2025/26 Programme “The opera of the future arises from the womb of the past”

The Greek National Opera presents an exceptionally ambitious programme for the 2025/26 season, featuring international co-productions, original works, incredible surprises, and top collaborations, centred around the theme “the connection of the glorious past to the ambitious future”. The programme, curated by Giorgos Koumendakis, includes seven new opera and dance productions, five revivals of earlier successful productions, a concert presentation, two international opera and dance tours, the international opera awards, and the first performance of the GNO at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus after 65 years. This programme is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

From La Gioconda, directed by Oliver Mears, the Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House in London, and the long-awaited collaboration between Giorgos Koumendakis, Dimitris Papaioannou, and Teodor Currentzis on Requiem for the End of Love to the invaluable legacy of Alexis Minotis and Yannis Tsarouchis’ Medea, and from the legendary costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis engaging with Themelis Glynatsis’ new staging of Anna Bolena to the first authentic Carmen of 1875, the new productions of the 25/26 season carry the momentum of the present and the ambition of gaining recognition in the future through a creative re-approach to the past. At the same time, in the context of the 25/26 thematic axis, the GNO will pay tribute to Nikos Petropoulos –a versatile opera artist who has collaborated with the GNO over the past five decades– featuring two of his emblematic productions, Tosca and La traviata.

The GNO Ballet will present a new production of Giselle based on Marius Petipa’s classical choreography, as well as two successful pieces by Konstantinos Rigos, Swan Lake and the Golden Age. The season will open in September with the concert presentation of Spyridon Samaras’ Flora mirabilis, while the official opening will take place in October with La Gioconda, a major international co-production among the GNO, the Salzburg Easter Festival, and the Royal Opera House, London. The highly anticipated International Opera Awards will be hosted at the Stavros Niarchos Hall on 13 November, turning the spotlight of the global opera community on Athens and the Greek National Opera. Verdi’s Falstaff under Stephen Langridge’s lush stage direction will be revived for six performances, while the family-friendly musical, Isadora Duck, will invite both children and adults to the Stavros Niarchos Hall for an entertaining introduction to the arts of dance and music. Moreover, in the new 25/26 season, the Greek National Opera is organising, for the first time, two international tours with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF): the tour of La traviata to China in September, and the tour of Golden Age to Cyprus in September and to Italy in October.

Anna Pirozzi, Aleksandra Kurzak, Gaëlle Arquez, Marina Viotti, Alisa Kolosova, Anita Rachvelishvili, Roberto Alagna, Charles Castronovo, Arsen Soghomonyan, Andrea Carè, and Marcelo Puente are just a few of the international opera stars who will perform at the Greek National Opera during the new season, sharing the stage with leading Greek soloists, including, among others, Dimitri Platanias, Tassis Christoyannis, Cellia Costea, Vassiliki Karayanni, Dionysios Sourbis, Nefeli Kotseli, Marilena Striftombola, Vassilis Kavayas, Yannis Christopoulos, Petros Magoulas, Tassos Apostolou, Dimitra Kotidou, Nikos Kotenidis, Yanni Yannissis, Yannis Kalyvas as well as the emerging soprano Maria Kosovitsa, who will make her role debut as Anna Bolena.

In the creative teams for this year’s productions, we will encounter celebrated artists including the set designers, visual artists, and costume designers Philipp Fürhofer, Annemarie Woods, Kenny McLellan, Dimitris Papaioannou, Loukas Bakas, Vassilis Papatsarouchas, Leslie Travers, Giorgos Segredakis, Antoine Fontaine, Christian Lacroix, Dido Gkogkou, Konstantinos Rigos, Petros Touloudis, Daglara; the choreographers-movement coaches Verónica Villar, Elena Iglesias, Lucy Burge, Fotis Diamantopoulos, Dan O’Neill, Vincent Chaillet; and the lighting designers Eleftheria Deko, Fabiana Piccioli, Stephanos Droussiotis, Peter Mumford, Christos Tziogkas, and Hervé Gary.

The productions will be led by distinguished Greek and international conductors, including Teodor Currentzis, Fabrizio Ventura, Paolo Carignani, Derrick Inouye, Philippe Forget, Jacques Lacombe, José Salazar, Lukas Karytinos, Konstantinos Terzakis, and others.

Tickets for the productions from September to December 2025 will be available for purchase starting on 26 June 2025, at 12.00, at the GNO Box Office and ticketservices.gr.

The Artistic Director of the GNO, Giorgos Koumendakis, notes: “Throughout its 85-year-long history, the Greek National Opera has presented productions by leading figures in the performing arts from Greece and abroad. In the costume department and our storage rooms, we keep, maintain, and safeguard sets, costumes, and props of invaluable artistic and historical significance from productions bearing the mark of prominent directors, set and costume designers, painters, and visual artists: from Yannis Tsarouchis, Alexis Minotis, Giorgio de Chirico, and Lina Wertmüller to Michael Cacoyannis, Dino Yannopoulos, Antonis Fokas, Giorgos Patsas, Nicholas Georgiadis, Renato Mordo, Giannis Mejikov, Nikos Petropoulos, Yannis Kokkos, and others. As part of the thematic axis for 2025/26, ‘The opera of the future arises from the womb of the past’, we invite contemporary creators to ‘engage in conversation’ with these great artists, their works, and legacies. We urge artists of our time to create the opera of the future, drawing on artistic works of the past that have defined the history of opera in Greece. In this context, two of this season’s emblematic productions, Cherubini’s Medea which will be presented at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus and Anna Bolena which will be staged at the Stavros Niarchos Hall, will creatively utilise the rich collection of costumes, sets, and video recordings, as well as rare photographic material, and valuable directors’ notebooks and models from landmark productions of the GNO. This treasure will not only be used as a source of inspiration and guidance; it will also serve as a necessary structural component of the new productions. In this way, contemporary artistic creation will meet the priceless historical past through the repurposing of stage props and costumes in a new, entirely different context. By reapproaching and recreating the past, but, most importantly, by establishing a dialogue between the past and the perspectives of contemporary artists, new productions will be created that address today’s audiences.

