Ventus Ensemble – Eleftherios Veniadis – Sofia Simitzis
The Soccer Opera
Book by Gerhild Steinbuch
Football: the most popular sport in the world. We all have childhood and teenage memories from football matches between kids in the neighbourhood and rival schools or matches in squares and local fields. Elefterios Veniadis draws on his own exciting football memories for his new, highly original opera.
What if you watched a 3x3 soccer match where opera singers and dancers served as players, with two rival choirs as fans, chanting demanding polyphonic songs in place of mottos? And what if the sportscaster stopped commenting on the game and started providing political commentary on world news instead? Set pieces, penalty kicks, yellow cards, protests, goals, missed opportunities, offside, extra time: these are the ingredients of the unexpected libretto by Austrian writer Gerhild Steinbuch, directed into an opera by Sofia Simitzis. The performers are joined on stage by the Ventus Ensemble and Kalamata’s Sonorae youth choir.
Music composition - Concept - Live commentator Eleftherios Veniadis • Directed by Sofia Simitzis • Original text - Book - Dramaturgy Gerhild Steinbuch • Translated by Maria Manti • Conductor Nicolas Kuhn • Set and costume design Thomas Goerge • Movement Konstantinos Papanikolaou • Lighting design Eliza Alexandropoulou • Video Dionysis Sidirokastritis • Accompaniment - Vocal coaching George Boukaouris • Sound engineer Panagiotis Paraskevaidis - aux studio • Assistant to the composer and director George Koutlis • Performers Vassia Zacharopoulou soprano, Ioannis Kalyvas tenor, Dionysis Tsantinis baritone and another opera singer • Dancers Konstantinos Papanikolaou, Mikes Glykas • Ventus Ensemble consisting of Dimitris Gkogas, Fanis Vernikos trumpets, Giannis Gounaris French horn, Spyros Vergis, trombone, Menelaos Moraitis tuba, George Boukaouris percussion • Sonorae youth choir of the Maria Callas Music School of Kalamata / Chorus master - Conductor Katerina Tsitsa • Co-production Chios Music Festival • Executive producers Chios Music Festival, Ioanna Valsamidou, Ifigenia Kondyli, Vicky Strataki
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