ATHENS, Greece — For guests to Athens, the traditional Odeon of Herod Atticus is the must-see theater on the foot of the Acropolis. Artists revere it for the majestic stage the place legends have carried out. And for the Greek capital’s residents it’s the touchstone of their summer time cultural calendar.

Athens’ historical theater hosts last pageant season earlier than closing for three-year restoration

The Odeon of Herod Atticus lately opened the seventieth season of the annual Athens Epidaurus Festival, a cherished annual custom for a lot of Greeks. But this version marks the final earlier than the theater that’s greater than 18 centuries outdated shuts down for upkeep and restoration work that’s anticipated to final at the very least three years.

While theater and dance grace its stage, music is its cornerstone. Renowned artists who’ve carried out right here embody Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Coldplay, and Greece’s personal Maria Callas.

Its closure will probably be a profound loss for spectators who’ve lengthy loved first-class performances below the celebrities in one of many world’s most iconic open-air theaters.

“When consider the Athens cultural scene, everybody thinks of the pageant and Herodion,” mentioned Katerina Evangelatos, the pageant’s creative director since 2019, calling the theater by its generally used Greek title. “It has grow to be a synonym of the pageant. It is the center of the pageant.”

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When the Greek National Opera opened this season’s pageant with Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot, it erected non permanent constructions behind the Roman-era odeon’s arched partitions to broaden out there area for performers’ dressing rooms. The everlasting underground services weren’t sufficient.

The manufacturing additionally wanted extra space contained in the venue to accommodate the size of the manufacturing.

To meet the opera’s scenic and casting calls for, a crew constructed a wood, balcony-like platform to partially prolong over the orchestra pit.

This adaption allowed area for the big forged and sophisticated staging, together with the emblematic scene wherein the emperor, Turandot’s aged father, is ceremonially rolled out in his towering throne to observe suitors try to resolve his daughter’s riddles — on the danger of execution. The scene requires vital simultaneous on-stage presence by a number of performers.

Giorgos Koumendakis, the Greek National Opera’s creative director, describes the Herod Atticus Odeon as “a strained, fatigued area” which nonetheless instructions widespread veneration.

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“People who’re aware, cultivated, educated — who perceive what this area is, its historic significance, the significance of the pageant, and the historical past of the Greek National Opera — respect it deeply and enter it virtually reverently,” mentioned Koumendakis. “It’s like getting into a temple — a temple of artwork — and it actually has an impression. I can see it from the singers and the orchestra, too. When they arrive right here, they genuinely wish to give their all.”

During earlier restoration and conservation initiatives, the Herod Atticus Odeon had surfaces cleaned, cracks stuffed with grout and new seating put in. This time, the scope of the work will rely upon findings from the research nonetheless underway.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni mentioned that though the venue’s time limit is for certain, on the finish of summer time, its reopening shouldn’t be.

“This will rely upon the issues that the research will reveal,” she mentioned in an interview to Greek radio station Skai final month. “What is for certain is that at the very least three years will probably be wanted.”

The closure of the Herod Atticus means the Athens Epidaurus Festival might want to contemplate options for the following few years. Evangelatos mirrored on the pageant’s 70 years, noting that it started throughout Greece’s turbulent postwar years of political division and financial hardship.

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“It’s a miracle of survival and creative legacy,” she mentioned.

On the pageant’s opening night time, the backstage space was abuzz with last preparations, with wigs styled, masks adjusted and costumes touched up.

Soprano Lise Lindstrom, who starred as Turandot, took within the gravity of the setting.

“It’s a fully magical ambiance right here. To be capable to stand on the stage and look instantly up and see the Acropolis is somewhat bit mind-blowing, I’ve to confess,” she mentioned. “And then additionally to look out and see all of the folks sitting there and simply being so absorbed into the efficiency. It’s very, very highly effective and magical.”

All eyes have been on Lindstrom as she took heart stage beneath the celebrities — marking the beginning of a last season earlier than an extended intermission.

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