FLORA MIRABILIS

FLORA MIRABILIS
SPYRIDON SAMARAS

Available for on-demand streaming from 6 March until 6 November 2026

Στο https://www.nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en

Opera - Concert presentation

Ticket: 10€

The Greek National Opera presents on GNO TV an undiscovered gem of the Ionian Music School, Flora mirabilis by the eminent composer Spyridon Samaras. GNO TV audiences will have the rare opportunity to enjoy Flora mirabilis in a concertante version and in a new, restored edition.

Following the remarkable success it enjoyed in late 19th-century Europe, Flora mirabilis is reunited with the Greek audience in a valuable restored edition that aspires to reposition the work within the European operatic repertoire. The masterful music of the eclectic and cosmopolitan Corfiot composer Spyridon-Filiskos Samaras — characterised by spontaneous melodic inspiration, imaginative harmonic language, and refined orchestration — combined with his profound knowledge of vocal writing and innate theatrical perception of musical dramaturgy, places him on equal footing with the great European opera composers of his time.

Unfortunately, the operaΆs full score was destroyed, along with a large part of the archive of the Italian publishing house Casa Musicale Sonzogno, in 1943 during the Allied bombing of Milan. Only the edition of the reduction for voices and piano survived, having been widely circulated in numerous copies and preserved in libraries and private collections. This edition served as the basis for the Greek National OperaΆs revival of the work in April 1979, featuring a reorchestration by the legendary maestro Odysseas Dimitriadis, who also conducted the performances.

However, approximately a decade ago, a significant portion of the original orchestral material was discovered in the musical archive of the “Mantzaros” Philharmonic Society in Corfu, and in 2016 an exclusive copy was entrusted to the Greek National Opera. This newly recovered material, combined with the original orchestration of two dance excerpts that had long been preserved in the GNO Music Library, was processed by musicologist and clarinetist Yannis Samprovalakis, Associate Professor at the Ionian University (Hellenic Music Centre). Samprovalakis undertook the completion and restoration of the operaΆs original orchestration, as well as the editorial supervision of the new edition.

Conductor: Konstantinos Terzakis
Restoration of the orchestration, editor: Yannis Samprovalakis – Hellenic Music Centre
Chorus master: Agathangelos Georgakatos

Prince Christian of Örebro: Yanni Yannissis
Lydia: Vassiliki Karayanni
The Count of Adelfiord: Dionysios Sourbis
Valdo: Yannis Christopoulos

With the Orchestra and Chorus of the GNO

With a 10-euro ticket, viewers can enjoy this production from the comfort of their homes at tv.nationalopera.gr/en, at any time they choose, on their computer, ipad, TV or mobile phones. The ticket offers the possibility to access the performance for an unlimited number of times over the course of a 30-day period starting from the first streaming.

Lead Donor of the Greek National Opera and Founding Donor of the GNO TV

Stavros Niarchos Foundation