Inland

Lead Donor of the GNO & Production donor

This production is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the GNO’s artistic outreach.

 Production sponsor

This new opera, commissioned by the Greek National Opera from the composer Angelos Triantafyllou, tackles the issue of loneliness faced by older adults. Triantafyllou, one of the most important of a new generation of composers emerging from the music theatre scene, tries his hand at opera for the first time, writing music for a libretto by Giannis Asteris. The composer notes: “Inland is an opera without acts and without scenes. It is an anthology piece consisting of islets –born one out of the other– that together follow the flow of a rushing river. From the start, my core inspiration was the death of the elderly out of loneliness, which in some countries, such as Japan, is a mass and sweeping phenomenon. This opera raises questions about old age, loneliness, illness, fragile familial relationships, and the mortality we must all face. The music of Inland walks the paths of a personal idiom formulated through my previous work in theatre, and through the genres and styles in which I was raised by the generations about which I now write. While there are solo pieces, duets, choral sections, and so on, the work does not strictly follow some established operatic form. My aim is not to reach some clearly defined style, nor some absolutely fixed structure. My aim is to tune myself in to the resonance I feel when I relive all the things that lie inside my memory, and all the things that are awakened inside me by the poetry of Giannis Asteris – we created this work together.”

Nikos Karathanos is one of Greece’s most important theatre directors. His instantly recognisable directorial vision is marked by sensitivity, musicality, and a desire to draw attention to the hidden meanings and notions that lie beneath. He notes: “Inland is about all those who, in the twilight of their lives, turned in on themselves and died of loneliness. About those whose corpses were discovered long after their deaths. About those who saw only Lupus –the constellation of the wolf– when they gazed up at the sky. It is about our parents. About auntie Evangeline, and old man Sylvester. About that stranger living across the street. About all those who passed away alone like single stars when their loneliness exploded with the power of a supernova.”