Having completed eight years of operation, the GNO Intercultural Orchestra tirelessly continues to hold weekly meetings, exploring its sound and communicating the immediacy and connective power of music through the richness of its diverse influences and timbres. In addition to its journey through the world’s musical traditions, the Intercultural Orchestra has expanded its repertoire – already from the previous season – by incorporating original pieces derived from the longstanding and meaningful collaboration among its members.

 

GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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This year, the number of fully accessible productions to be presented at the Stavros Niarchos Hall and the GNO Alternative Stage has significantly increased, with the intent to achieve full accessibility in all performances gradually. The selected productions that will be fully accessible in the first trimester at the Stavros Niarchos Hall are Aleko / Bluebeard’s Castle on 21 and 23 November 2024, Don Quixote on 20 and 24 December 2024, and La bohème on 31 December 2024 and 2 January 2025. The Learning & Participation Department will also present two fully accessible music theatre performances as part of its programmes 3rd Bell Opera and Co-OPERAtive, on 1 and 7 June 2025, respectively. The selected productions of the Alternative Stage that will be fully accessible are The Loser on 13, 17, and 19 October 2024, Isadora Duck on 29 and 30 November 2024, and Mataroa in the Horizon on 15 and 18 December 2024.

For the second and third trimesters, on dates to be announced soon, the list of the full accessible productions at the Stavros Niarchos Hall includes, Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Golden Age. The Alternative Stage list includes the operetta I Want to See the Pope!, the works Mythos and Madre Salonico, and the modern opera The Fall of the House of Commons.

In these selected performances, there will be designated seats for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and use Greek Sign Language, places for those who rely on captions (CAPS) covering the entire audio channel, as well as seats for individuals who are blind or have limited access to the visual channel of communication and will be able to use the audio description (AD)service.  Guide dogs for the visually impaired will also be permitted.

 

The fully accessible performance of the production The Loser is part of the series of fully accessible events All Together at the Opera, which is made possible with the support of Alpha Bank.

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The presentation of the remaining fully accessible performances falls under the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”, which is implemented as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0.” with funding from the European Union -  NextGenerationEU. 

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GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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As part of the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”

 

The new experiential artistic programme for a mixed group of adults with or without a disability, An Irrational Tale, focuses on everyday life in all its aspects, drawing inspiration from Greek folk poetry and paralogés (a special category of Greek folk poetry) that speak of human life adventures in a fairy-tale-like style.

Participants, under the guidance of the animators, will have the chance to explore the narrative and epic-lyrical character of paralogés and use extralogical and made-up elements to co-create a contemporary paralogí: an updated “irrational” multiverse song/piece with a central focus on a theme inspired by the everyday lives of the group members and the mythological-urban landscape of Athens.

During the 2024/25 season, the programme An Irrational Tale will be implemented in four separate educational cycles.

 

The first cycle will is carried out in collaboration with the Union for Disabled Individuals “Ermis.”

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The second cycle is carried out in collaboration with the Panhellenic Association of Adapted Activities ALMA.

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The Hellenic Ministry of Culture is the funding body for the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”. This project is part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0.” and  is funded by the European Union -  NextGenerationEU.  

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Coordination & Educational Supervision of the Project: Kiki Kerzeli

Assistant Project Coordinator: George Papadakis

 

GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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With interpretation into Greek Sign Language

 

* As part of the series of fully accessible programmes All Together at the Opera

 

What shape does a melody have? What is the sound of a circle or a square? Can aluminum foil make music? Does an everyday use object have rhythm? Can I describe my favourite song using a piece of wire? How many different ways can I tell the same story? If the warm and cold shades of colours were the parts of my body, what colour would my dancing be?

After successfully completing its first implementation stage in the previous season, the interdisciplinary educational programme Moving Soundscapes, aimed at a mixed group of Junior High School and High School students with or without visual or hearing impairments, is now entering its second stage. The programme continues its collaboration with the Special School for Deaf & Hard of Hearing students in Agia Paraskevi, the Special School for the Deaf in Argyroupoli, the Artistic Junior High School in Peristeri, the 3rd General Junior High School in Peristeri, and the Musical Junior High School in Alimos. It aims to bring out physical expression as a form of communication and dialogue. This year, it also focuses on evolving the non-verbal, fun, and accessible artistic language it shaped last year by expanding its pursuits over a wide range of communication methods through movement, visual arts, and sound.

 

The series of programmes All Together At the Opera is sponsored by 

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GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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The relationship between sound, music, and space has always been close. Historically, it has served as a “barometer” for tracking the changes and often radical transformations in the process of composition and the perception of sound. This specific relationship will be the focus of the sound art workshop cycle Latent Space, designed for young artists who explore sound as a medium for creating. Following an extremely successful first run last year, this season, the workshops will centre on Béla Bartók’s subversive opera Bluebeard’s Castle, encouraging young composers and sound artists to select a text that explores the concept of space and use it to experiment with creating sound compositions. Moreover, participants will have the opportunity to be involved in the creation, design, and set-up of a unique multi-channel sound system, which will be showcased at the National Library of Greece’s Book Castle on 27 March 2025.

