The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) announced that it will grant 20 million euros to the Greek National Opera (GNO) this past week. The Opera organization recently moved into its new space at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens.

The grant, which will be distributed to the Greek national Opera over a four-year-period, is aimed to help grow the country’s only opera company, both at home in Greece and on the international stage as well.

Greece’s national opera company has already started to expand its productions to include partnerships with foreign opera houses worldwide since moving into its new location. It moved into its new quarters at the modernistic Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center just under two years ago, completing the move in March of 2017.

At a Thursday press conference, Andreas Drakopoulos, the head of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, declared that “The Greek National Opera is a national treasure.” The director also described future plans to expand the Opera’s profile.

Giorgos Koumendakis, artistic director of the Greek National Opera, said that “The new four-year grant by the SNF to the GNO, totaling 20 million euros … will give great impetus to our international presence. It will substantially support our artistic vision and essentially help us to work systematically towards a truly new artistic identity.”

The director added that “The announcement of this new grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, beyond the great joy that it brings us, emphasizes our own commitment to developing an integrated four-year plan.”

In addition to helping grow the Greek National Opera, the new SNF grant will also help boost significant national cultural programs, such as the year-long program of events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution of 1821. The opera has firm plans to participate in that commemoration — an event that opera lovers will surely not want to miss.

Source: Kerry Kolasa-Sikiaridi/greekreporter