Maria Callas - La Divina - The Legend - The Woman

Maria Callas as Medea

On 16 September 1977,  the world farewelled one of the most exceptional opera singers ever and  Greece one of her most gifted children of the diaspora...

Maria Callas died, of heartbreak some say, leaving behind her a legend. To this day, so many years later, that legend has remained undiminished. 

Maria Callas, the woman who gave the world the definition for DIVA...

Maria Callas - La Divina - the Divine One...

Maria Callas - Golden Global Greek...

Our father's great love for this brilliant performer meant that we grew up with Maria Callas... not literally of course, and when Callas passed away we felt like we had lost a member of our family. As we had most of her recordings in our record collection, Norma, Tosca, La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Aida, Carmen and others, we would often sit with our father in our 'saloni', the visitor's room, where our stereo was and listen to that magnificent voice flood the room, transporting us to La Scala, Covent Garden or Epidaurus...   That room was always our father's refuge and his record collection his great joy. 


Whenever we heard Maria Callas' voice we knew he was sad, mad or just nostalgic for Greece, the homeland he would never see again...

You can hear some of his favourite and some of her most famous pieces, by clicking on video widget 'Maria Callas - The Collection' in the sidebar on the right hand side of the blog.

I remember reading everything about her that I could, and Arianna Huffington's (then Stassinopoulos) biography of her, Maria Callas - The Woman Behind the Legend, was fascinating indeed although I later learned that it was also controversial. Maria Callas' life and especially her love for another legendary Global Greek, Aristotle Onassis, meant that her life often gave the tabloids and the gossip columnists a great deal of material to work with. 

I also remember the trail of goose bumps I got when I visited Verona's Arena, the site of Callas' debut at the Verona Opera Festival in 1947, the city where she lived with her mentor and husband,Giovanni Battista Meneghini. The same feeling that I got at Milan's La Scala - the legendary Opera House where she gave some of her finest performances.

 Milan's Legendary La Scala Opera House

Earlier this year, the Athens Concert Hall hosted an exhibition  in collaboration with La Scala, of rare and magnificent costumes worn by Maria Callas in her great operatic roles.

Our photos taken at that exhibition are our tribute to the brilliant, determined and very talented Global Greek woman who was Maria Callas on this special day... a woman who was a citizen of the world, but didn't hesitate to say in an interview in Greek when she visited in August 1957, to sing at the Athens Festival at the Herodus Atticus Theatre...

'I especially belong to the Greek people,  I may have married an Italian, the whole world may have bestowed honours upon me, but my blood is Greek, and no-one can erase that' 

Hear Maria Callas' interview, in Greek, below ... and then check out the beautiful costumes from her legendary performances in the pictures which follow. 

 

 

Maria Callas and Christos Lambrakis

The Athens Megaron celebrating its 20th birthday 

pays tribute to Maria Callas

Athens' Megaron Mousikis: Last Day for the Exhibition 'Maria Callas and La Scala '

 Source: Megaron Mousikis Athinon

«Maria Callas and La Scala » 
The Athens Concert Hall Organization – Teatro Alla Scala-Milan

Last day today, May 8, 2011, Mother's Day in Greece and in a large part of the world, for the tremendous exhibition on Maria Callas and her historical appearances in La Scala.
 
Entitled “Maria Callas and La Scala”, this exhibition includes a large number of rare costumes worn by Callas in her great operatic roles, as well as photographs, objects, videos and original recordings of her performances. 

There is also a section dedicated to the history of Milan's landmark operahouse,  La Scala, the centre of world opera. 

This prestigious material has never been presented outside Italy and is a result of the cultural cooperation between the Athens Concert Hall and Milan’s “La Scala” opera house, and was planned as a parallel event to this year's performances of Donizetti’s opera “Maria Stuarda” at the Megaron Mousikis Athinon.

If you can get there today don't miss it! It's well worth the effort! 

 Source: Megaron Mousikis Athinon

 

 

Location:
Ground Floor Foyer Athens Megaron Mousikis 

Dates/ Opening hours: 9 March- 8 May 2011: Daily 10:00 - 18:00

Prices:
Student and youth: € 3
General admission: € 6
Family ticket: € 10

A World Premiere in Auckland, A Tribute Concert at Athens' Megaron: a Great Week for Global Greek Composer John Psathas

John with Prime Minister Helen Clark, Justine Cormack, Ashley Brown, 

US Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice, and Sarah Watkins, 

at a performance of Helix at Government House in Auckland, New Zealand

It's been a busy week and a particularly significant one for New Zealand's busiest composers... Global Greek John Psathas!

' New Zeibekiko is my dream realised... it will be the most thrilling, terrifying, and moving experience to hear the music of my two cultures fused together.'

