AEF2023: Madama Butterfly

It’s that time of the year again, when Athenians start planning their summer holidays around the programme of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. The leading performing arts festival in Greece, and one of the oldest in Europe, returns between June 1st and August 26th for its 68th edition with a rich programme of events. As always, the main venues are the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the industrial complex of Pireos 260 and the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. Click here for our festival picks or head over to the official website for the full programme.

This year Athens Epidaurus Festival opens with the staging of a mega classic: Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini's most famous opera. First staged at La Scala in Milan in 1904, it tells of a tragic love story set in Japan. Fifteen-year-old geisha Cio-Cio-San harbours a star-crossed love for Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the United States Navy, with devastating consequences. Catch this masterwork on the stage of the Herodion, under the direction of world-known French director Olivier Py, in a co-production with the Greek National Opera.