Announcement of the Greek National Opera Learning & Participation programme 2025/26

For the 2025/26 season, the Greek National Opera’s Learning & Participation Department presents a diverse and extensive programme that embraces people of all ages and social groups, continuing to foster participation, challenge stereotypes, and highlight art as a common ground for connection and inclusion. The design of our artistic and pedagogical projects has been enduringly inspired by the values of free speech and expression, collaboration, understanding, acceptance of diversity, and full access to the learning process, ensuring that art remains open and accessible to everyone.

This year, we travel more than ever, as part of the programme The GNO Tours Greece, which is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach. Performances, workshops, and educational programmes travel long distances, reaching numerous cities and villages to be offered for free to audiences, bringing the magic of opera and music theatre to even more people. The tender Rigoletto workshop for infants and toddlers opens a multisensory world that will be showcased in Athens, then in Kalamata, Chania, and Larissa. The beloved workshop Dad… Shall We Dance? will set up small celebrations with entertaining movement and tender communication in Kalamata, Alexandroupoli, Orestiada, Didymoticho, Soufli, and Rethymno. The project Musical Narrations, featuring stories and melodies from all over the world, will visit Kalamata, Crete, Thebes, and Serres. At the same time, selected productions from the Pocket Opera & Ballet cycle will travel to destinations to be announced soon. Finally, the GNO digital platform Opera Box is offered free to 600 secondary education schools across Greece, combining presentations, educational materials, and online seminars for educators.

Furthermore, special emphasis is placed on regions outside Athens through the launch of new partnerships with major art and educational institutions in Thessaloniki and Ioannina, as part of the 3rd Bell Opera programme for primary education, which is implemented with the ongoing support of Piraeus Bank. This educational programme is part of the Piraeus Bank Corporate Responsibility Programme “EQUALL – For a Society of Equal People,” specifically within the Young Generation pillar of events. In this way, we open fertile communication channels among schools, universities, and cultural organizations by further enhancing the social and artistic character of these activities.

More specifically, below are the Projects organized by category:

• Under the Projects for Schools category, the programme 3^rd Bell Opera is travelling for the first time beyond Athens, after having established partnerships in Thessaloniki and Ioannina, to offer primary school students the opportunity to create and present original music theatre works. At the same time, the Greek National Opera launches a new educational programme titled The Greek National Opera Goes to School, through which it “adopts” six classes in six primary schools in Attica, aiming to bring students into direct contact with the magical world of opera. This project includes interactive tours of GNO venues, experiential workshops, and classroom educational activities, inspiring creativity and encouraging children’s artistic expression. Moreover, the educational performance programme Travelling with La traviata, specifically designed for kindergartens, invites children aged 4 to 6 to explore the world of opera through play, storytelling, and music-motor activities inspired by Verdi’s masterpiece. The GNO digital platform Opera Box continues to be offered free in secondary education, combining performances with educational materials and interactive tools to provide an original introduction to opera. Furthermore, it offers educators free online seminars to help them make full use of the rich materials in class.

• Under the Projects for the Whole Family category, this year as well, we find beloved programmes that introduce children and adults to the world of opera, ballet, and music theatre. The highly successful Pocket Opera & Ballet cycle is entering its third year, with interactive performances and workshops that bring classical works such as La Gioconda, Giselle, Falstaff, and Swan Lake to children of all ages. The much-adored playful dance workshop Dad… Shall We Dance? returns to Athens and will continue travelling to other cities across Greece, inviting fathers and children to play and communicate through dancing. The tender Rigoletto workshop for infants and toddlers will be presented again in Athens and, immediately after that, will tour the rest of Greece, turning the first introduction to opera into a joyful and imaginative experience. Finally, the project Musical Narrations continues to invite children and grown-ups to a fairy-tale-like realm filled with traditional melodies and stories from all around the world.

• Projects for adults aged 65 and over continue to lovingly embrace old age with events that bring music and theatre to the forefront of daily life, emphasizing that creativity knows no age. The new programme Rendezvous, supported by Protergia – an integral part of METLEN Energy & Metals – opens up a space for creativity, communication, and high spirits, where music, singing, and theatre inspire new experiences, friendships, and life celebrations. The successful programme Prima Volta is moving into its second year, bringing out stories and memories from Athens neighbourhoods through singing and music theatre performances. At the same time, the GNO Learning & Participation Department continues its Free Concerts at Care Centres for the Elderly across Attica, spreading moments of emotion and joy among the elderly.

