BLESSED ARE THE BREASTS THAT NEVER GAVE SUCK…

Description

The reverent performance of the work Blessed Are the Breasts That Never Gave Suck…, based on the pieces Via Crucis by Franz Liszt and The Way of the Cross by Paul Claudel, which premiered as part of the 2nd Sacred Music Festival in April 2024 and was succesfully revived at the Greek National Opera’s Alternative Stage, is now coming to your screens via GNO TV.
The production, conceived and conducted by Markellos Chryssicos, adapted and arranged by Panos Iliopoulos, and featuring Karyofyllia Karabeti in the role of the narrator, is a comission by the Greek National Opera.

The Way of the Cross (Via Crucis), also known as the Path of Martyrdom, is a pilgrimage route that captures in the faithful's memory the journey of Christ from the Praetorium to the Holy Sepulchre. This route can be taken literally in Jerusalem or other designated places of worship, but it is also customary for it to have a purely symbolic character, with the faithful, following the iconography or narrative, having the opportunity to pray and spiritually walk the road to Calvary and the Crucifixion.

Franz Liszt's late composition Via Crucis (1874-79) for soloists, mixed choir and organ references the fourteen intervening Stations that the Western Church tradition has established. In conductor Markellos Chryssicos' approach, the work, transcribed for soloists, clarinet, two keyboards and string quintet by Panos Iliopoulos, enters into a dialogue with Paul Claudel's poem of the same name and texts by Giannis Antiochos, Argyris Ant. Liolios, Refaat Alarir, and Tasos Livaditis, read by the actress Karyofyllia Karabeti. The piece will be performed by Maria Kostraki, Theodora Baka, Christos Kechris, and Marios Sarantidis.

The recording of the production took place at the Greek National Opera’s Alternative Stage at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center on March 1 and 2, 2025.

Trailer

Creative team – Cast

Concept, conductor: Markellos Chryssicos
Adaptation, arrangement: Panos Iliopoulos
Dramaturgical adaptation: Karyofyllia Karabeti, Markellos Chryssicos
Texts: Giannis Antiochou, Refaat Alarir, Paul Claudel, Tasos Leivaditis, Argyris Ant. Liolios
Greek translation: Karyofyllia Karabeti
Lighting design: Melina Mascha

Narrator: Karyofyllia Karabeti

Soprano: Maria Kostraki
Mezzo-soprano: Theodora Baka
Tenor: Christos Kechris
Bass: Marios Sarantidis

Violin Ι: Fani Vovoni
Violin ΙΙ: Vanessa Athanasiou
Viola: Krystallia Gaitanou
Violoncello: Dimos Goudaroulis
Double bass: Seraina Seidou
Clarinet: Kostas Gatsios
Piano: Stathis Anninos
Organ:Panos Iliopoulos

Director's note

When I decided to create a performance about the route to Crucifixion – Via Crucis –, I had already read and knew a lot about Liszt’s relevant composition and Claudel’s text of the same title, yet I was completely unaware of the pieces themselves. The only thing I had in my possession to help me was a book by a man named Argyris Liolios titled “Stories From the Land of the Irrational”. I had found it deserted, or so I thought, in the library of a friendly lounge, and so I impulsively took it home like one takes in a stray kitten from the street. On my way back, I realized that this particular kitten was much more tormented than its weary fur suggested. As it turned out, what I was reading was a series of short yet heartbreaking stories from the chamber of a neurosurgical clinic, whose realism and vividness only made them even more heart-wrenching, resembling a journey or rather a wandering towards Calvary, marked by catheters, urine, bribery, enemas…. and pain.