of members of the community – the volunteers, donors, and hosts who support Opera in Williamsburg. Volunteers are welcome to join our advisory board and Opera in Williamsburg Presents help in any other way. Opera in Williamsburg, Inc is a nonprofit tax-exempt organization with 501(c)3 Greek Art Songs letter of recognition from the IRS (EIN 47-5511655). Donations may be made by checks made out to “Opera in Williamsburg, Inc” and mailed to PO Box 2041, Williamsburg, VA 23187, or by credit card via our web site, of Manos Hadjidakis www.operainwilliamsburg.org March 4, 2020, at the Williamsburg Regional Library, 515 Scotland St, Williamsburg, VA Stefanos Koroneos, Baritone At the piano: Areti Giovanou UPCOMING EVENTS OF OPERA IN WILLIAMSBURG IN 2020 Opera in Williamsburg’s spring production, Puccini’s La Bohème, will take Federico Garcia Lorca, The Blood Wedding-- place at the Kimball Theatre on Friday May 8 at 7 PM, Sunday May 10 at 2 Ο Ματωμένος Γάμος, baritone and piano PM, Tuesday May 13 at 7 PM, and Friday May 15 at 3 PM. Tickets are Six Popular Pictures -- Έξι Λαϊκές Ζωγραφιές, available on our website or by phone at 1-800-249-0179. piano Opera in Williamsburg’s Fall 2020 production, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, will take place at the Kimball Theatre on Monday September 7 (Labor Day) at 2 Nikos Kazantzakis, Captain Michaelis -- Καπετάν PM, Wednesday Septenber 9 at 7 PM, Friday September 11 at 7 PM, and Μιχάλης, baritone and piano Sunday September 13 at 2 PM. Tickets are available on our website, and will be available by phone closer to the date at 1-800-249-0179. Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director who achieved international recognition. He was killed by Opera in Williamsburg’s Fundraising Auction, Dinner, and Concert will take Nationalist forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. place on Sunday May 3 at 5:30 PM at the Colonial Heritage Clubhouse at One of the most influential collaborations in modern Greek Music was between 6500 Arthur Hills Drive, Williamsburg – please reserve your dinner tickets by composer Manos Hadjidakis and the poet Nikos Gatsos (Νίκος Γκάτσος 1911- April 28 on our website or by phone at (757) 871-3653. 1992). Beautiful, exceptional songs emerged from their partnership over about Meet and hear the Artists of La Bohème at the Stryker Center at 412 North four decades, from the 1940s to the 1980s. Their first collaboration of 1948 Boundary St., Williamsburg, on Thursday April 30 from 7-8 PM, free and open was of Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” which was also Gatsos’ first play translation. to the public. Garcia Lorca, poetry from The Blood Wedding: Please check our website closer for more events in August and September My golden little bride 2020. Lullabye Opera in Williamsburg is supported in part by generous grants of the Winged girl of the water mill Williamsburg Area Arts Commission, the York County Arts Commission, the My tiny ball of twine He was the pride of the dawn Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Williamsburg Community My golden little bride Foundation and the Hampton Roads Come now, my golden little bride Community Foundation. It works in As you step forth from your home partnership with the America-Israel Remember to shine, full of life Bright as the morning-star Cultural Foundation. Opera in Williamsburg, Inc, PO Box 2041, Your limbs all freshly washed Your dress so newly fashioned Williamsburg, VA 23187 You step forth from your house www.operainwilliamsburg.org By and by you’ll reach the shrine Lullabye Winged girl of the water mill His very first work was the tune for the song "Paper Moon" ("Χάρτινο το Lulla-lullabye, my baby Return, winged girl of the mill, Φεγγαράκι"), from Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire staged Our gallant horse Let the waters come flowing in by Karolos Koun's Art Theatre of Athens, a collaboration which continued for Is never thirsty Divert the murky river 15 years. His first piano piece, "For a Little White Seashell" ("Για μια Μικρή Ah, sweatheart, who knows And let the family approach Λευκή Αχιβάδα"), came out in 1947 and in 1948 he shook the musical What the stream is singing Come out on your whitest balcony establishment by delivering his legendary lecture on , the urban folk Down in the verdant meadow? My golden little moon. rembetika Lulla-lullabye, black waters songs that flourished in Greek cities, mainly Piraeus, after the Asia Minor Amidst the green weeds The newly-weds are singing refugee influx in 1922 and until then had heavy underworld and cannabis use Begin their lilting song. Ready to cross the river connections and were consequently