• The Projects for Disabled Individuals have become a steady and dynamic part of programming, ensuring full accessibility, inclusion, and collective creativity. The programme An Irrational Tale, which is returning for a final run, continues to bring together individuals with and without disabilities through storytelling, music, movement, and improvisation, creating new tales inspired by everyday life and Athens’ urban landscape. The established events cycle All Together At the Opera, supported by Alpha Bank as part of its corporate responsibility initiative “Culture for all,” will enrich the new artistic season with an original workshop titled We Enter Fairy Tales Through Notes And Play!, which is specially designed for mixed groups of children both with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). At the same time, the GNO Learning & Participation Department continues to offer fully accessible performances both in the Stavros Niarchos Hall and at the GNO Alternative Stage, ensuring that the experience of opera, theatre, and ballet remains open and accessible to everyone.

• Intercultural Education Projects, now supported by Piraeus Bank as part of its multifaceted corporate responsibility programme “EQUALL – For a Society of Equal People,” continue this year as well with renewed energy. The Intercultural Orchestra opens a new cycle, inviting new musicians to participate in its creative journey, while the Intercultural Choir enriches its repertoire, exploring the power of voice and collectiveness. At the same time, the intercultural opera hub for teenagers, Co-OPERAtive, is entering its sixth year, drawing inspiration from Gabriel García Márquez’s magic realism to create a new original music theatre piece.

• Under the Projects for Young Artists category, this year, the programme Latent Space opens a dynamic dialogue on musical creation in the era of artificial intelligence, exploring the boundaries between composition, performance, and improvisation. Through weekly workshops, participants will experiment with modern technological tools and new artistic approaches. The workshops will culminate in the creation of original pieces that will be presented at the GNO Alternative Stage on 6 and 7 May 2025.

• Under the Projects in Penitentiaries category, this year's cycle of artistic workshops, supported by the Ioannis S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, includes four destinations: Chania (Crete), Eleonas (Thebes), Diavata (Thessaloniki), and Nigrita (Serres). In Chania, a musical journey with strings and percussion will take female prisoners on a journey across melodies of the Mediterranean, while in Eleonas, Thebes, prisoners will be introduced to the world of the Greek ancient drama chorus, connecting it to their own personal experiences. In the Diavata and Nigrita Penitentiaries, music and singing workshops will give participants the opportunity to collectively create original compositions. All workshops will conclude with a presentation of the artistic result of the process. Through music, dancing, and singing, groups will develop collaboration skills, cultivate self-expression, and build bridges of reintegration, reaffirming the power of art to unite and liberate.

• This year, a new category has been added to the programming: Projects for the Community. This category will include the educational programme The Art of Rhythm for adults aged 18 and over who wish to explore the art of rhythm through the performance of percussion instruments and singing. Through experiential music and singing workshops using traditional percussion instruments (bendir), participants are invited to discover the power of rhythm as a means of personal expression, collaboration, and creativity. The cycle will conclude with an original musical theatre performance in May 2026 at the GNO Alternative Stage.

• The Cultural Prescription Pilot Projects, an initiative by the Ministry of Culture, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, will continue this season with a new series of workshops titled Unisons: Meeting Points Between Speech and Music. This programme is targeted at individuals with anxiety disorders who engage with music as a means of expression and communication, discovering new ways to connect with themselves and others.

• Finally, the training cycle for trainers, caregivers, and professionals in the cultural sector continues, with a focus on inclusive practices for designing artistic programmes for adults aged 65 and over and persons with disabilities, as well as on audience reception in Attica and throughout Greece.

Information: www.nationalopera.gr

GNO LEARNING & PARTICIPATION

Programming Manager
Eva Karterou

Educational design supervision & production coordination
Kiki Kerzeli
Michalis Moschoutis
Kalliroi Papadopoulou
Sandra Pintzopoulou
Christina Spanou

Promotion, Communication
Myrsini Vasilopoulou

Executive producers
Alexandros Lazaridis
Raia Tsakiridi

Lead Donor of the GNO Learning & Participation  Department & Tour Programme Donor

Sponsor of the 3^rd Bell Opera educational programme

Sponsor of the Rendezvous educational programme

Sponsor of All Together At the Opera

Sponsor of the educational projects in Penitentiaries  

Cultural Prescription is a programme run by the Ministry of Culture, as part of the “NextGenerationEU” programme, which is implemented with funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0.”

 The Project “Sub 1.1.6 Attracting individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with disabilities to events of the Greek National Opera” is funded by the Ministry of Culture and implemented as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” with funds from the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

The Travelling with La Traviata programme is implemented as part of the Act “Regional Observatory for Social Inclusion of the Attica Region – Attica Social Network,” which is funded by ESF+ resources of the "ATTIKI 2021-2027" Programme.

With the support