Ancient Greek theater revives legendary opera
Sixty-five years after it last hosted an opera performance, Greece’s renowned ancient theater of Epidaurus revisited the seminal 1961 performance of Medea, headlined by Maria Callas in one of the legendary soprano’s career highlights.
The one-night, sold-out performance on June 20 starred Italian soprano Anna Pirozzi, who told AFP she intends to make the role her own in the 2,500-year-old amphitheater renowned for its exceptional acoustics.
“I don’t want to copy, I don’t want to imitate” Maria Callas, Pirozzi said. “I love how Callas interprets the role. I took a few gestures she used in 1961 because I think they’re very dramatic,” the 51-year-old added.
This lyric tragedy, in which Medea, a figure of Greek mythology consumed by fury and despair, kills her children, opens the 2026 edition of the Athens Epidaurus Festival.
