Flora mirabilis
Spyridon Samaras

GREEK NATIONAL OPERA - SNFCC

PRESENTATION

Stavros Niarchos Hall

Opera

Flora mirabilis

Spyridon Samaras
  • 18, 20, 23, 30 Mar 2025

Opera - New production

Stavros Niarchos Hall of the Greek National Opera - SNFCC

Starts at: 19.30 (Sunday: 18.30)| clock

YPPO RGB EN 01

Lead Donor of the GNO

logo1_tagline_RGB.jpg

The Greek National Opera introduces an unknown jewel of the Ionian Music School to the public. Following its remarkable success in late-19th century Europe, Flora mirabilis returns to meet the Greek audience in March 2025. The opera will be presented in a new, restored form, with the aim of reintroducing it into the European operatic repertoire. The masterful music of the prolific cosmopolitan Corfiot composer Spyridon-Filiskos Samaras, known for its effortless melodic inspiration, imaginative harmonious language, intricate arrangement, deep understanding of vocal composition, and an innate theatrical perception of musical dramaturgy, positions him as an equal to the renowned European composers of his era.

Flora mirabilis is described as a musical legend in three acts. The Italian libretto was penned by Ferdinando Fontana, who also wrote the librettos for Puccini's first two melodramas. Its allegorical plot is set in medieval Sweden. The opera was first performed at the Carcano Theatre in Milan, on 16 May 1886. It was so successful that the next year it was staged at La Scala, Milan, with a creative team of famous figures. The performance was conducted by the renowned conductor Franco Fazzio, while the leading role of Lydia was sung by Emma Calvé, one of the most famous female opera singers of the belle époque, known for her performance in Carmen. Flora mirabilis was Samaras' first significant international success and was showcased at various Italian theatres, as well as venues in Cologne and Vienna. Its music is aligned with the spirit of the late 19th-century Italian composers, such as Puccini, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo.

Unfortunately, the opera's score was destroyed, along with a large part of the archive of the Italian publishing house Casa Musicale Sonzogno in 1943, during the bombardment of Milan by the forces of the Allies. The only thing that survived was the edition of the reduction for voices and piano, which had been released in many copies and was widespread in libraries and private collections. It was on this edition that the Greek National Opera based the work's revival in April 1979, with a new arrangement by the legendary conductor Odysseas Dimitriadis, who also conducted the performances.

However, almost a decade ago, a significant portion of the original orchestral musical material was discovered in the musical archives of the Philharmonic Company Mantzaros on Corfu. In 2016, a copy of this material was exclusively entrusted to the Greek National Opera. This new material, along with the existing original arrangement of two dance excerpts stored in the GNO Musical Library, was reviewed by musicologist and clarinetist Yannis Samprovalakis, who is also an Associate Professor at the Ionian University. Samprovalakis complemented and restored the opera's original arrangement, and also curated the score's new edition. The work will be performed by the GNO in its restored form for the first time.

Director Yannis Skourletis remarks on the production: Winter 1889. An elegant ribbon tied to the flower-decorated boxes of San Giacomo Theatre, in Corfu, next to the bass-relief griffons and the lit lampposts, would read in golden letters: 'Long live Samaras, the Greek composer, the composer of Flora.' Following its triumphant debut at Italian theatres, the time had come for Flora mirabilis to return and be listened to in its homeland. Samaras' case is one of a kind. He was placed on an equal footing on the international scene with the circles of the famous operatic Giovane Scuola (New School). The New School represented a period of transition and renewal for Italian opera, characterised by the rise of the verismo movement, which included prominent figures such as Puccini, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo. The libretto of Flora mirabilis penned by Ferdinando Fontana and inspired by a medieval Swedish legend from the 15th century, hides a story from Boccaccio's Decameron in its core. Aligned with the aesthetics of Romanticism, Flora mirabilis allows me to attempt a return to the dark woods of the elves, the roots of an old yet so modern and necessary sentiment. Romanticism, eerie and unfamiliar, rebuilds the ruins of a life devastated by desire. Flora mirabilis comes back to sing again of the love that transcends through centuries as the only truth. The dance of flowers and demons reveals a miracle: love can make roses bloom even in the snow.

Conductor: Konstantinos Terzakis
Musical score restored and curated by: Yannis Samprovalakis - Hellenic Music Center
Stage director: Yannis Skourletis - bijoux de kant
Sets, costumes: Konstantinos Skourletis - bijoux de kant
Lighting:TBA
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos

Il Principe Cristiano d'Orèbro
Yanni Yannissis

Lidia
Anna Stylianaki

Il Conte d'Adelfiord
Dimitris Tiliakos

Valdo
Konstantinos Klironomos

With the Orchestra and Chorus of the Greek National Opera

Ticket prices: €15, €20, €30, €35, €42, €50, €65, €80
Students, children: €15
Limited visibility seats: €10

INFO

Greek National Opera

Advance Sales
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Cultural Center (SNFCC)
09.00 - 21.00 every day

Telephone Orders
Call center: (+30)2130885700
Bookings are made with the use of a credit card (Visa or MasterCard)

Online Orders
Online booking is powered by Ticket Services. Credit card charges are performed through the safe environment of Ticket Services (using SSL encryption)


E-Ticket
Tickets purchased online are downloaded in PDF format and canbe either printed or stored to a mobile device, so that they can be checked during admission.


Tickets purchased online, by phone or at the box office cannot be refunded.

Children tickets
Children under 6 years old are not allowed (4 years old for children's performances).


Student tickets
For a student discount where applicable it is necessary to provide the student card on purchase (at the box offices) and also during admission.

For information regarding tickets with discounts and their availability, please contact the box office at (+30)2130885700

Contact Information
How to get to GNU at SNFCC:
https://www.nationalopera.gr/en/how-to-get-here

Terms and conditions
TICKETS - SELECT EVENT
  • Tuesday 18 March 2025, 19:30 Flora mirabilis
    Spyridon Samaras
    GREEK NATIONAL OPERA - SNFCC
    STAVROS NIARCHOS HALL
    TICKETSAvailability:    
  • Thursday 20 March 2025, 19:30 Flora mirabilis
    Spyridon Samaras
    GREEK NATIONAL OPERA - SNFCC
    STAVROS NIARCHOS HALL
    TICKETSAvailability:    
  • Sunday 23 March 2025, 18:30 Flora mirabilis
    Spyridon Samaras
    GREEK NATIONAL OPERA - SNFCC
    STAVROS NIARCHOS HALL
    TICKETSAvailability:    
  • Sunday 30 March 2025, 18:30 Flora mirabilis
    Spyridon Samaras
    GREEK NATIONAL OPERA - SNFCC
    STAVROS NIARCHOS HALL
    TICKETSAvailability:    
Do we have your permission to store cookies to your browser? This way we and third parties (Google, Facebook etc) will be able to track your usage of our website for statistics and advertising reasons. You may read more on the cookies usage in our website clicking here.
Yes, I allow No, I don't