For a second consecutive year, the Greek National Opera is travelling to Thessaloniki to participate in the 60th Dimitria Festival – the city’s most historic cultural event – with remarkably successful productions. As part of the GNO’s programme agreement with the Ministry of Culture and other Thessaloniki institutions, five opera, dance, music theatre, and musical productions will be presented there in October 2025, offering a diverse and high-quality artistic programme for all ages.

Following its great success during its initial run at the GNO Alternative Stage, the musical for the whole family, Isadora Duck, written and directed by Stella Michailidou and with music composed by Kostas Vomvolos, transforms the Thessaloniki Concert Hall into a peculiar “Swan Lake”, where a petite duck is trying to carve out her own path in dance. The production offers both an ideal and entertaining introduction to the art of dance for children and grown-ups.

The performance references a pioneering figure in modern dance, the “barefoot dancer” Isadora Duncan, along with classical fairy tales, such as Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. Its heroine, the petite duck Isadora Duck, with her uniquely beautiful blue feathers, lives in Swan Lake, struggling to make her dream of becoming a ballerina come true. Passion and the desire to dance are at the heart of this performance, which communicates important values in a simple yet effective manner, offering audiences a tender and at once cruel self-awareness adventure through music, dance, and humour.