Saturday 04 February 2023 17:00
A speech on Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff
Throughout his life, Verdi was passionate about Shakespeare. Inspired by the great English bard, he bequeathed three masterpieces to the operatic repertoire — Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff — assimilating the original text into his music to such an extent that he managed to transcreate the Shakespearean dramas into brand-new artworks. The intensity, the vigor, the spartan, “virile” style of Verdi’s music endows the sung Shakesperean characters with an additional vivacity that makes them appear “truer” than in their spoken version. The musical composition creates a context of psychological expression that enables audiences to immerse themselves in a supreme experience.
Aided by video screenings, the speech will trace the exciting process of composing these major works through Verdi’s lively creative correspondence with his librettists, Francesco Maria Piave for Macbeth, and poet and composer Arrigo Boito for the other two. We all will witness a give-and-take that may be likened to the immediacy of the modern era and social media!
Speaker: Helena Matheopoulos
Saturday 04/02 | 17.00 - 18.30 GNO VIP LOUNGE
Free admission; online preregistration required Number of seats reserved for SNFCC members: 15
As part of the Greek National Opera’s collaboration with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center's Membership Program, the Educational & Social Activities of the GNO have reserved a limited number of seats for SNFCC Members in selected family and adult activities of their new program (October 2022 – June 2023). Here you may find the detailed Program of Activities/Events with exclusive seats for SNFCC Members.
More information about the full program of the GNO Educational and Social Activities for the 2022/23 season may be found here.
