OUR Kiki Morfoniou sits in a wooden armchair in the living room of the Royal Suite of the United Kingdom Hotel. Around her, a film crew is preparing for her. interview. When narration her, we will be transported to a similar room sixty-three years ago. Then, when 24-year-old mezzo-soprano Kiki Morfoniou – shy and agitated – met Maria Callas for an audition that could have landed her a pivotal role in Bellini’s historic Norma theater of Epidaurus. One of the two women, the younger, was early in her career, having recently signed a solo contract with Opera. The other, aged 37, lived at the height of her fame, an international opera diva who was often in the spotlight for her art as well as her relationship with Aristotle Onassis.

Vassilis Louras, who is co-directing the National Opera’s documentary on Maria Callas with Michalis Astenidis, based on his own research and script, is laying out interview questions. We turn off mobile phones. Lights, camera, let’s go.

“It was 1960 when we were rehearsing Norma until foreign artists arrived. Suddenly, the mezzo-soprano who was going to play Andalzisa (played by Adriana Lazzarini) suddenly fell ill, and one day the late Bastias called me and said:” Kiki, you know role?”. “Why don’t I know him,” I tell him. “You’re leaving for Rome in two days.” “What should I do in Rome?” you should go to Rome so that the maestro can hear you, and if necessary, Maria can also hear you.” I say to myself “what kind of Maria?” My mind did not go there. But I had to leave, because the theater decided so. “

Accompanied by her father, she arrived in Rome at the home of the conductor Tullio Serafina. She sang the first page of the score for her part, and he accepted. “But I don’t know what Maria will say,” he said.

A meeting with Callas, who was then in Milan, was scheduled a little later in Athens. “Maria comes here and I go to Great Britain to listen to me. Then I took the elevator. I knock on the door of the room. Callas herself opens it for me. I see a piano on the right. I say “Oh!” He sees that I’m worried. Just the fact that he was next to me evoked awe in me. I never expected such a moment. I say, “Do your best.” I start to sing, he comes up to me and says: “Very beautiful, let’s do a duet now.”

» We begin to sing the first duet. “You don’t need any more,” he tells me. “Lucky you. You have a very pleasant voice, it matches mine.” Spontaneously, since I did not expect her to immediately give her consent, I told her: “Thank you very much” and went to kiss her hands. He pulled my hands , caressed and says: “I’m not doing you a favor, I’m just saying that we will sing together.”

“I went to kiss her hands. He pulled my hands, stroked me and said: “I’m not doing you any favors, I’m just saying that we will sing together,” says Kiki Morfoniou.

Rehearsals soon began for this performance, which from the moment of its announcement, as Kostis Bastias correctly predicted, has become an international artistic event. And the Greek press, months before the premiere, recorded everything about the long-awaited “Norma”. Divina, as the newspapers called her, arrived at Ellinikos Airport on August 9, 1960. At a meeting with reporters, Bastias said that no questions about her personal life are accepted. “Whatever one may say, I’m happy,” she declared sybilically, but with a laugh. Her divorce from Meneghini was announced, but she continued to guard her privacy. At this particular press conference, the establishment of the Maria Callas Scholarship was first announced as she agreed to offer her regular fee of $5,000 per performance to the Greek National Opera and Ballet Theater to support young Greek lyricists.

With Kallas, the ancient theater first “opened” to opera, and it reappeared in Greece three years after Herod’s disastrous experience with the Athens festival, for which it was ignominiously attacked by the establishment of the day. So the preparations at Epidaurus started quickly and were intense. As Alexis Minotis, who staged Norma, wrote in his book “Distant Friendship”, evening rehearsals were not enough for Kallas, who went to the ancient theater from 10 in the morning. “We wore rugs on our heads to protect from the sun and stayed in the theater for hours, many times, where Kallas tested her voice and her walk against the slanted backdrop of Tsarouhis.”

In her old article in the Ta Nea newspaper, Kiki Morfoniou recalled that time: “She lived her love with Onassis. Every evening he took her to the theater. At rehearsals with the orchestra, he came hand in hand, watched the entire rehearsal, and then took it and left. It was obvious that she was happy.” Now in front of the camera crew, she adds to her memories: “And Onassis takes her and they go to Venice to dance. The next day she comes back with a cold. So the conductor Serafin “puts up pillars” at her rehearsals. What I remember is that she lowered her head like a schoolgirl and said, “I’m sorry to everyone.” I want to say that my fear began to dissipate, because she was not the tough Kallas that she was described in the newspapers.

