Agnes Baltsa honors Callas
One celebrated Greek pays tribute to another at the Athens Concert Hall on Monday, March 26. World-renowned mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa will sing in memory of the greatest opera diva of all time, Maria Callas. Marking 30 years since Callas passed away in Paris, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis recently declared 2007 as the Year of Maria Callas. Karamanlis and President Karolos Papoulias are scheduled to attend Monday’s sold-out concert. Following a series of performances in Strauss’s «Electra,» Baltsa returns to the Athens Concert Hall to interpret well-known arias and songs composed by Verdi, Rossini, Mascagni, Bizet and Puccini as well as Mikis Theodorakis. Baltsa will be accompanied by critically acclaimed tenor Vangelis Hadjissimos and the Athens State Orchestra under the baton of Nikos Athinaios. Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Maria Callas scholarship program. The program was established by the diva herself in the early 1960s, when she offered her pay from the Epidaurus performances of «Norma» and «Medea» as funding and invited Christos Lambrakis to develop and manage the program. Dozens of artists have benefited from the scholarships, including Baltsa, Sonia Theodoridou, Christoforos Stamboglis, Mata Katsouli, Mario Frangoulis, Julia Souglakou and Irini Karayianni, among others. Monday’s concert is based on well-known works including Verdi’s «La Forza del Destino» and «Traviata,» Mascagni’s «Cavaleria Rusticana,» Bizet’s «Carmen,» Puccini’s «Manon Lescaut» and Rossini’s «The Italian Girl in Algiers.» Athens Concert Hall,1 Kokkali & Vas. Sofias, tel 210.728.2333.
