The Suitcase Opera emerged in 2011 by the Greek National Opera as an artistic action whose pivotal objective was to fascinate a new audience by initiating it into the magical world of opera and its repertoire. The productions of the Suitcase Opera are flexible and travel to unusual places (cultural centres, museums, libraries, archaeological sites), featuring the GNO’s superb singers, accompanied by a piano instead of an orchestra, whereas all stage sets are packed in a… suitcase. After the major success of the previous Suitcase Opera productions (La Traviata, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Carmen), the Greek National Opera presents Pagliacci, directed by Isidoros Sideris. The splendid sets and costumes bear the signature of Yannis Katranitsas and Frixos Mortzos plays the piano. With the participation of young and renowned soloists of the GNO.

Shows will be held in April and May 2016 in the municipalities of Aghia Paraskevi, Metamorphosi, Kalyvia-Saronikos, Ilioupolis, Pallini-Yerakas, Aigaleo, Psychico, Spata, Athens, Kallithea, Lykovryssi, Eleusis, Acharnes.

Educational program for teenagers “Next stop: Opera!”
A group of teachers and GNO artists will perform on 12.5.16 at 11.00 at the Municipal Library of Acharnon, a two-hour experiential workshop for opera, within the framework of the “Journey to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC)” program. Aiming to introduce teenagers to the art of opera, the workshop is a synergy between the GNO and the Future Library’s network of local libraries. Idea -animation: Christina Avgeridi, Zoe Liberopoulou, Venetia Nassi, Constantina Stranis.

Leoncavallo’s famous opera, Pagliacci, is a drama with a prologue and two acts. Its creator claimed that a real event had inspired him to write the opera: a love story that unravelled in a touring troupe. The action takes place towards the end of 1860, in a village located in Calabria, on the feast of Assumption.
A typical Italian opera with magnificent arias, duets, choral parts, but without any orchestral intermezzo, Pagliacci is in a discourse on the one hand with the era of Realism, during which the play was written, and on the other hand with the era of commedia del’ arte. The work premiered with a first-rate cast and made a great success at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme, on 21 May 1892, and was conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. Pretty soon, Pagliacci was presented everywhere, in and outside Italy, and Canio has become a milestone role for all great tenors. The GNO first presented the work on 14 March 1947, under the direction of Giorgos Karakandas. Since then there have been numerous productions of the opera.