G. Rossini - Otello - “Assisa a pie d’un salice”, Aria Desdemona Maria Kostraki /Sofia Tamvakopoulou

Maria Callas - The Repertoire never heard

The Greek National Opera presents a musical photo book featuring the repertoire performed by Maria Kalogeropoulou in Athens from 1937 through until 1945, either for her conservatoire exams, or as part of production performances, auditions, events, and recitals.

The eminent opera artist and Callas expert Aris Christofellis presents a video recital produced under his artistic direction. Featuring performances by the emerging and established soloists Fanie Antonelou, Artemis Bogri, Vassiliki Karayanni, Maria Kostraki, Nina Koufochristou, Violetta Lousta, Chrissa Maliamani, and Mary-Ellen Nesi, the recital is a unique tribute offering both international audiences and coming generations an audio-visual treasure trove capturing –in chronological order, and meticulous historical detail– the “Greek” repertoire of Maria Callas. Sofia Tamvakopoulou performs on the piano. Also featuring the bass Tassos Apostolou.

Operas she would never sing again, songs by Greek composers, Tosca and Cavalleria rusticana translated into Greek, and popular “easy-listening” hits of the time comprise the “first, formative repertoire” of Callas’ career, shaped during those years in which she laid the foundations for her later professional path that would take her to the very top.

The arias and songs performed as part of this tribute offer modern-day audiences a complete overview of her repertoire across the eight years she spent in Athens, and serve as invaluable touchstones for understanding the highly particular and pivotal nature of her training and early professional appearances. They also affirm the unprecedented abilities of the then still up-and-coming singer, and the influence Greece had on forging her star quality. It is a diary-like journey in which the musical component is layered over the historical narrative in precise chronological order.

The pieces are performed in the exact same translations Callas herself sang, and it is worth noting here that most of these works were never to be performed again by the soprano at any point in her ensuing career. It is on precisely these works –the ones we have never heard her perform, and those she sang in Greek translation– that this tribute focus its attentions.

This musical journey is dedicated to the great Greek bass Nicola Zaccaria, a colleague and dear friend of Maria Callas from those early years in Greece who was born in the same year as her – 2023 thus also marks the centennial anniversary of his birth.

https://tv.nationalopera.gr/en/recita...