Antoine Vitez

Antoine Vitez (20 December 1930 – 30 April 1990) was a French actor, director, and poet. He became a central character and influence on the French theater in the post-war period, especially in the technique of teaching drama. He was also translator of Chekhov, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Mikhail Sholokhov.

Early life

Antoine Vitez was born in Paris and trained to be an actor, finding his first acting job at the age of 19 in Ils attendent Lefty at the Théâtre Maubel. He left the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris in 1950 without graduating and became a Communist activist, which he continued until 1979, when he left the Communist Party following the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR. He met Louis Aragon in 1958 and became his private secretary from 1960 to 1962. He worked in the theater Balachova Tania, and wrote reviews published by Jean Vilar in the magazine Théâtre populaire. Vitez also found work reading on the radio and voice-dubbing in films. He had his first opportunity as director with Sophocles' Electra at the Maison de la Culture de Caen in 1966.

Greek National Opera

The Greek National Opera (Greek: Εθνική Λυρική Σκηνή) is the country's state lyric opera company, located at 59 Akadimias Street in central Athens. It is a public corporation under the supervision of the Greek Ministry of Culture and administered by the Board of Trustees and its Artistic Director, currently Myron Michailidis.

The organization is responsible for a wide variety of activities, including the presentation of opera performances, ballet, and musical theatre; in addition, symphony concerts, special presentations of opera and ballet performances for children, and the Opera and Ballet Studio help young artists achieve professional standards.

The GNO has created and now organizes a national archive of music, a music library, a costume museum, stage models, musical scores and many items from great performances presented by the company. The company tours both within Greece and internationally.

Performance venues

The performances of the Greek National Opera are presented on four stages:

Stavros Niarchos

Stavros Spyros Niarchos (Greek: Σταύρος Σπύρος Νιάρχος, Greek pronunciation: [ˈstavros ˈspiros 'ɲarxos]; 3 July 1909 – 16 April 1996) was a multi-billionaire Greek shipping tycoon. Starting in 1952, he had the world's biggest supertankers built for his fleet. Propelled by both the Suez Crisis and an increasing demand for oil, he and rival Aristotle Onassis became giants in global petroleum shipping.

Niarchos was also a noted thoroughbred horse breeder and racer, several times the leading owner and number one on the French breed list.

Early life

Stavros was born in Athens, son of Spyros Niarchos and his wife, Eugenia Koumantaros. His parents were naturalized Americans who had owned a department store in Buffalo, New York before returning to Greece, three months prior to his birth. He studied law at the University of Athens, after which he went to work in the Koumantaros family's grain business. During this period, he became involved in shipping by convincing his relatives their firm would be more profitable if it owned its own ships.

Cultural center

A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run.

Asia

Europe

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (Greek: Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος) is a complex under construction in the bay of Phaliron in Athens which includes new facilities for the National Library of Greece and the National Opera. The Center was designed by architect Renzo Piano and is being built by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. After its completion in 2016, the €566 million project will be donated to the Greek state.

The project

Plans for a big scale donation by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation started in 1998. Initially the foundation planned to make separate donations to the National Library and the National Opera. In 2006 it was decided to build one complex for both organizations and after discussions with the Greek state the area of the former horse racing track was chosen. In 2008 the foundation chose Italian architect Renzo Piano to design the complex and in 2012 construction works started.

The building

Renzo Piano envisaged the SNFCC rising out of the ground like a dislodged piece of the earth’s crust. As a result, an artificial hill is constructed and the roof of both the library and the opera house is emerging from it maintaining the slope. The library is lower and the ‘hill’ concludes with the opera house. The roof of the libray will be covered with ground material. On top of the opera house there will be a canopy supported on thin steel columns. According to Piano, "the canopy represents a cloud hovering over the highest point of the hill".