On the night of the grand opening, Sunday 21 August, when the theater was packed early, heavy rain canceled the performance. “C’est une tragédie,” said Katina Paxinou, “Giorgos Papastefanou recalls that evening. The audience returned to the ancient theater on Wednesday, August 24, and the stands were suffocatingly filled with 14,000 spectators who adored the diva. “The rare appearance of an actor on stage captivates the viewer no less than the very appearance of Callas. Her regal appearance, her imperious gait, her monumental posture, her eagle gaze, her impeccable profile subjugate everything around her, and thousands of spectators become, as it were, only two eyes, one breath hanging from her slightest movement. wrote Marios Ploritis in Eleftheria on August 26, 1960. Callas, in a letter before leaving Greece, wrote: “My heart is full of love and pride for the people from which I come (Eleftheria newspaper, 30.8.1960).

“The Miracle of Medea at Epidaurus”

The following August, Maria Callas returned for the last time to the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, again at the invitation of ELLS. In Medea, Alexis Minotis again took over the director, Yannis Tsarouhis set and costume designer, and Nicolas Recinio conducted the musical direction. The role of Nerida was played by Kiki Morfoniou. The premiere was scheduled for Sunday, August 6, 1961.

Onassis’s yacht “Christina” entered the port of Ancient Epidaurus two days before Callas appeared, but he immediately left. He was not supposed to attend either of the two scheduled performances on the 6th and 13th of the month, but newspaper reports noted that they were seen walking along the shore at Argostoli, where the yacht briefly ran aground before heading to Epidaurus. “Fever in Epidaurus, where Callas prevails over Medea” – such was the bold headline of the newspaper Eleftheria on August 5th. “There will be no rain in Epidaurus this year when tomorrow and next Sunday the great hornbill sings, and Callas is not going to get sick either. Everything will be fine this year, and the performances of Cherubini’s opera will surely become a rare artistic pleasure for the audience and a great artistic achievement for the creators of the performances. […]’ wrote the report.

Arriving in Epidaurus, Callas rested for several hours, and in the morning she gathered for a costume test. She asked Tsaruhi to make her dress more comfortable, and he made detailed notes with a pencil in his hand. “In general, the work of Yannis Tsaruchis on costumes is beyond criticism. The harmony of colors and shapes immediately captivates the eye and heart, ”Kathimerini wrote in its review. The dress rehearsal started at 8 p.m. and the lead actress arrived in a navy blue printed dress, as reported at the time. “He was in excellent shape compared to last year,” they commented.
participants.

The film focuses mainly on Kalla’s early years in Greece, a period from 1937–1945 that remains unknown to most.

The entire political, diplomatic and artistic world of Athens attended the premiere. In the front row sat Konstantinos Karamanlis and his wife Amalia next to Kostis Bastias, while notable spectators included Georgios Papandreou and Katina Paxinou. That evening there were fifteen thousand spectators, and everyone was talking about the “miracle of Medea at Epidaurus.” The second and last performance on August 13 was also a great success. The theater was packed. Journalists counted 17,500 spectators, while about 2,000 people came to the old theater but could not find tickets. “In addition to Maria Callas, the director Alexis Minotis and the soloist of the Lyric Theater Morfonio especially applauded,” they wrote.

“This woman was passionate when she sang. So he pronounced every note, every phrase. It was more than a talent,” says Ms. Morfoniou, recalling some of the best moments of her life as she describes them with emotion.

We are back in 2023 and in the royal retinue of “Great Britain”. The camera stops, the spotlights go out. The interview with Kiki Morfoniou has just ended. This is just one of many included in the documentary produced by the Greek Greek Orthodox Church in the context of this year’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Maria Kalogeropoulou-Kallas. This particular film deals mainly with Calla’s early years in Greece, a period from 1937-1945 that remains unknown to most even today, as well as her three later appearances: in Herodeo (1957) with the Athens Festival and in Epidaurus with ELS.

“Maria Callas, a world symbol, belongs to each of us who needs her art and an example of her life. For ELLS, this is an important part of its history, and we consider it our duty to highlight it and show it to friends of the opera at the international level,” says Vassilis Louras. “Thanks to the persistence of artistic director Giorgos Koumendakis in organizing and updating the Historical Archive of the Greek Orthodox Church, as well as in enriching it with important private collections, we have collected every piece of information to record and tell about the defining period for the life and path of the leading soprano of the 20th century.”

The documentary will premiere at the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the Greek National Assembly at the SNFCC on December 2, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Maria Callas. Then it will go to festivals and be shown abroad. Lyric artist Aris Christofellis and musicologist, member of the Drama Department and responsible for the Virtual Educational Museum of the Greek Orthodox Church Sophia Kompotiati acted as scientific consultant.