 

In collaboration with the National Library of Greece

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GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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For another year, the Learning & Participation Department of the Greek National Opera will continue its programme of artistic workshops in Penitentiaries across Greece, focusing on music, body, and rhythm. The workshops aim to foster creativity, teamwork, interaction, and free expression. In the 2024/25 season, with the support of the S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, body percussion workshops are scheduled to take place at the Special Youth Detention Center in Volos and the Penitentiary in Thessaloniki, a music workshop at the Penitentiary in Chania, and a movement and dance workshop at the Female Penitentiary of Eleonas in Thebes. Each workshop will culminate in a final performance showcasing the result of the entire creative journey.

 

Body percussion workshop at the Special Youth Detention Center in Volos

Participants will participate in a creative and fun process, learning body percussion techniques, cooperating, improvising as a team, and producing their own compositions. They will also have the opportunity to explore the connection between movement, dance, music, and singing through the physical expression of rhythm.

 

Body percussion workshop at the Penitentiary in Thessaloniki

Participants will receive body percussion lessons and will be encouraged to experiment with the sound of the body and improvisation, as well as to develop rhythmic skills in order to co-create an improvisatory musical composition.

 

Music workshop at the Penitentiary in Chania

Participants will be guided through the traditional music of the wider Mediterranean region using string and percussion instruments. Embarking on a melodic journey to their homelands, they will reminisce, converse, and work collectively.

 

Movement and dance workshop at the Female Penitentiary of Eleonas in Thebes

Participants will be encouraged to activate their bodies, develop their creativity through their acquaintance with alternative dance genres (street dance, traditional folk dances from various countries, intercultural dances, jazz, etc.), work in teams, interact with one another, and explore dance as a way to experience joy and well-being and as a means of promoting communication, and freedom of expression.

 

Donor of the Educational Programme in Penitentiaries

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GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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As part of the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”

 

Prima Volta, a new programme for individuals aged 65 and over, has been launched, starting a big nostalgic celebration in the city of Athens. The programme will take place in ten different parts of Athens, inviting adults aged 65 and over to participate in a game, in which music, theatre, neighbourhood evening parties, the past, and imagination will blend into a celebration filled with songs, joy, memories, and toasts to the future.

The Friendship Clubs in the areas of Amerikis Square, Agios Eleftherios, Kato Petralona, Ellinoroson Kolokynthous, Grava, Koukaki, and Pagkrati, as well as the Olympia Municipal Music Theatre "Maria Callas" and the Greek National Opera at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, will be the ten different locations where group members will meet to co-create. Through photographs and memories, they will tell stories from their neighborhoods, remember familiar tunes, learn new songs, and bring new worlds to life through the process.

The 2024/25 season will see the implementation of thirteen programme cycles, with the support of the City of Athens in collaboration with eight Friendship Clubs, whereas for two cycles it will be hosted by the Olympia Municipal Music Theatre "Maria Callas".

 

With the support of the City of Athens

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The Hellenic Ministry of Culture is the funding body for the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”. This project is part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0.” and  is funded by the European Union -  NextGenerationEU.  

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GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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As part of the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”

 

Free concerts at elderly care centres across Attica continue for the 2024/25 season, aiming to connect seniors with the enchanting world of opera and promote active aging.

Through a rich repertoire of arias and duets from popular operas and operettas, as well as songs from the Greek interwar period, Rafi Music Theatre Company (Anastasia Kotsali, Leto Messini) and accordionist Kostas Zigkeridis will take the residents of Care Centres for the Elderly on a journey back in time, encouraging them to activate their memory, sing, and dance. The programme also aims at giving seniors a chance to engage in creative activities that foster socialization and interaction, as well as at connecting them with the art opera and contemporary social life.

 

The Hellenic Ministry of Culture is the funding body for the Project “SUB.1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera”. This project is part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0.” and  is funded by the European Union -  NextGenerationEU.  

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GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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A digital educational platform for secondary education educators and students.

What exactly is opera? Is it the singing, music, drama, and dance? A phantasmagoria, a work lasting only a few minutes, an ancient drama revival, a comedy, an epic endeavour? Or, could it be, perhaps, all of the above?

OperaBox, the Greek National Opera’s digital education platform, launched in the  2023/24 season, as part of the educational programme for secondary education schools Opera Interactively Into Schools, is available online, inviting individuals of all ages to a journey across the past, present, and future of opera. Using interactive activities and applications, new and archival audiovisual material, musicological and historical texts, as well as the imaginative video game Helen of Solidarity, OperaBox serves as an educational tool for formal and non-formal education that enables the introduction of teenagers into the world of opera and the familiarization of students and professors with the preparation of music theatre performances.

For secondary education educators who want to enhance their knowledge of using OperaBox in the classroom, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) will support more than 600 free online training seminars across Greece.

 

 

The programme Opera Interactively Into Schools was co-funded by Greece and the European Social Fund through the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development, Education, and Lifelong Learning”.   

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GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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A new artistic hands-on programme titled The Cat has been added to the activities for primary education schools. 

The Cat, a mini operetta based on a fairy tale of the same name from Eastern Thrace, is the foundation of the new educational programme, in which primary school students will get actively involved in the process of creating and executing a musical performance under the guidance of three musician-animators.

The programme aims to stimulate children’s creativity by involving them in the preparation of an artistic work, cultivating their critical thinking and self-observation, enhancing their concentration, memory, and physical control, boosting their confidence and empathy, and encouraging them to foster collaboration and participation.

The programme will be piloted in five schools located in the First Regional Division of Athens.

 

GNO Learning & Participation Lead Donor

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