Konstantinos Bastias: the founding of the National Opera

One hundred fifty years of thriving melodrama art in the Ionian Islands and half a century of experience in the Greek Melodrama with Dionysis Lavragas preceded. In 1939 Konstantinos Bastias founded the National Opera as part of the National Theatre and started performing in Ziller's neoclassical theater at Agios Konstantinos Street. On March 5, 1940, the first performance was given with Johann Strauss's operetta "The Bat." The opening took place with Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly on October 25, 1940 (two days before the Italians' Declaration of War), with many ambassadors present and Puccini's son, Antonio. In 1944 the organization was declared an independent Legal Person of Public Law, officially taking the name "National Opera." It launched its operation with Samaras' opera "Rhea" at the first Olympia Theatre on Academy Street. In 1958, the current Olympia Theatre was inaugurated with Verdi's Aida. Since March 2017, the National Opera has moved its home to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center's new facilities, an endowment to the Greek State by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.