opera Hänsel und Gretel
Soloist Anna Stylianaki, Marisia Papalexiou

José Serrano (1873-1941)
La roca fría del Calvario…
From the zarzuela La Dolorosa
Soloist Yannis Kalyvas

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
Dal tuo stellato soglio…
From the opera Mosè in Egitto
Soloist Anna Stylianaki, Marisia Papalexiou, Yannis Kalyvas, Tassos Apostolou

Francis Poulenc ( 1899-1963)
Au jardin des Oliviers… mes filles, j’ai désiré de tout mon cœur vous sauver ….
From the opera Dialogues des Carmélites
Soloist Anna Stylianaki

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
Éternel, dieu sauveur….
From the opera Le prophète
Soloist Yannis Kalyvas

Jules Massenet
J’ai souvent contemplé ton astre…
From the opera Hérodiade
Soloists Marisia Papalexiou, Tassos Apostolou

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Che faremo, anima mia?...
From the opera Maria Egiziaca P 170
Soloist Anna Stylianaki

Arthur Honegger (1892-1955)
Seigneur, Dieu de mes pères…
From the opera Judith
Soloist Marisia Papalexiou

Paolo Carrer (1829-1896)
O signor, dal trono eccelso …
From the opera Frossyni
Soloist Tassos Apostolou

Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
In the name of Christ, give us a piece of bread…
From the opera The Greek Passion
Soloists Anna Stylianaki, Marisia Papalexiou, Yannis Kalyvas, Tassos Apostolou

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES  

Tassos Apostolou

Greek bass, he studied voice in Athens under Frangiskos Voutsinos and in Milan under Maria-Luisa Cioni and Roberto Negri (Alexander S. Onassis Foundation scholarship). He graduated from the Department of Political Sciences of the Athens Law School (University of Athens) and from the Veaki Drama School. He attended for three years courses in acting and stage direction with Luca Ronconi at the Piccolo Teatro, Milan. Among others, he has sung at the GNO, Opera of Thessaloniki, Athens Concert Hall, Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Οdeon of Herodes Atticus, Epidaurus, at the United Nations and Lincoln Center of New York, as well as in Italy, Germany, Catar, Switzerland, Boston, Egypt, Cyprus, etc. He has worked with all leading Greek orchestras such as Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Hellenic Group of Contemporary Music, Orchestra of Colours, Cyprus State Orchestra, Athens Municipality Symphony Orchestra, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra, etc. He has performed in concerts, as well as in world premieres and recordings of Greek composers’ works. His theatre credits include leading roles in ancient Greek and contemporary plays (National Theatre, Art Theatre, Amore Theatre, etc, in the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, etc), while his cinema credits include films by Theo Angelopoulos, Maria Iliou, etc.

Yannis Kalyvas

Greek tenor, he studied at the Department of Communication and Media Studies (NKUA), as well as piano and singing (diploma) at Attiko Conservatory, Athens. He continued his studies at the Music Academy of Würzburg and at the Music and Theatre Academy of Munich as a scholar from the Richard Wagner Verband Würzburg and the Maria Callas Scholarships Society. He has performed such roles as Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Oronte (Alcina), Anthony (Sweeney Todd), Tony (West Side Story), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte, Aix-en-Provence Festival), An Uncroyable (Andrea Chénier), Goro (Madama Butterfly), Rodrigo (Otello), Gastone (Rigoletto), Spoletta (Tosca), Danilo and Camille de Rosillon (Die lustige Witwe), Muctar (Frossini), Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Abdallo (Nabucco), Nikos (The Wax Doll). He has worked with George Kouroupos in the operas The Fugitives of the Chessboard and Ηope of Homeland and with such conductors as Paolo Carignani, Bruno Weil, Philippe Auguin, Lukas Karytinos, Miltos Logiadis, George Petrou. Since 2018 he has been a member of the ΜεĪZοΝ Ensemble.

Marisia Papalexiou

Greek mezzo-soprano, she studied law and singing at the Athens Conservatoire (under Kiki Morfoniou and Kostas Paskalis, diploma with honours). She completed her music studies in Paris and Dusseldorf under Jane Henschel. She was a member of the GNO Chorus (2000-2003). As a soloist she has sung in such works as Die Frau ohne Schatten  (Athens Concert Hall), Madama Butterfly (GNO, Thessaloniki Concert Hall), La traviata (Thessaloniki Opera), Carmen (Nice, France, Thessaloniki Concert Hall), The Daughter of the Storm, Dido and Aeneas, La belle Hélène, as well as in concerts with works by young Greek composers. She has collaborated with the Athens and Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestras, Armonia Atenea, National Symphony Orchestra of the HellenicBroadcasting Corporation, Thessaloniki City Symphony Orchestra, Athens Philharmonia Orchestra. She sang in the world premiere of Samaras’ Tigra (Athens Concert Hall), in Orphée aux enfers (first performance at the Olympia Theatre “Maria Callas”), Elektra (first of the GNO at the SNFCC), and starred in Alkis Baltas’ Frikadela, the witch who hated carols.

Anna Stylianaki

Greek soprano, she studied voice and opera at the Thessaloniki State Conservatory (diploma, under Katerina Karatza). She continued postgraduate studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Munich, under Daphne Evangelatos and completed her Lied studies under Helmut Deutsch. She received scholarships from Maria Callas Association and Richard Wagner Verband International (Munich). She has performed Veronica (Le docteur Miracle), Mimì (La bohème), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni, GNO’s Suitcase Opera), Jessie (The Little Mahagonny), Vivika (Sakellaridis’ The Godson), Micaëla (Carmen), Arminda (La finta giardiniera), Sara (Carrer’s Fior di Maria), Anthoula (Sakellaridis’ Perouze), Maria / Amelia (Simon Boccanegra), Dolly (Samaras’ The Princess of Sazan) and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus). She participated at the first presentation of the works of Sinem Altan, Amos Elkana, Giorgos Koumendakis in Munich (Odyssey, 2013), as well as at the world premiere of Dimitris Papademetriou’s Satyricon (Onassis Stegi, 2014). She received honorary mention at the Grand Prix Maria Callas (2014) and 3rd Award at the Marie Kraya International Singing Competition (2015).

Dimitris Yakas

He was born in Athens and took his piano diploma from the National Conservatory (class of Myrto Mavrikou). He continued his musical studies at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, in piano, chamber music and music preparation of opera. Then he began studying music accompaniment with Dalton Baldwin. From 1982 to 1991 he worked as a pianist-musical trainer at the Paris Opera and also at the Lyon Opera after the invitation of its music director, Kent Nagano. At the same time, as a pianist he was accompanying singers in Paris, as well as in many other cities and festivals in France. From 1990 he settled again in Athens, where he began regular collaboration with the Greek National Opera and the Athens Concert Hall. He accompanies regularly Greek and foreign singers in concerts in Greece and abroad.