Music

Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) by Richard Wagner

The Flying Dutchman, one of Richard Wagner’s most popular operas in the world, is making its debut at the Herodus Atticus Theatre in a production directed by the acclaimed Greek opera director Yannis Kokkos, conducted by Lucas Karytinos and with the participation of Greek and foreign soloists of international calibre. The landmark opera of the German Romantic period is the Greek National Opera’s first production for the summer season and marks the company’s first collaboration with Yannis Kokkos.

The Greek National Opera is participating in celebrations for the bicentennial of Richard Wagner’s birth with a production of The Flying Dutchman, an opera that marked the composer’s shift to a new set of values. At the core of the opera is the story of deliverance of one man, the wave-battered and cursed Dutchman through the eternal loyalty pledged by a woman, young Senta.
The Flying Dutchman is considered one of the greatest works of the German opera, a piece in which gripping music of frightening force depicts the power of nature, a dominant theme in the opera, but also of supernatural forces, which are ultimately vanquished by love.
Wagner, a composer who stands alone among his 19th century peers and an emblematic figure of German Romanticism whose life and work had a profound influence on philosophy, the letters and the arts in his as well as in later periods, penned The Flying Dutchman after an adventurous journey from Riga to London in the summer of 1893.
The story is about a sailor, the Dutchman, who swears to Satan that he will sail past a cape in a treacherous storm even if it means having to sail forever more. Satan hears his invocation and as punishment for his arrogance, curses the sailor to wander the seas in his ship in all eternity, reaching only every seven years.
The Dutchman’s curse can only be broken if a woman swears her eternal love to him. This woman is Senta, who seems to have been waiting for the Dutchman to appear. When her oath is questioned, Senta proves that she will remain faithful to the death by sacrificing herself to the waves.

Conductor: Lukas Karytinos
Staging - Set design - Costumes: Yannis Kokkos

PREMIERE 7 JUNE 2013
7, 9, 11, 13 June 2013
ODEON OF HERODES ATTICUS
New production within the framework of the Athens Festival

Starts at 21.00

Artistic collaborator - Dramaturgy: Anne Blancard
Video Scenography: Eric Duranteau
Lighting: Michael Bauer
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos

Daland:                                 
Gregory Frank
Senta: Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet
Erik:  Ιan Storey
Mary: Elisaveta Klonovskaya
Steersman:
Antonis Koroneos
The Dutchman:  Thomas J. Mayer (7, 11/6)
Thomas Gazheli (9, 13/6)

With the Orchestra and Chorus of GNO

With greek and english surtitles
Surtitles translation: Jenny Mastoraki

Ticket sales

Olympia Theatre Box Office
210 3662 100

Greek Festival Box Office
210 3272 000

e-bookings, www.greekfestival.gr