GNO Presents WERTHER With Anita Rachvelishvili Next Month

The Greek National Opera (GNO) presents a revival of legendary Greek director Spyros Evengelatos' production of Massenet's Werther featuring leading mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili in her highly anticipated role debut as Charlotte, conducted by Jacques Lacombe in his GNO debut. First premiered in 2014, Werther was Evangelatos' final production for the GNO, where he served as Artistic Director and directed many of the GNO's most successful productions. Performances of Werther take place at Stavros Niarchos Hall on March 23, 26, 28, 31, and April 2 and 4.

Werther was made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the GNO's artistic outreach.

Massenet's Werther is one of the most popular operas in the French repertoire. Written a century after Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, the opera follows the doomed romance of the poet Werther and his beloved, Charlotte.

The revival of Werther is presented as a tribute to the late Spyros Evangelatos (1940-2017), a legendary figure of Greece's theater and opera. Evangelatos served as the GNO's Artistic Director and Chair of the Board for many years and directed operas by Verdi, Bizet, Puccini, Rossini, Mozart, Britten, and others to great success. He also directed more than 200 plays, including at the Athens Festival, and Epidaurus Festival, and abroad in Vienna, Zurich, Salzburg, Kassel, Lucerne, and Madrid. Evangelatos made his American debut directing Euripides's ''Iphigenia in Aulis'' at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ in 1982.

Anita Rachvelishvili returns to GNO to debut the role of Charlotte, which also marks her first GNO performance in Stavros Niarchos Hall. Rachvelishvili made her GNO debut in 2018 performing Carmen at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus Theater. She has also previously performed in the GNO's all-star Verdi tribute concert at the ancient Panathenaic Stadium in 2021, and in a concert at the Roman Agora of Athens, which was broadcast live and watched by more than a million viewers worldwide in 2020.

Singing the title role of Werther is Italian tenor Francesco Demuro, returning to the GNO after his performance as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The cast also stars Baritone Nikos Kotenidis as Albert, bass-baritone Yanni Yannissis as the Commendatore, tenor Nicolas Maraziotis as Schmidt, baritone Marinos Tarnanas as Johann, and soprano Chrissa Maliamani as Sophie.

Canadian conductor Jacques Lacombe previously conducted Werther at the Metropolitan Opera; he has also conducted at the Royal Opera House, Opéra de Marseille, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. He served as Principal Conductor of Bonn Opera from 2016 to 2018, is former Artistic Director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse in France, and was music director of the New Jersey Symphony from 2010-16.

The GNO continues its dynamic 2022-23 season with Cherubini's Medea, directed by David McVicar, starring Italian soprano Anna Pirozzi in her role debut as Medea, conducted by Philippe Auguin from April 25 to May 9. Medea is a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Canadian Opera Company, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.