Operatic tribute to Giuseppe Verdi

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Love • Power • Death

Amore • Potere • Morte

Scenes and arias from operas by Giuseppe Verdi

The internationally acclaimed artists Myrto Papathanasiou (soprano), Dimitris Tiliakos (baritone) and Dimitris Giakas (piano) bring to life with their performances a unique tribute to Verdi, through scenes, duets and arias from the operas:

Il Trovatore • La Traviata • Simon Boccanegra • Macbeth.

Titled “Love • Power • Death / Amore • Potere • Morte”, the concert proposes a musical and dramatic journey through the major themes that run through Verdi’s work — love, power and mortality — through scenes, duets and arias that have marked the history of opera. The internationally acclaimed opera singers, soprano Myrto Papathanasiou and baritone Dimitris Tiliakos, meet on stage in a rare tribute to the great Italian composer, bringing to life key moments from the operas Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra and Macbeth. The two great artists highlight the dramatic power and emotional breadth of Verdi’s creation, transporting the audience to the world of heroes, passions and great existential conflicts. Acclaimed pianist Dimitris Giakas joins on the piano, contributing decisively to the musical and dramatic coherence of the evening.

PROGRAM

SIMON BOCCANEGRA

• Duetto Simone – Amelia: “Favella il Doge ad Amelia Grimaldi?”

LA TRAVIA

• Preludio (Act C) • Aria Violetta: “Addio del passato” • Duetto Violetta – Germont: “Madamigella Valéry…”

MACBETH

• Preludio • Aria Macbeth: “Pietà, rispetto, amore”

IL TROVATORE

• Duetto Leonora – Conte di Luna: “Udiste? Come albeggi la scure al figlio»

Myrto Papathanasiou

He appears in the most important theaters worldwide, such as: Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Lepzig, Opernhaus Zürich, Theater an der Wien, Opéra Nationale de Paris, Théâtre des Champs Élysées, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, San Diego Opera, The Dallas Opera, L’Opéra de Montréal, Sydney Opera House, New National Theatre Tokyo, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Copenhagen Opera House, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, ​​Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia di Roma, Greek National Opera, Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli and Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Oper Leipzig, Teatro Comunale di Bologna. She was awarded the “Maria Callas – Best New Artist” award, (Best artist of the year) performing La Traviata in Dallas. He has given recitals in major concert halls such as the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Amsterdam Konzertgebäude, the Tchaikovsky Hall in St. Petersburg, the Rostropovich Hall in Moscow, the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall for Pope Benedict’s visit to Australia with the Missa Solemnis (Beethoven), the Lucerne Konzerthaus, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Dortmund Konzerthaus, the Lincoln Center in New York, the Sala Sinopoli and in Skopje with the Greek National Orchestra. He has collaborated with important orchestras such as Musica Aeterna, Bamberg Symphony, Wiener Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchester Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Les Telens Lyriques.

Collaborations with great conductors such as: Iván Fischer, Daniel Oren, Teodor Currentzis, C. Eschenbach, Alain Altinoglu, Bertrand de Billy, Christophe Rousset, Louis Langrée, Alberto Zedda, Ádám Fischer, Evelino Pidò, Riccardo Frizza, Constantinos Carydis, Jérémie Rhorer, Roberto Abbado, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Mark Poschner, Loukas Karytinos, Giorgos Petrou, Stefan Soltesz, Gustavo Gimeno, Philippe Auguin, Mark Minkowski, Nikos Vasiliou, Hartmut Haenchen, Gian LucaCapuano, Stefano Ranzani, etc.

