Description

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. The digitalisation of the musical material from the archive of the “Mantzaros” Philharmonic Society was made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

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 opera’s 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 Opera’s 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 opera’s original orchestration, as well as the editorial supervision of the new edition.

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.



The recording of the production took place at Stavros Niarchos Hall of the Greek National Opera – SNFCC on September 27 2025.

Creative team – Cast

Photos & videos

Photos