 With these words John Psathas, our celebrated Greek New Zealand composer describes the World Premiere of New Zeibekiko, his major new work for orchestra, which takes place tomorrow, Friday, March 18th, in Auckland, New Zealand within this year’s Auckland Arts Festival. 

John's fantastic musical journey has not just taken him round the world, it has also granted him incredible and invaluable experiences,  including a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create new compositions and musical arrangements for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of Athens' Unforgettable, Dream Olympics in 2004 - the highlight of his career, both on a professional and on a personal level.  

Tomorrow's premiere in Auckland is the next major milestone in his success-studded career, the realisation of his dream as he says. 

With the participation of two of Greece's finest traditional musicians, clarinetist Manos Achalinotopoulos and percussionist Petros Kourtis, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra will be paying homage to John's Greek heritage with an exhilarating concert celebrating 2,500 years of life and history, the personal, the passionate and the nostalgic and takes concertgoers on a hypnotic journey, inviting responses to the music’s pulsing rhythms and ancient haunting melodies -  

  
'an exciting composition embodying Greece in all its glory, representing the iconic dance, the zeibekiko, and taking audiences on an invigorating journey'

The following is some of what he shared with his followers on Facebook and Twitter, describing the hectic days before tomorrow's Auckland concert..

'last few days of normality. Saturday Petros arrives from Greece. Sunday we start rehearsing with the percussionists. Wednesday to Auckland for 3 days rehearsing with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra & performance on the 18th which is the culmination of 7 years dreaming and work on my part' ...

Very busy but very rewarding for John...

Megaron Mousikis - Athens Concert Hall

This last week started very auspiciously for John with a concert at Athens' prestigious Concert Hall, Megaron Mousikis  last Sunday, March 13th 2011, as part of its 20th birthday celebrations. It was the second time one of his works was featured at the Megaron. This time his brilliant 'Djinn' in it's European premiere, was one of the works featured at a concert paying tribute to the Music of the Greek Diaspora ,  

The Athens Camerata paid tribute to four of our highly talented Global Greek composers, Minas Borboudakis (S-Kassiope), John Psathas, (Djinn - I am listening to it here as I write)  Konstantinos Karavasillis (message in a Bottle) and Christos Hatzis (Arabesque)  in the Dimitris Mitropoulos Auditorium.

Performed by the Athens Camerata, and conducted by Alexandros Myrat  with soloists Demetris Desyllas (percussion), Giorgos Panayotidis (violin) and Tasos Pappas (piano), the concert was preceded by a lecture in the Megaron's Lilian Voudouris Musical Library with two of the composers, Minas Borboudakis and Christos Hatzis, with conductor Alexandros Myrat and Musicologist Elias Giannopoulos presenting the works to be performed.  

An excellent evening, a tribute to our very talented Global Greek creators! 

Incidentally, since we are talking about John's recent successes - on the international scene again, but on a different level, the first film score John composed, for Kiwi Western 'Good for Nothing', has received excellent reviews!

"One of the principal glories of the film is the score by John Psathas in which genuine sweep and poetry are combined with affectionate send-ups of Ennio Morricone. It would be a major achievement for an experienced film composer; as a first film score, it's little short of astonishing."  Jim Svejda

"John Psathas' score is perhaps the most fully realised aspect of the film" with its "symphonic John Barryesque sweep".  Josef Woodard The Independent

 John with then PM Helen Clark at the launch of 'View from Olympus'

Bravo, John! We are very proud of you and your achievements and hope that tomorrow's concert is exactly what you hoped it would be - the realisation of your dream and the most successful ever! 

We were thrilled with Sunday's concert at the Megaron and hope that one day in the very near future one of your Greek-inspired works, either ‘View from Olympus’ or 'New Zeibekiko' will also come 'home' to Athens, to the Herodeion or the Megaron!! 

Καλή Επιτυχία from us all! 

More about John Psathas

John’s Official Website

John Psathas at Wikipedia

John’s My Space

View from Olympus

John’s Music Videos on You Tube

Follow John  on Twitter

Global Greek Events: Tonight! Global Greek Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO, Fox Filmed Entertainment at the Megaron

Don't Miss this!

This evening, 23 November 2009, at The Athens Concert Hall,
Megaron Mousikis,

Jim Gianopulos, Greek American Chairman and CEO,
Fox Filmed Entertainment

will be giving a lecture on:

Hellenism and Hollywood:
From Aristotle to Alexander (Payne)

Time: 19.00 hours

Place: Banquet Hall


Admission is free and admission tickets will be available from18:00

As a high turn-out is anticipated distribution will start at 17:30