Even If You Go Away…

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The Greek National Opera presents Even If You Go Away…, a grand tribute to Marianina Kriezi, conceived and curated by Dimitra Galani. For four evenings, on 1, 3, 4, and 7 October 2026, audiences will have the chance to experience Marianina Kriezi’s distinctive universe again through new performances and fresh musical approaches at the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO at the SNFCC. Performing her songs alongside Dimitra Galani will be Savina Yannatou and Yannis Palamidas, accompanied by a ten-member instrumental ensemble and the GNO Children’s Chorus.

From the songs ‘Rosa-Rosalia’, ‘Koperti’, and ‘Plateia Amerikis’ to ‘Flight 201’, and from ‘Gyali-Dounias’ and ‘Serenata’ to ‘Ta Isycha Vradia’, Marianina Kriezi always exhibited a distinctive creative freedom, resisting any categorisation of her work.

She was a creator of rare sensitivity, with a restless, playful gaze and a profoundly feminine writing style that served less as an identity for her artistic work and more as a way of perceiving the world. She wrote tenderly, ironically, and with subtlety, insisting on emotion and small details that often go unnoticed, with a pure perspective that was at times puckish, yet always with a freedom she never lost. In her hands, language became a game, a song, a notice, and an innuendo. Finding poetry where most people see only daily life, Kriezi could turn the meaningless into something precious and meaningful.

Lyrics that became beloved songs in the Greek discography, plays for revues performed at the Eleftheri Skini theatre, radio shows, and an unwavering faith in the power of language and art—all form the creator’s multifaceted identity and her broad creative mosaic. Her name was inextricably linked to the legendary radio show Lilipoupoli, where children’s imagination met poetry, music, and singing.

But Kriezi never wrote only for children. She wrote for those who want to be moved, laugh, remember, resist pomposity and cynicism, and keep winking at their inner child, as in Lilipoupoli—the show that began broadcasting in 1977 and created a radio universe where children’s imagination merged with humour, satire, and commentary on reality. ‘We did whatever we wanted; we played whatever we wanted’, recalled Kriezi, underscoring the sense of freedom that marked that creative period. After all, behind her playful writing lay an astute, restless gaze on Greek singing and its conventions.

Long before Lilipoupoli, Kriezi had already been involved in poetry and literature, and later moved with the same creative freedom among theatre, children’s books, radio, and lyric writing. Yet, her relationship with radio was not limited to Lilipoupoli. She produced a series of shows for the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, treating the medium as a space of intimacy, imagination, and freedom. At the same time, her collaborations with composers such as Lena Platonos, Nikos Kypourgos, Dimitris Maragopoulos, Yannis Spanos, Lakis Papadopoulos, and Dionysis Tsaknis created a distinctive microcosm within the Greek music scene—from ‘Sabotage’ to ‘Serenata’, her songs have been cherished and sung across generations.

Originally from Hydra, Marianina Kriezi was born in Athens in 1947 and raised in Psychiko. She studied English literature at the University of Athens and decoration–set design at the Athens School of Fine Arts workshops. In 1969, she went to Paris, where she studied fabric design at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. Her involvement in Manos Hadjidakis’ Third Programme played a decisive role in her artistic career, ultimately leading her to radio and to one of the most distinctive creative paths in postwar Greece. Marianina Kriezi passed away on 6 February 2022, leaving behind a body of work far greater than Lilipoupoli—with which she was identified—, a work that remains open, full of small ‘surprises’ and inner pathways, much like her own writing.

The performance Even If You Go Away…, conceived and curated by Dimitra Galani, marks an encounter with this remarkable universe. Dimitra Galani, one of the most important and restless performers and creators in Greek singing, whose career began in the late 1960s, has worked with leading Greek composers and lyricists. Since the 1990s, she has also presented her own creative work, writing songs for herself and other performers, as well as film and TV music. Her creative encounter with Marianina Kriezi occurred in 2004 on the album To S’Agapo Borei, where she composed the music to Kriezi’s lyrics and sang them herself.

Performing Marianina Kriezi’s songs onstage alongside Dimitra Galani will be Savina Yannatou—an artist who began her career in Lilipoupoli and has since carved out a versatile path, ranging from Greek art song and early music to traditional music, free vocal improvisation, and the international scene—and Yannis Palamidas—an artist with a longstanding presence in theatre, music, and the performing arts. The performance’s songs, arranged by Serafeim Giannakopoulos and Antonis Sousamoglou, cherished and deeply etched in the audience’s memory, will be reintroduced with a fresh sonic approach, a ‘reworked’ sound that converses with today and highlights the lyricism and playful element in Kriezi’s lyrics. The performance will feature a six-member instrumental ensemble and a string quartet.

Katerina Petsatodi, director and Stage Manager of the Greek National Opera with extensive experience in theatre and opera productions, serves as the supervising director. Lila Sotiriou oversees the performance’s art direction. Eirini Vianelli is responsible for the animations accompanying the songs’ stories. Eleftheria Deko created the lighting design. Konstantina Pitsiakou serves as the mistress of the GNO Children’s Chorus.