Greek National Opera
Greece's national opera company, in Renzo Piano's Stavros Niarchos Hall beside the Faliro park.
The Greek National Opera was founded in 1939 as a department of the National Theatre and became an independent company in 1944. For decades it performed at the Olympia Theatre on Akadimias Street, where Maria Callas sang some of her earliest roles. In 2017 it moved to a purpose-built home inside the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center at Faliro, which it shares with the National Library of Greece. The company maintains its own orchestra, chorus, ballet and children's chorus.
The main auditorium, the Stavros Niarchos Hall, is a horseshoe-shaped opera house seating about 1,400, with a smaller and more flexible Alternative Stage of around 400 seats below it for contemporary music theatre, dance and experimental work. Renzo Piano set both under an artificial hill planted as parkland, topped by a slender canopy carrying photovoltaic panels. Seasons run from autumn to summer and mix repertory opera, ballet, concerts and new commissions, with some performances streamed.
Highlights
- Stavros Niarchos Hall, a horseshoe auditorium for about 1,400
- Alternative Stage for contemporary and experimental music theatre
- Resident orchestra, chorus and GNO Ballet
- Set within Renzo Piano's park-covered cultural centre
