It wouldn’t be an overstatement to claim that Igor Stravinsky, with his ideas and accomplishments, had not only exerted a very deep influence on the composers of his time and in total on the musical avant-garde of the first decades of the previous century, but he had also decisively contributed to the music developments in the 20th century. His personal trajectory has passed through many phases and if something characterizes it, that is precisely its stylistic diversity. Stravinsky became worldwide known through a series of ballets for which he composed the music. They were the fruits of his creative cooperation with impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who had created the Ballets Russes in Paris in collaboration with some of the most talented Russian artists who lived and worked far from their homeland. It was for this ensemble that the triptych of ballets From Russia With Love was written: Le Sacre du printemps [The Rite of spring, 1913], Le Chant du Rossignol [The nightingale’s song, 1914/1917/1920] and Les noces [The wedding, 1923]. Three renowned choreographers design the choreographies: Daphnis Kokkinos of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, distinguished German choreographer Marco Goecke who will be the director of Hannover Ballet starting in 1919/20 and the Ballet Director of the Greek National Opera, Konstantinos Rigos.  

 Le Sacre du printemps

Choreography Daphnis Kokkinos
Costumes Dora Stylidou
Piano Stefanos Nasos, Apostolos Palios

The great Greek dancer of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Daphnis Kokkinos, choreographs for the first time one of the works that have been closely associated with Pina Bausch, Le Sacre du printemps. The choreographer notes: “Choreographing Le Sacre du printemps was a big challenge for me. It is the first performance I ever saw from the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch while I was still studying at the State School of Dance. It is the piece I have been dancing with Pina’s group for 28 years. It is a great challenge to think and feel this piece in a completely different way than I did till now. We live in times of great tension, pain, wars, crises – not only financial ones-, people fleeing from war zones and destroyed countries. Wrath is everywhere. At the same time there is also creative thinking, love, youth – life’s driving force.  We live in a time when it is not enough to sacrifice just one girl to appease the gods of Spring, but many more and for more gods. Another challenge is to dance with the Greek National Opera Ballet. Although it is a group whose repertory is much different than mine, what we do have in common is that we both have a wide range of dancers, starting from very young ones who are in the beginning of their career, to others with years of experience. It is wonderful to be able to work with so great a range of dancers. And each to add something to the creative work, their own knowledge, experience, dynamics, energy, passion and love to that through which in the end we all express ourselves: Dance.”

Le Chant du Rossignol

Choreography-sets Marco Goecke
Costumes Marco Goecke, Michaela Springer
Piano Giorgos Konstantinou

Marco Goecke’s choreography for Le Chant du Rossignol is like a song of movements. A song in a cage, outside, in the wind, in the rain. A silent song in the earth, in a little wooden box. Fluttering, fidgeting, twitching and spasming.

Whoever watches a Marco Goecke ballet for the first time is inevitably astonished; the choreographer virtually attacks the audience with movement – with unusual movement, for in contrast to classical en pointe or modern ballet, in Goecke’s work, above all, we see the torso and its extremities in sheer turmoil. In Goecke’s ballets the focus is no longer the beautiful legs. Arms and hands, which until now were rounded daintily or stretched out casually, are suddenly no longer the formulaic complement above the more active lower half of the body. Instead, a wholly new universe of movement evolves around head and torso. Very soon, islands of meaning appear from within this nervy river; what initially seemed to be restless suddenly demands to be recognised and understood and wants to be integrated. Le Chant du Rossignol was created for Leipzig Ballet in 2009 and reworked for Stuttgart Ballet in 2015. When asked to put the essence of his choreography in a nutshell, Goecke said: “Tragoùdi, Èros, Thànatos”.

Marco Goecke has been a resident choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam as well as an associate choreographer with the Netherlands Dans Theater. He has choreographed more than 60 performances, which have been presented in all four corners of the planet, from Tel Aviv and Sao Paolo to Canada, Moscow and Zurich. The multi-award- winning choreographer assumes the management of the Hannover Ballet starting from season 2019/20.   

Les noces

Conductor Nikos Vassiliou
Choreography Konstantinos Rigos
Sets-costumes Dionyssis Fotopoulos
Piano Giorgos Konstantinou, Stefanos Nasos, Apostolos Palios, Sophia Tamvakopoulou
Soloists Mina Polychronou, Margarita Syngeniotou, Filippos Modinos, Petros Magoulas

With the participation of the ERT Chorus

The GNO Ballet director, Konstantinos Rigos, choreographed Stravinsky’s Les noces for Oktana dance-theatre in 1993. An original, wild and sarcastic game of wedding preparations unfolds before the audience. Rigos’s movement engages in a power play with Stravinsky’s score and attempts to depict feelings of restlessness, fear and panic.