The long-awaited and award-winning (BBC award) recording of Don Giovanni under the direction of Theodoros Currentzis has been released by Sony Classic, in which Myrto Papathanasiou sings Donna Anna, having already established herself as an excellent interpreter of Mozart. Also three other recordings of Don Giovanni (Covent Garden), Mithridates, King of Pontus (d.o.: E. Haim), Ginevra di Scozia (d.o. G. Petrou), Semiramis (d.o. A. Djeddas), Rusalka (d.o. A. Fischer), *Simon Boccanegra* (conducted by S. Ranzani), *Il turco in Italia*, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She has collaborated with renowned directors such as R. Carsen, F. Zeffirelli, P.L. Pizzi, D. McVicar, R. Villalobos, S. Evangelatos, G. Houvardas, N. Petropoulos, and Moschopoulos, among others. She recently appeared as Tosca on tour in France and went on to make her debut as Butterfly in Ancona and at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania; she is also scheduled to perform at the São Paulo Opera. She was invited to give galas in the context of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Maria Callas in Milan, Florence, at the Rome Opera House, at the Palermo Opera House, in Thessaloniki, and he appeared at the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympic Games at the Panathenaic Stadium in 2011. In March, in São Paulo, he will perform and be honored with the Maria Callas Award for her contribution to operatic art. At the same time, he will participate as a member of the jury in the “Maria Callas” International Opera Singing Competition. In April, he is scheduled to perform in Verdi’s Requiem in Athens as well as in Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony at the Megaron with the Camerata.

Myrto Papathanasiou was born in Larissa, where she began piano and theory at the Municipal Conservatory of Larissa and counterpoint at the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki (class of S. Samaras). She studied musicology (AUTH), monody (KOTH), while as a scholarship holder of the Athens Concert Hall she completed her studies in Milan with the baritone Roberto Coviello.

Myrtò Papatanasiu soprano http://www.myrtopapatanasiu.com instagram

Dimitris Tiliakos

Dimitris Tiliakos was born in Rhodes and studied monody with Kostas Paschalis at the Athenaeum Conservatory. As a scholarship holder of the “Maria Callas Scholarships” foundation, he continued his studies at the Munich University of Music and Theatre, with professors Daphne Evangelatou in opera and Helmut Deutsch and Donald Sulzen in Lied, obtaining a Meisterklassendiplom (Master of Arts). His first appearance as a soloist was at the Prinzregententheater in Munich, performing the role of Conte Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro directed by Klaus Guth. In the same year, he won the First Prize at the “Willi Domgraf Fassbaender” Singing Competition in Munich. He has appeared in the most important theaters and concert halls worldwide, such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera in London, the Paris National Opera, the Royal Theater in Madrid, the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, ​​the Zurich Opera, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg, the National Opera, the Opera of Nice, the Royal Danish Opera, the La Monnaie in Brussels, the Hamburg State Opera, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, the Bolshoi Opera, the Tokyo Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Elbe Philharmonic in Hamburg, as well as at the Spoleto and Lucerne festivals, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, among others. He has collaborated with leading conductors and stage directors of our time. His recordings include the operas *Dido and Aeneas* (Purcell) under the baton of Teodor Currentzis, *Macbeth* (Verdi) with the Paris National Opera Orchestra, *Francesca da Rimini* (Rachmaninoff) from the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Franz Schubert’s *Winterreise* with pianist Vassilis Varvaresos for Navis Classics, and the title role in Mozart’s *Don Giovanni* conducted by Teodor Currentzis for Sony Classical—a recording that won international awards such as the BBC Music Magazine Award (2017), the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, and the Edison Klassiek. He teaches the art of singing at masterclasses in Greece, as well as at international universities, such as the Royal Academy of Music in Brussels and the Music Academy in Stuttgart.

Dimitris Giakas

Born in Athens. He received a piano diploma from the National Conservatory (class of Myrto Mavrikou). He continued his musical studies at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, specifically in piano, chamber music and opera musical preparation. He then began studying singing accompaniment with Dalton Baldwin. From 1982 to 1991 he worked as a pianist-music trainer at the Paris Opera, as well as at the Lyon Opera, at the invitation of its music director Kent Nagano. Since 1990 he has settled back in Athens, where he began his regular collaboration with the Greek National Opera and the Athens Concert Hall. He regularly accompanies Greek and foreign singers in concerts in Greece and abroad.