Learning & Participation Department of the Greek National Opera Reveals 2027 Lineup

A new year of opera, music theatre, music, movement, creativity, and fascinating encounters begins for the Learning & Participation Department of the Greek National Opera. With new programmes and popular returning events, the 2026/27 season extends across different age groups, communities, and venues, opening up even more paths for experiential learning, participation, and artistic expression. At the same time, this year’s season introduces a new direction – the gradual integration of accessibility and inclusion practices into programme design and implementation. Based on the Relaxed Programmes philosophy, this approach will run throughout the year, aiming to create a more open, flexible, and friendly environment for diverse ways of participating in the artistic experience.

In Projects for Schools, the 3rd Bell Opera programme for Primary Schools returns for a seventh year and travels to Attica and Komotini, focusing on The Cat and giving students and educators the opportunity to co-create a music-theatre performance from start to finish. Also running for a second year will be the programme for Primary Schools, The Greek National Opera Goes to School!, which acquaints children with everything that goes on behind and on the GNO stage. For Kindergartens, Rigoletto offers children their first interactive introduction to the world of opera.

In Workshops & Performances for Children and Teenagers, Benjamin Britten’s The Little Sweep serves as the starting point for an educational programme that guides 21 children from the workshop to the stage. Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals comes to life in a new production for younger audiences, while the Pocket Opera & Ballet cycle returns with five popular titles. The new workshop Playing… Music! invites children and teenagers to discover music through play and creation, while Co-OPERAtive continues to bring together teenagers from diverse cultural backgrounds to co-create an original music-theatre work.

Workshops for Adults provide a meeting ground for different generations, experiences, and artistic paths. The Art of Rhythm returns for a second year, while the new programme What Moves Us? invites adults over 65 to explore movement and dance. The also-new programme b(l)alloon buzz, part of the All Together at the Opera cycle of accessible events, brings together a large, mixed group for a multi-sensory journey of sound, movement, and collaborative creation. Latent Space for young artists focuses this year on night, sleep, and dreams, aiming for a special “sleep concert.” Meanwhile, the Intercultural Choir opens a new chapter in its ten-year trajectory and, alongside the Intercultural Orchestra, continues to create meeting grounds for musicians and cultural traditions of diverse backgrounds. On an even larger scale, Melisma returns in a fresh version for a fourth cycle, this time travelling to Crete to develop an extensive network of artistic and educational events across three of the island’s prefectures. At the same time, the accessible events cycle, All Together at the Opera, continues to offer fully accessible performances at both the Stavros Niarchos Hall and the GNO Alternative Stage, ensuring that experiencing opera, theatre, and ballet remains open and accessible to everyone.

In the Projects in Non-traditional Settings category, the Artistic Workshop Cycle at Penitentiaries continues this year, travelling to Nigrita in Serres, Domokos, Nafplio, and the Therapeutic Community of the National Organization for the Prevention and Treatment of Addictions (EOPAE) at the Thessaloniki Penitentiary (Diavata). Through music, singing, modern dance, movement, and group creation, these workshops create spaces for expression, collaboration, and communication. Meanwhile, at the Nafplion Penitentiary, a new Music Festival will launch, bringing together prisoners, employees, and artists for a week of workshops, musical events, and concerts. The Festival events will take place in the courtyards and open areas, with the entire Penitentiary moving to festive rhythms.

Two more special events complete this year’s programme. On 3 October at Loutra Aidipsou, the third cycle of artistic workshops of the Melisma project in Northern Evia concluded last year’s trajectory with the musical performance Water: Melodies from the Springs of Steam, curated by Michalis and Pantelis Kalogerakis. On 23 October, the production My Incurable Love: A Date with History – the artistic outcome of last year’s programme for people aged 65 and over, conceived, conducted, musically prepared, and curated by Kiki Kerzeli, with overall concept, stage direction, dramaturgy, and theatrical coaching by Alexandros Efklidis – will return for two unique performances at the Olympia City Music Theatre "Maria Callas.”