Erratic, hovering, and meaningful movements coexist with images of real beauty in a historic choreography which has received rave reviews.

Tickets:
Regular: 15€ – 60€
Students, reduced: 12€
Limited visibility: 10€
Link to online booking to be announced soon.

Venue:
Greek National Opera – Stavros Niarchos Hall. Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

About Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is a project that includes the construction and complete outfitting of new facilities for the National Library of Greece (NLG) and the Greek National Opera (GNO), as well as the creation of the 210,000 m² Stavros Niarchos Park.

In funding the SNFCC, the Foundation’s vision is to provide the country and the city with the new institutional foundations it needs to move forward and with a framework for the future. Education, culture and sustainability, the SNFCC’s three main elements, are essential requirements in enhancing the potential of the city and its people and placing them within a twenty first century global context.

The magnitude of the project and of the Foundation’s dreams and hopes required the impact and the creative presence of a visionary architect. In February 2008, following a closed international design competition, the Foundation’s Board of Directors unanimously selected the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (www.rpbw.com). In selecting renowned architect Renzo Piano, the Foundation chose an architect at the forefront of the architectural profession, who possesses vision, intellectual curiosity and a historical and geographical understanding of the project’s location and significance.

How to get there
Shuttle bus:
For convenient access to and from the SNFCC, transportation by shuttle bus is available daily to visitors, free of charge. A minibus bearing the SNFCC logo departs from Syntagma Square (intersection with Ermou Street), with a stopover at the Syggrou-Fix Metro station (Syggrou Avenue), and arrives at the south side of the SNFCC Canal (near the GNO building) and vice versa.

The shuttle bus is accessible to people in wheelchairs, following prior scheduling via phone. To best accomodate visitors that would like to make use of this service we kindly ask that they let us know in advance via phone (+30 216 8091000) about the time and stop of interest according to following timetable.

On Sundays, from 10.00 to 13.00, the shuttle bus runs only from Syggrou-Fix to the SNFCC and vice versa, due to the scheduled changing of the Presidential Guard in front of the Hellenic Parliament. In the event of special traffic regulations the schedule of shuttle bus, might be modified accordingly.

By Bus or by Metro & Bus:
Buses
From the Center of Athens
Lines Β2, 550: These lines pass through the metro station Syggrou Fix where you can change means of transport. Getting off at the “Onasseio” stop on Syggrou Avenue southbound, head south in the direction of the sea, up to Evripidou Street (junction with Syggrou Avenue by-lane).

From Pireaus
Lines A1, B1, 130, 217, 860: Getting off at the “Tzitzifies” stop on Ethnarchou Makariou Avenue. Move on the avenue towards Glyfaga, then left onto Epaminontas Street and finally right onto Peisistratou Street.
130: Piraeus – Nea Smyrni  (Tzitzifies Stop from Piraeus; Delta Stop to Piraeus)
217: Piraeus – Dafni Station (Tzitzifies Stop from Piraeus; Delta Stop to Piraeus)
550: Kifissia – Palaio Faliro (Evgenideio Stop, Syggrou Avenue northbound, Onassio Stop southbound)
860: Palaio Faliro – Schisto (Tzitzifies Stop from Piraeus; Delta Stop to Piraeus)
Α1: Piraeus – Voula (Tzitzifies Stop from Piraeus; Delta Stop to Piraeus)
Β1: Piraeus – Ano Glyfada (Tzitzifies Stop from Piraeus; Delta Stop to Piraeus)
Β2: Academia – Agios Kosmas (Evgenideio Stop, Syggrou Avenue northbound, Onasseio Stop southbound)

By Tram
From the “Τzitzifies ” stop, walk towards the Navarhou Votsi street and then turn right at Peististratou street. At Peisistratou and Sahtouri street you will find the entrance of the SNFCC through its parking.

By Trolley
Line 10 from Chalandri Square to the Epaminonda stop. Walk towards Peisistratou and Sahtouri street and you will find the entrance of the SNFCC through its parking.

Οn foot:
The following entrances are open for entering the SNFCC:
• Evripidou & Doiranis (entrance for the SNFCC Visitors Center)
• Evripidou & Irakleous
• Evripidou & Dimosthenous (entrance for the Running Track)
• Peisitratou & Sachtouri (entrance for the Parking of the SNFCC)
• Esplanade Pedestrian Bridge

By bicycle:
Bicycle parking spaces are available at the entrance of the parking of the SNFCC (Peisistratou and Sahtouri Street) as well as the Visitors Center (Eyrypidou and Doiranis). The parking of bicycles in these areas is under the responsibility of the owner / holder for any damages arising (theft, damage, etc.)

Date and time:
6, 10, 13 & 19 April 2019, 20:00.
7 & 21 April 2019, 18:30 – Sunday performances.

Photo by: the Greek National Opera