At the same time, the production of Carmen, brought to us by the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de Musique Romantique Française, the Rouen Opera House, and the Royal Opera of Versailles, was created specifically to explore the glorious past of the art of opera, with the goal of offering contemporary audiences a sense of the work’s original staging in Paris in 1875.

Another plunge into the recent past, encompassing both my personal compositional work and that of Edafos Dance Theatre, which has defined the performing arts in Greece over the last few decades, is the new staging of Requiem for the End of Love, which we first presented in 1955 at the Old PPC Electric Power Station in Moschato. With this production, I have the pleasure of welcoming, for the first time at the GNO, Dimitris Papaioannou, a lifelong friend and fellow traveller of mine for many years, as well as Teodor Currentzis, the most distinguished Greek conductor in the world, whom I respect and appreciate immensely.

After more than fifty years of diverse artistic contributions at the Greek National Opera, this year’s season could not afford to miss a tribute to the esteemed Nikos Petropoulos, featuring two of his most successful productions as director, set designer, costume designer, and lighting designer: Tosca and La traviata.

The season will open with La Gioconda, a flagship co-production between the GNO, Salzburg, and London, made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

This year, for the first time in its history, the GNO will travel abroad with its entire artistic forces to present two remarkable opera and dance productions in Asia and Europe. Our production of La traviata, featuring Soloists, the Orchestra, Chorus, and members of the Ballet of the GNO, will be performed in Shenzhen, China, while the production of Golden Age featuring the GNO Ballet will be showcased in both Italy and Cyprus. These two international tours are made possible by the invaluable support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

Along with the concert presentation of Flora mirabilis, the revival of the successful Falstaff, the three productions of our Ballet (Giselle, Swan Lake, Golden Age), the musical for the whole family Isadora Duck, and the International Opera Awards, we are confident that the 2025/26 season will represent yet another step towards international acclaim for the Greek National Opera, the establishment of even greater contact with traditional and new audiences, and a confirmation that the arts of opera and dance have a solid historical foundation, while also resonating with the people of our time, and taking significant steps towards tomorrow.

I would like to welcome all the artists collaborating with us and thank our artistic ensembles, with whom we will co-create the ambitious programme for the 2025/26 season.

On behalf of the Greek National Opera, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to Andreas C. Dracopoulos and his collaborators at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for their unwavering support and confidence in the GNO. I would also like to warmly thank the PPC –major sponsor of the GNO–, for their generous support of our productions of La Gioconda, Isadora Duck, Requiem for the End of Love, and Medea. I would also like to extend my gratitude to our sponsors –Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Prodea, Metlen–, who have enveloped the work of the GNO with their trust. Warm thanks are also due to the family of the late former President of the GNO, Ulysses Kyriacopoulos, as well as the Latsis family, and Thanasis and Marina Martinou for their extensive support of our Company. For the overall progress and advancement of our Company, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, as well as the Ministry of Culture, for always being invaluable aids to our efforts. Finally, I would also like to thank our Company’s Board, as well as all the entire staff and collaborators of the Greek National Opera.”

The Minister of Culture, Dr Lina Mendoni, remarks on the GNO’s new programme: “The Greek National Opera’s programme for the 2025/26 season reflects the vision carved out by its artistic director, Giorgos Koumendakis, which has garnered the warmest appreciation from the public. The GNO now ranks among the pioneering companies of its kind worldwide. With a longstanding tradition igniting its contemporary mark like a flame, this institution unwaveringly upholds the highest artistic standards and benefits from the defining contributions of its human resources, as well as those of leading creators invited from around the world. Over the next few months, the GNO will offer us a rich yet exceptionally diverse programme, including seven new productions, five revivals of past shows, a concert presentation, two international opera and dance tours, and the International Opera Awards. The following summer, the GNO will not be present at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus after many decades, as it will close to undergo necessary restoration and preservation work. However, it will return, with the utmost respect and excitement, to the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus after 65 years.

The artistic programming presented in detail today can successfully be encapsulated in its heading: ‘The opera of the future arises from the womb of the past’. The GNO once again turns to its priceless legacy, a rich repository of costumes, sets, and props reverently kept, to breathe new life into them and utilise them as a visceral element in its upcoming performances. At the same time, the GNO will also make its invaluable archive, which includes materials ranging from photographs and recordings to models and directors’ notebooks, available to contemporary creators, urging them to use it as an ever-flowing source of inspiration. I am convinced that the GNO’s treasured past, which nurtures both its present and future, highlights the unbreakable connection to its history. Every turn to the past is not driven by static nostalgia; instead, it becomes a burst of new inspiration offering a renewing perspective. The GNO is a vast, unique palimpsest in everlasting motion.

The GNO’s successful recipe is exceptionally simple at its core: it targets large audiences that significantly exceed traditional opera lovers by insisting on productions of increasingly higher quality. Opera is a lofty Art with a universal dimension. It represents ‘culture for everyone’. Never before has the Greek National Opera enjoyed such radiance and appeal, and this is fully credited to its people. To Giorgos Koumendakis, the artistic director of the Greek National Opera, an established creator and dear friend who combines, as only a few can, profound knowledge and love for their field with the dynamism and skills required to manage such a multitudinous and emblematic institution, I express, once more, my gratitude for the contributions of all the people working for the GNO, as well as my absolute conviction that they will once again offer us unique experiences in the 2025/26 season.”