Description

A unique work by Lena Platonos, based on Andersen’s fairy tale of the same title, became an animated opera by the Greek National Opera. Lena Platonos, whose work has been associated with the world of children through the legendary Lilipoupoli, wrote The Emperor’s Nightingale as a melodious parable about the uneven relationship between technology and man. It is a work of rare beauty and sensitivity in an impressive production, in which opera becomes accessible to children through animation, creating a new, magical and exciting world. Andersen’s tale is transformed into a parable about the relationship between art and technology, which nowadays is more topical than ever. The work’s modern message, the co-existence of analog and electronic music, natural and artificial sound, the ingenious use of animation and live performance, the melodic lines of Lena Platonos and the masterly vocal writing render The Emperor’s Nightingale an ideal means of introducing children to the magical world of lyric art.

Lena Platonos wrote The Emperor’s Nightingale, a “musical fairy tale with operatic features and neo-impressionistic music”, as she herself has described it, in 1989, to a libretto by Giorgos Voloudakis, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of the same title.

Filmed at the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the GNO at the SNFCC on 3 November 2019. Greek, English and German subtitles available.

At a glance – Synopsis

In one of the most beautiful palaces in the world, the Emperor of China is moved by the singing of a nightingale with an enchanting voice. When the Emperor receives as a gift an electronic nightingale that monotonously sings the same song, the real nightingale leaves the palace. Many years later, when the Emperor is very sick and the electronic nightingale no longer works, the real nightingale’s song manages to move even Death.

Creative team – Cast

Music Lena Platonos
Orchestration Lena Platonos, Stergios Tsirliagos
Libretto Giorgos Voloudakis

Director Katerina Petsatodi
Animation Eirini Vianelli
Set designer Evangelia Therianou
Costume designer Alexia Theodoraki
Sound design, programming, mixing Stergios Tsirliagos
Video mapping Michalis Kloukinas

Emperor Nikos Kotenidis
Courtier, Death George Roupas
Nightingale Marilena Striftobola
Fisherman, Chamberlain, Technician Yannis Filias
Nightingale's friend, Technician Myrto Bocolini
Violinist, Conductor Dimitris Nalbantis
Narrator Maria Skoula

Video recording, TV director, editing Christos Tsakiridis
English translation Helena Grigorea
German translation Martin Scharnhorst

Photos & videos

Photos