How The Greek National Opera Was Founded?

The early years of the Greek National Opera

In 1939, the journalist and writer K. Bastias moved the threads in order to create for the first time in Greece the space that will house opera and operetta performances, honoring the Greek Melodrama that had flourished in the last 150 years on the Ionian Islands.

The troupe that was formed began to give performances in the neoclassical theater of the Royal Theatre, on Agios Konstantinou Street in the center of Athens. In addition to opera and operetta, the protagonists of the troupe also included dance in their performances. The beginning of their artistic activity was with the operetta Bat and as their first opera they chose Madama Butterfly by Puccini. In this troupe, Maria Kalogeropoulou, better known as Maria Callas, began her sensational artistic career, performing from the beginning leading roles of great composers such as Puccini, Beethoven and Kalomiris.

Shortly before the Liberation, the troupe asked to become independent from the Royal Theater and after the relevant procedures, the National Opera was founded. The first theater that housed her artistic activity was the Olympia Theater, directed by Manolis Kalomiris.

Since then the course of the National Opera has been brilliant, with a multi-layered work, with a large repertoire and vision. However, her course was interrupted in 1967 by the Dictatorship, where during those seven years she presented her work mainly in the city of Thessaloniki.

The difficult years for the country that followed also shook the smooth and productive operation of the National Opera. Since 2017, however, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center has been the new home of the Lyric stage and since then its work has been representative of its vision and potential.