looked down upon. Hatzidakis focused on Lulla-lullabye, my rose-bush, The dew sparkles on the grass the economy of expression, the deep traditional roots and the genuineness of Our gallant horse The family will soon arrive. emotion displayed in rembetika, and exalted the likes of composers Markos Waters the earth with its tears. Now every bitter almond Vamvakaris and Vassilis Tsitsanis. He adapted classic rembetika in his 1951 With its harnest hard as a diamond Will fill with sweatest honey. piano work, Six Popular Pictures (Έξι Λαϊκές Ζωγραφιές), which was later also It is hiding a silver stiletto presented as a folk ballet. In 1949 he co-founded the Greek Dance Theatre Piercing the whites of its eyes. Return, winged girl of the mill Company with the choreographer Rallou Manou. Only once, when it glimpsed Let the waters come flowing in The brave mountains By way of the shining river At this point he began writing immensely popular "pop" songs and movie It neighed and vanished And let the family approach. soundtracks alongside more serious works. Hatzidakis always maintained that Into the darkest waters. Come out on your whitest balcony, he wrote his serious pieces for himself and his less serious ones to make a Gallant horse, where have you gone; My golden little moon. living. 1960 brought him international success, as his song "Never on Why don’t you want to drink? Sunday" ("Τα παιδιά του Πειραιά"), from Jules Dassin's film Never on Ah, withering grief in the snow. My tiny ball of twine Sunday (Ποτέ την Κυριακή), won him an Academy Award and became a Lullabye, my lily, my lily, My tiny ball of twine Our gallant horse What do you want to become? worldwide hit. In 1962, he completed his score for Aristophanes' Birds Waters the earth with its tears. A crystal-clear sheet of paper (Όρνιθες), which caused an uproar over Karolos Koun's revolutionary Don’t come so close, stay outside, A snow-white jasmine-bud. direction. The score was also used later by Maurice Béjart's Ballet of the The window is firmly latticed Before it is born, it must fade 20th Century. In 1966 he travelled to New York City for the premiere of With the leaves of a dream Before it can leave, it is lost. Illya Darling, a Broadway musical based on Never on Sunday, which starred With the dreams of these leaves. Mercouri. He did not return to Greece until 1972 due to his opposition to My tiny child’s fast asleep, My tiny ball of twine Greece's military dictatorship. My baby is quiet and calm. What do you want to sing? Little horse, where have you gone; Wounds molded out of wax Hatzidakis returned to Greece in 1972 and recorded Magnus Eroticus with Why don’t you want to drink, Sorrows spun out of myrtle opera-trained alto Fleury Dantonaki and singer Dimitris Psarianos. Following My galant horse of the dawn? Daybreak is going to heal the junta's overthrow, he became active in public life and assumed a number of The pain brooding in the night. positions in the Athens State Orchestra (KOA), the National Opera (ELS), and the National Radio (ERT). He died in 1994 in Athens at the age of 68. In 1999 My tiny ball of twine the City of Athens dedicated Technopolis in his memory. He was buried in Whom do you want to describe? Paiania. (based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manos_Hatzidakis) A dearly beloved friend A bridegroom bereft of speech. OPERA IN WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA is an innovative opera company, I saw them stretched out below founded in 2012, that creates productions of fully-staged opera classics, as well Down in the blackest valley. as other operas and opera-music performances, with world-class professional casts in intimate settings in Williamsburg, Virginia. Funded by ticket sales, individual contributions, and grants, Opera in Williamsburg is committed to the highest artistic standards. We are very grateful indeed for the generous support Areti Giovanou is a classically trained pianist with an MM in piano He was the pride of the dawn performance and a MM in vocal accompaniment, both from Mannes College of He was the pride of the dawn Arm-in-arm with many a maiden. Music and currently an active freelancer. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber By far the most handsome rider. Who would ever have dreamed and orchestral musician, Areti has performed in many of New York's leading But now he is a handful of snow. He’d wear a wreathe in his hair venues including City Hall, Steinway Hall, the Morgan Library, Opera He rode the valleys and hills Woven from night-blooming cereus America, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Goethe Institut, and Grolier Club in And visited festival fairs New York City.