GREEK NATIONAL OPERA (GNO). 2025/26 WITH THE 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.

https://www.nationalopera.gr/en/news-features/item/7442-2025-26-programme-the-opera-of-the-future-arises-from-the-womb-of-the-past