The Opera Gala Callas at the Herodium Comes to GNO TV

On 16 September 2024, marking the 47th anniversary of Maria Callas’ death, the Greek National Opera released the grand Opera Gala Callas at the Herodium for free on GNO TV. The Gala, which took place a year earlier, on 16 September 2023, at the packed Odeon of Herodes Atticus as part of the 2023 Maria Callas tribute programme, will be available to watch for free until 16 May 2025 at nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en. GNO TV is a project made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

The highly demanding repertoire that Callas sang at her three historic performances at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus –including Kalomiris’ The Masterbuilder and Beethoven’s Fidelio in 1944, as well as a recital featuring arias by Verdi, Donizetti, Wagner, and Thomas in 1957– was uniquely revived at the Opera Gala Callas at the Herodium by four renowned sopranos: the great Italian dramatic soprano Anna Pirozzi, who triumphed in her recent debut in the title role of Cherubini’s Medea at the GNO in 2023; the dramatic soprano –and Bayreuth Festival darling– Catherine Foster; the internationally acclaimed Greek coloratura soprano Vassiliki Karayanni; and the Greek coloratura soprano of the new generation, Nina Koufochristou. The GNO Orchestra was conducted by maestro Philippe Auguin. The Maria Callas Tribute was sponsored by PPC (Public Power Company). This production was made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.

Maria Callas’ performance career in Greece intersects with the Odeon of Herodes Atticus across two separate eras. In July 1944, one year before she left Athens for New York, Maria Kalogeropoulou would perform there the role of Smaragda in Manolis Kalomiris’ opera The Masterbuilder, conducted by the composer himself and directed by Sokratis Karantinos; days later, in August 1944, she would also play Leonora there in Beethoven’s Fidelio, conducted by Hans Hörner and directed by Oscar Wallek. A full thirteen years later, in 1957, and having since conquered the world, Maria Meneghini-Callas would return to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus to give a historic recital as part of the Athens Festival, featuring arias from Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Giuseppe Verdi’s La forza del destino and Il trovatore, Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet, conducted by Antonino Votto. This precise repertoire was presented at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on 16 September 2023 by the Greek National Opera as part of its tribute gala Callas at the Herodium.

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