He admits:
“Being a composer inevitably makes you think about the future of opera differently.”
At 63, Giorgos Koumendakis, the former musical director of the Athens Olympics, who arrived at the head of the Opera five years ago, has made creation his credo.
And even if he invites more and more international directors to question the works of the great repertoire by bringing a modern look, he never ceases to repeat it:
“All their efforts will not be enough;
without the lungs of creation, opera cannot survive.
If it doesn't want to wither away until it disappears, it can't be content with being a kind of the past.
It needs living composers who speak for today's society."
A conviction that translates into action.
Since his arrival, the Greek National Opera (GNO) has in fact ordered, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, nearly a hundred works from composers from all walks of life.
Operas, musical theater pieces, incidental music for the theater or the concert... Devoting an exponential part of its energy and resources to creation.
From 3.6% in 2018/2019, the latter represents, this season, more than… 20% of the establishment's overall budget!
A unique case in Europe.
“Even during the Covid, we did not let go. Thanks to the establishment of our own digital broadcasting channel, GNO TV, and with the approval of the Ministry of Culture, we were able to place an order with fifteen different composers”
, he continues proudly.
A proactive approach which, in Greece, does not go unnoticed.
As evidenced by the presence, last December, of the President of the Hellenic Republic in person, for the revival of the opera he composed,
La Meurtrière.
A poignant adaptation of a famous short story by Papadiamantis (a classic, for the Greeks), against a backdrop of abundant choral and orchestral writing, commissioned from Koumendakis four years before his appointment as head of the National Opera of Greece.
“Between its creation in 2014 and its revival last year, a whole audience has clearly been created around contemporary opera in Athens.
This is a fundamental fact, and a sign that we want to send to the entire operatic world: there is no fatality in contemporary opera.
The latter can meet a large audience, as long as we dare to program it and give it opportunities for covers.
La Meurtrière
will be broadcast on Mezzo live HD in November 2022, along with two other Greek National Opera productions
, Wozzeck
and
Juditha triumphans.
Diversity of aesthetics and influences
As long as we don't lock ourselves into a single aesthetic.
“It is important to show the public that there is no single way to think about opera today, and that it can reflect very diverse cultures, tastes and influences, just like contemporary society.”
A diversity which, according to him, constitutes the very DNA of Greek musical creation today.
Koumendakis refuses to speak of a "national school", he describes a compositional landscape nourished by influences from all over the world.
“Most Greek composers have to study abroad.
Many are trained in the United States or France.
, he acknowledges.
He himself is a good example.
Cretan, he made his debut at the Athens Conservatory, then trained in Paris with Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti and Iannis Xenakis, before being awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome.
As an institution, we have a decisive role so that the voices of female composers can be heard… A fortiori in the lyrical field.
Giorgos Koumendakis, director of the Greek National Opera
A diversity of aesthetics and influences that this 2022-2023 season largely reflects.
It is also symbolically with a contemporary hybrid creation that the great hall of the GNO opened its season a week ago:
Andreï
, by Dimitra Trypani.
This work,
"which oscillates between opera, oratorio and musical theatre"
, is the third commission placed by the National Opera of Greece to the Greek composer.
“As an institution, we have a decisive role so that the voice of female composers can be heard… A fortiori in the lyrical field!”
, continues Koumendakis.
It also illustrates, through its subject (a variation on the work and figure of director Andrei Tarkovski), the establishment's desire to broaden the traditional spectrum of opera librettos.
“In Greece, contemporary creation revolves a lot around Antiquity.
But if we want our artistic scene to shine more internationally, we have to think differently.
And to ensure that the subjects of our operas have a more universal dimension.”
Participatory grand opera
Universal and social.
Because Giorgos Koumendakis is firmly convinced of this:
“To have a strong resonance, contemporary opera must simultaneously embrace three ambitions: artistic, educational and societal.
The three must be intrinsically linked and placed on the same plane.
No question, therefore, of restricting the artistic ambition of the GNO's social projects.
Like the one that will constitute, this season, one of the major adventures of the National Opera of Greece and its teams:
Melisma
, carried out in the north of the island of Evia.
“Part of the island completely ravaged by flames in 2021, with dramatic consequences for wildlife but also and above all for local populations”
, says Christina Spanou, member of the department of educational and social actions.
Throughout the season, the villages of Limni and Aghia Anna will be the subject of specific workshops led by the opera and its teams, with the aim of creating a large participatory opera which will question the relationship between man to nature.
“The show will be created at the end of the season, during the summer, on the island of Evia… And at the opening of the next season on the main stage of the National Opera of Greece”
, she continues.
For a very long time, our musicals were inspired by what was being done in the United States.
That's why today we are pushing for the adaptation of Greek films into musicals
Alexandros Efklidis, artistic collaborator in the programming of the alternative scene
Because the GNO does not content itself with expanding the opera repertoire… It also wants to be a “hub” for experimenting with new forms of musical theatre.
To do this, with the opening of its new building, it has set up a place dedicated to these experiments: the Alternative Stage.
With 75% of its budget reserved for creation alone and a minimum of four to five commissions per year, the latter does host a few concerts, such as works by Mikis Theodorakis this season.
“But our priority remains the scenic”
, warns his artistic collaborator in the programming, Alexandros Efklidis.
A scenic creation which, again, looks at 360 degrees.
Multi-sensory ballet for babies and their parents
(Underwater), “which allows us to expand the opera at the beginning of the cycle of life”
, he rejoices.
Surrealist opera, with
Anthony's Death
, by Kharalampos Goyos, which brings together the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek and… the universe of the famous 1970s manga
Candy Candy
!
But also experimental musical theatre, with the arrival of the Berlin company Novoflot.
“A reference, recognized for its avant-garde installations and performances, and who works here around the operas of Monteverdi.
The company will take over both the Alternative Stage and the park of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a center of our educational activities,”
he continues.
The musical is not forgotten, with the musical tale
Silence, the king listens,
inspired by Andersen.
“A show for all audiences, very well known in Greece.”
The revival of
Cheap Smokes
, adapted from the romantic comedy of the same name, by Renos Haralambidis.
“One of the great commercial successes of Greek cinema of the early 2000s.”
And the creation of
Strella
, also adapted from a successful film by Panos Koutras:
“A Voltaire-style melodrama of today, whose main character is a transgender.”
With the ambition to promote a new form of Greek musical comedy.
“For a very long time, our musicals were inspired by what was being done in the United States.
That's why we are now pushing for the adaptation of Greek films into musicals.
Read also
Athens sets its sights on the opera of the future!
Finally, the theater also invites itself with the commission of an adaptation of Beckett's monologue
Not I
, for actress and ten musicians.
"The ambition is to find a contemporary musical language that responds to that of Beckett
," explains Efklidis.
It is also to reach out to theater audiences,
“particularly important in our country, where opera still occupies too small a place in the immense Greek cultural landscape.”
A cultural space where composers now have the right of citizenship.
Of the 100 orders placed in five years by the GNO, 90% were for Greek artists.
To enable them to shine on foreign stages from now on, Giorgos Koumendakis hopes to multiply co-productions in the coming seasons (as he did recently, by joining forces with the Opéra Comique for
Les
Éclairs
by Philippe Hersant).
And promote exchanges between Greek and foreign composers.
With the ambition to create at the GNO an
“international creative center for contemporary opera and musical theatre”
.
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