National Opera Thrives Despite Crisis

By 2010, the National Opera had piled debt worth17 million euros. Most of that has disappeared thanks to trimming the fat, reducing operating costs and settling credit and payments.

Oddly enough, despite a reduction in state funding, productions have boomed.

Meanwhile, the National Opera has sought out novel approaches to familiarizing audiences with the genre like trying out such unexpected venues, as the central metro station at Syntagma Square and the port of Piraeus.

While this rebirth is taking its first steps, a new opera house is being built south of Athens. Designed by Renzo Piano, it will be part of a cultural centre funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The new opera building will double audience capacity and be big enough to house major international productions.

The 600 million euro project will also include a national library. The plan is to turn to complex over to the Greek government when it is completed in 2015.