The Soccer Opera

About

Football (also known as soccer in some countries): the most popular sport in the world. We all have childhood and teenage memories from football matches between kids in the neighbourhood and rival schools or matches in squares and local fields. Elefterios Veniadis draws on his own exciting football memories for his new, strikingly original opera. What if you watched a 3x3 soccer match where opera singers and dancers served as players, with two rival choirs as fans, chanting demanding polyphonic songs in place of mottos? And what if the sportscaster stopped commenting on the game and started providing political commentary on world news instead? Set pieces, penalty kicks, yellow cards, protests, goals, missed opportunities, offside, extra time: these are the ingredients of an unexpected libretto by Austrian writer Gerhild Steinbuch, directed into an opera by Sofia Simitzis.