Greek National Opera Will Perform a Tribute Concert to Maria Callas at The Odeon of Herodium Atticus in September

As part of its ongoing centennial tribute to Maria Callas, The Greek National Opera presents Callas at the Herodium on September 16, featuring the repertoire the legendary soprano performed at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in 1944 and 1957. Internationally-renowned opera singers Anna Pirozzi, Catherine Foster, Vassiliki Karayanni, and Nina Minasyan pay tribute to Callas’s remarkable talent and leave their own mark on the iconic venue with this special tribute, led by conductor Philippe Auguin. The program features arias from composers Kalomiris, Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi, Donizetti, and Thomas, and celebrates the timeless legacy of Maria Callas at the historic venue that she helped make famous.

The GNO’s Callas at the Herodium is sponsored by the PPC (Public Power Corporation). This tribute program is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] to enhance the GNO’s artistic outreach. 

Maria Callas's legacy in Greece is deeply rooted in her performances at the iconic Odeon of Herodes Atticus. In 1944, before she left Athens for New York, she sang the role of Smaragda in The Masterbuilder by Manolis Kalomiris, and Leonora in Beethoven's Fidelio, both under the baton of acclaimed conductors and directors. Thirteen years later, in 1957, she returned to the same venue to give a legendary recital as part of the Athens Festival, showcasing her vocal range and virtuosity in arias from iconic operas such as Tristan und Isolde, La forza del destino, Il Trovatore, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Hamlet.

The Greek National Opera’s 2023 tribute gala on September 16, the anniversary of Maria Callas’s passing, will honor her legacy with performances of the same repertoire. Appearing are the Italian dramatic soprano Anna Pirozzi, who triumphed in her recent debut in the title role of Cherubini’s Medea at the GNO; dramatic soprano and Bayreuth Festival favorite Catherine Foster; internationally-acclaimed Greek coloratura soprano Vassiliki Karayanni; and sought-after Armenian coloratura soprano Nina Minasyan. Conducting is the French maestro Philippe Auguin.

“She rose brilliantly to the challenge, conquering the title role of Medea – and, moreover, with the perfect vocal imperfection so reminiscent of the singular timbre of Maria Callas’s voice” is how French magazine Diapason reviewed Anna Pirozzi’s GNO debut in the title role of Cherubini’s Medea in April, in the production that launched the house’s major tribute to Maria Callas. Pirozzi has carved out a singular career path since her 2012 debut as Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the Teatro Regio in Torino and her acclaimed performance as Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Riccardo Muti. She has since appeared at the world’s major opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, Opéra national de Paris, the Vienna Staatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, El Liceu in Barcelona, Arena di Verona, the San Francisco Opera, and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

Dramatic soprano Catherine Foster, known for her work in Wagnerian repertoire, makes her Greek debut as part of the Callas at the Herodium opera gala, just months before her appearance in the upcoming GNO production of Die Walküre, and returns to the GNO next summer as the title role in Turandot as well. She is considered one of the most important soloists to have appeared over the last decade at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival, this season performing the roles of Isolde and Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung and Die Walküre. Her 2022/23 season included debut appearances at the Victorian Opera in Melbourne in the title role of Richard Strauss’s Elektra; the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples as Isolde; and her Royal Opera House debut in the title role of Puccini’s Turandot, staged by Andrei Serban. Foster has appeared at the world’s major opera houses, including those in Barcelona, Madrid, Bologna, Amsterdam, Washington, Budapest, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Helsinki, Tokyo, and Shanghai, to name but a few.

GNO soprano Vassiliki Karayanni, who performed the three female lead roles in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, as well as the role of Glauce in Medea, has also starred in lead roles at Megaron – the Athens Concert Hall and the Thessaloniki Concert Hall. She has appeared at the world’s most major opera houses, festivals, and concert halls, including the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), La Scala in Milan, Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf), Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Cadogan Hall, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and the Royal Danish Opera, as well as the New National Theatre and Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo, and Biwako Hall in Shiga, Japan. Karayanni has performed such demanding roles as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, Amina in Bellini’s La sonnambula, Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, and Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto. She won the Union of Greek Critics for Drama and Music’s Best New Artist Award in 2001, and has recorded Cimarosa’s Il marito disperato and Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Up-and-coming coloratura soprano Nina Minasyan’s impressive career trajectory includes her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York this October. Born in Armenia, she became a soloist at the Yerevan Conservatory Opera Studio in 2010, and the following year joined the program for young artists at the Bolshoi Theatre, where she launched her professional career. She has distinguished herself in performances as Lucia di Lammermoor, the Queen of the Night, Gilda, Violetta, Amina, Norina, and Adina (to name a few) at such major opera houses as the Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, Opéra national de Lyon, La Monnaie in Brussels, and Teatro Real in Madrid, as well as at the opera houses in Amsterdam, Zurich, Munich, Dresden, and Hamburg, and at the Arena di Verona, Aix-en-Provence, and Glyndebourne Festivals.

French conductor Philippe Auguin is former Music Director of the Washington National Opera. Auguin, who studied in Vienna and Florence, has appeared at most of the major opera houses in Europe and America, including the Vienna Staatsoper, La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the opera houses in Zurich, Bologna, and Barcelona, and in Australia, Japan, and China, as well as at the Salzburg Festival and the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

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