Opera Gala

PROGRAM

GIUSEPPE VERDI: LA TRAVIATA
(Libiamo ne’ lieti calici…)

FRANCESCO CILÈA: L’ ARLESIANA
(È la solita storia del pastore …) – Άρια του Federico

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Ο ΜΑΓΙΚΟΣ ΑΥΛΟΣ
(Der Hölle Rache…) – Άρια της Βασίλισσας της Νύχτας

GIUSEPPE VERDI: RIGOLETTO
Parmi veder le lagrime…. Άρια του Δούκα της Μάντοβας
È il sol dell’anima … Ντουέτο Gilda – Δούκα

———————–

LÉO DELIBES: LAKMÉ
(Où va la jeune Indoue ?…) – Άρια της Lakmé

JULES MASSENET: ΒΕΡΘΕΡΟΣ
(Pourquoi me réveiller…) – Άρια του Βέρθερου

VINCENZO BELLINI: Η ΥΠΝΟΒΑΤΙΣ
(Ah!non credea mirarti…) – Άρια της Amina

GAETANO DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
(Verranno a te sull’aure …) – Ντουέτο Lucia – Edgardo

BIOGRAPHY

Vasiliki Karagianni
Greek coloratura soprano, Vassiliki Karayanni has performed in many of the world’s most important lyrical stages: Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Teatro San Carlo in Napoli, Opera Düsseldorf, as well as a large number of performances in Greece with the Greek National Opera at the Megaron and the Herodes Atticus theatre in Athens.

Ms. Karayanni first studied Piano and Accordion at the Patras Municipal Conservatory. She continued her studies in Piano and Voice in Athens with Barbara Gavakou and after that in Munich with Joseph Metternich. She decided to dedicate her career to singing in 1996 when at a very young age she had her first role with the Greek National Opera—Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Magic Flute. Since then she has appeared as Blonde and Konstanze (Entführung aus dem Serail), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Norina (Don Pasquale), Amina (La Sonnambula), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Gilda (Rigoletto), Violetta (La Traviata), Olympia (The Tales of Hoffmann), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), and other roles, under the direction of Antonio Pappano, Marko Letonja, Loukas Karytinos, Stephen Langridge, Zoltán Peskó, Michel Plasson, and Miltiadis Logiadis among others.

Yiannis Christopoulos
An Athens-born tenor, he completed his musical studies in Cremona, Italy, with an Alexandra Trianti Scholarship in 1998. He has performed leading roles in the classical and contemporary repertories at the Athens Concert Hall, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, and the Greek National Opera, and worked with every major Greek orchestra. He has appeared at international festivals and stages (Carnegie Hall, Madrid National Music Auditorium, Florentine Musical May, and Cairo Opera). His recordings include Thanos Mikroutsikos’ Return of Helen and In My Home, a Perfect Stranger, Tasos Ioannidis’ Revelation of John, and Giorgos Hadjinasios’ Chronicle of the Fall of Asia Minor. From 2008 to November 2012, he served as the president of the GNO Protagonists’ Society.

Dimitris Yakas
Dimitris Yakas was born in Athens in 1957. He studied the piano at the National Conservatory in Athens, from where he graduated in 1977. He continued his education at the École Normale de Musique de Paris (piano, chamber music, and piano coaching [formation de chef de chant]) and had lessons in vocal accompaniment with Dalton Baldwin.

In 1982, as a result of winning a competition, he took up a position as coach at the Paris Opera, where he remained until 1991. During this period he worked with many major conductors and singers, giving concerts in Paris as well as other French cities and at festivals (Tours, Pau, Strasbourg, Festival de Marmande, de Sully, du Comminges, etc.). He worked many times as coach at the Opera de Lyon at the invitation of Kent Nagano. In 1990, he played at two concerts in Paris, where the complete works of Berlioz for voice and piano were performed (with M. Olmeda, B. Uria-Monzon, etc.).

In 1991, he settled in Athens and became one of the principal collaborators of the Greek National Opera and the Megaron: The Athens Concert Hall, working with conductors such as M. Viotti, R. Bonynge, D. Renzetti, J. Arnel, A. Allemandi, etc. He has coached the singers for the world premieres of many operas written by Greek composers: Mikis Theodorakis—Medea, Bilbao 1991; Thanos Mikroutsikos—The Return of Helena, Athens 1993; Arghyris Kounadis—Bacchae, Athens 1996, etc. He has played for master classes of J. Pilou, Ch. Ludwig, D. Evangelatos, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Alison Pearce, etc. He regularly gives concerts as an accompanist in Greece and abroad (with M. Krilovic, J. Pilou, A. Baltsa, D. Evangelatos, D. Kavrakos, El. Vidal, A. Cognet, D. Theodossiou, etc.).