Major Theodorakis work to be staged by National Opera Ballet
The Greek National Opera Ballet will stage «Canto General,» one of Mikis Theodorakis’s most powerful works, for eight performances only, starting this Friday. Theodorakis’s work was presented as a ballet for the first time at the Herod Atticus Theater last summer, as part of the celebrations for the composer’s 80th birthday. The choreography is by Rey Barra and the libretto was conceived by Vassilis Nikolaidis. The music is based on Pablo Neruda’s poem «Canto General» – former Chilean president Salvador Allende had given the poem’s first two parts to Theodorakis when he commissioned the music. The work, which is about the «rape of a nation, but also an idea,» according to the composer, is very up-to-date from the political, cultural and national points of view. «Canto General» was successfully staged at Belgrade’s Sava Center, where it represented Greece at the 3rd Belgrade Dance Festival. The ballet starts off with Neruda’s death; beginning with the funeral procession, the audience then watches highlights of Neruda’s life and work. We see the young poet discover his homeland’s nature and more, a process which makes him discover himself. The work tells of his relationship with women and, of course, his first love. The invasion of the barbarians, who appear as friends at first but then exploit the continent’s fertile land, interrupts the narration of the poet’s life. Neruda joins the people who are in revolt and dies in battle. The production’s sets were designed by Antonis Halkias and the costumes by Yiannis Metzikoff.
