MADRE SALONICO

MADRE SALONICO

Leon A. Nar

Available for on-demand streaming from July 25, 2025, to March 25, 2026

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

Ticket: 5€

Music theatre

Who still speaks "Ladino", the mother tongue of the Thessaloniki Jews? Who still sings Sephardic songs? The music theatre production Madre Salonico, written by the distinguished author Leon A. Nar, brings to GNO TV through the GNO Alternative Stage a work presented in a language on the brink of extinction, along with songs from Jewish communities in the Mediterranean, intending to bridge the present with the past as a gesture of memory.

The work, using a blend of "Ladino" (the Spanish-Hebrew language of Sephardic communities) and Greek, will be showcased in GNO TV straight from the GNO Alternative Stage at the SNFCC, through the eyes of the experienced director Victor Arditti. Martha Mavroidi adapted the Sephardic songs and created the original score, while the musical ensemble Smari will perform them alongside Fotis Siotas. The cast features Eleni Ouzounidou and Leonardos Batis.

Text: Leon A. Nar
Stage direction: Victor Arditti
Adaptation of Sephardic songs, original music: Martha Mavroidi
Sets & costume designer: Maria Panourgia
Lighting: Melina Mascha
Video: Marios Gampierakis

Zana: Eleni Ouzounidou
Ido: Leonardos Batis

Smari Musical Ensemble
Harris Lamprakis (ney)
Nikos Paraoulakis (ney)
Stratis Psaradellis (Constantopolitan lyre)
Martha Mavroidi (lavta, singing)
Yorgos Tamiolakis (violoncello)
Giorgos Ventouris (double bass)

Also featuring Fotis Siotas (violin, voice)

With a 5-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.

The funding body of the project is the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0" with funding from the European Union - NextGeneration EU.

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

Stavros Niarchos Foundation

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

Stavros Niarchos Foundation