Photos: Greek bicentennial show goes on despite pandemic
Greece gained its independence after a grueling nine-year war. A century later, the Greeks were on the losing side in Asia Minor as modern Turkey was created out of the collapsing Ottoman Empire. Bicentennial events intended to display Greece's modern accomplishments have been postponed, scaled back or moved online because of the pandemic. National parades by school children set for Greece's March 25 independence day holiday were canceled Friday amid the latest surge in COVID-19 infections. Like the National Opera, other cultural institutions formed small work teams to salvage their celebration plans even as they faced acute financial pressure due to lockdown measures now in their fifth consecutive month.
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Actors Marios Panagiotou, left, and Konstantinos Arnokouros speak, during a rehearsal of "The Free Besieged" at the Greek National Theater in Athens, Tuesday, March 2, 2021. (AP)
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Singers and the orchestra of the Greek National Opera perform during the video recording of "Despo-Greek Dances" Opera and dance performance in Athens, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Dozens of museum exhibitions, theater productions, discussion panels and historical re-enactments were planned in Greece for this year to commemorate the bicentennial of the 1821-1832 Greek War of Independence. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, mezzo-soprano Artemis Bogri and her fellow singers stepped onstage in an empty theater to perform the Greek National Opera’s new production of “Despo,” one of the events marking 200 years since the war that resulted in Greece’s independence from the Ottoman Empire and rebirth as a nation. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)(AP)
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Giannis Mitrakis holding Elpida Skourou, right, and Elena Kekkou, dancers of the Greek National Opera Ballet, perform during a rehearsal of "Despo-Greek Dances" Opera and dance performance in Athens, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.(AP)
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Greek soprano Artemis Bogri holding a sword, sings during a rehearsal of "Despo-Greek Dances" Opera and dance performance in Athens, Thursday, March 4, 2021. (AP)
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