EVENTS

Iro Chanta was born in Athens in 1911 and passed away in 1995.

She was a distinguished actress and singer of musical theatre. She was the daughter of actors Spyros and Kaiti Varda-Chanta, and for many years her popularity was exceptionally high as a leading actress and theatre company owner.

She made her first appearance at the age of 13 in the revue Protevousiana (The City Girl) by Emilios Dragatsis, Antonis Vottis, and Grigoris Konstantinidis, which was staged at the “Kentrikon” Theatre by the Alekos Gonidis troupe (1924). The following year, she performed with Marika Kotopouli’s company in Dario Niccodemi’s The Rag (Il Tappeto, 1925). With the same troupe, she also appeared in William Shakespeare’s Richard III (1925).

In 1928 she moved into musical theatre, achieving great success as a leading performer in operettas and revues. Her first appearance in operetta took place at the Papaioannou Theatre, co-starring with Ioannis Papaioannou himself, in Franz Lehár’s Frasquita. She remained with the same company for five years, performing in operettas by both Greek and foreign composers: Secret Romance and Blonde, Brunette by Theofrastos Sakellaridis, The Woman with the Gums by Michael Krausz, Isaiah, Dance! by Stathis Mastoras, among others.

In 1932 she starred in Christos Chairopoulos’s great hit Women… Women…, which also became one of her personal triumphs. With her own company and co-star Paraskevas Oikonomou, she presented a series of musical works at the Central Theatre (1934–1936). With the same partner she had earlier played Mirka in The Boatman of the Volga by Spyros Potamianos and Andreas Mastrekini.

In 1936 she paused her stage career for a year to study operetta at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

In 1938, in Alexandria, Egypt, she achieved major acclaim portraying Golfo in the operetta of the same name by Georgios Vitalis (music) and Orestis Laskos (libretto).

The performances were repeated in Greece, the most notable being those at the Mondial Theater in Nazi-occupied Athens in 1944, which were broadcast live on the radio for the first time, with the permission of the Germans. Frosso Kokola performed the song: “This summer the branches will bloom, and the swallows will return…,” and as the audience grasped the hidden message in the lyrics, they burst into applause. As a result, the Germans stopped the performance and arrested the members of the troupe, among them Iro Chanta, who was taken to and interrogated at the Kommandantur.

In 1946 she appeared as co-manager of the Apollo Theatre with Kouli Stoligas and Lela Skordouli, under the artistic direction of Nikos Miliadis, singing in the operettas Dance of Fortune by Robert Stolz, and I Want to See Him and Girls’ Mistakes by Theofrastos Sakellaridis.

Her final operetta appearance took place in 1949 at the Gloria Theatre, in Sakellaridis’s Sweet Nana.

During her career she toured extensively abroad — in England, France, and Africa — and frequently gave performances and light-music recitals for Greek communities of the diaspora.

In her youth she also wrote short stories published in the newspapers Akropolis, Empros, and others.

She appeared in the films Double Sacrifice (1945) and At the Threshold of Sin (1961), and in the stage productions Laugh Without Veto (1947), Laugh American-Style (1948), and Derbenterissa (1948).

Finally, it should be noted that Iro Chanta took part in the Greek National Resistance during the German Occupation and was repeatedly persecuted for her left-wing beliefs.

She retired from artistic life in 1954.

Lina Geronikou is a musician, vocalist and educator from Patras, with many years of experience in music education, choral conducting and performance.

She holds diplomas in Voice (Solo Singing), Choral Conducting and Advanced Music Theory, a Master’s degree specializing in Children’s and Youth Choir Conducting from the Department of Music Studies of the Ionian University, and a degree from the Department of Physics of the University of Patras.

From the 2010–2011 academic year until 2018–2019, she served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the four-part Mixed Choir and Orchestra of the University of Patras, presenting works from the classical repertoire and by Greek composers. She has also been highly active in teaching and conducting vocal and choral ensembles.

She has collaborated with the Patras Municipal and Regional Theatre (DI.PE.THE.) and the International Opera Studio of Patras, undertaking choral preparation for concerts and opera productions, including Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio.

Since 2019 she has also directed Coro Avanti, a mixed vocal ensemble of the Patras Music Society “Orpheus”.

She teaches Voice and Contemporary Singing at the Contemporary Conservatory of Patras and the Municipal Conservatory of Patras, and also directs the Conservatory’s Chamber Choir.

As a soloist, she has presented vocal programs accompanied by piano or guitar and has taken part in concerts, musical tributes and music-theatre productions of Greek and international repertoire, such as Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Cenerentola, Henri Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, C. W. Gluck’s Orpheus, Pavlos Carrer’s Markos Botsaris, Theophrastos Sakellaridis’s Satanerie, and others.

Σημειώσεις μετάφρασης: Το «Σατανερί» αποδίδεται ως Satanerie (μεταγραφή του τίτλου). Το ΔΗ.ΠΕ.ΘΕ. Πάτρας αποδίδεται συνήθως ως «Municipal and Regional Theatre of Patras».

Ioanna Papageorgiou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras. She completed her doctoral dissertation at Goldsmiths College, University of London, entitled The Origins of the Star Phenomenon: Stars and the Starring System in the Eighteenth-Century British Theatre.

She is the author of two books: European Theatre from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century (From Classicism to Romanticism) (University of Patras Press, 2012) and Oral Tradition and Innovation: The Structure of Greek Shadow Theatre Plays during the Interwar Period. The Case of Patras (Crete University Press, 2025).

Her research interests focus on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European theatre, the relationship between modern Greek and European theatre, the star system, boulevard theatre, traditional popular theatre, shadow theatre, gender studies, and eroticism in drama.

She is the Principal Investigator of the research project The Repertoire of Greek Shadow Theatre.

Angeliki Kordellou is a musicologist specialising in twentieth-century opera and musical theatre. She is a member of the Special Teaching Staff of the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras, where, since 2017, she has taught courses on opera, contemporary musical theatre, Greek incidental music, and the relationship between ancient myth, tragedy and opera.
She studied Musicology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, graduating with distinction, and also holds diplomas in Piano and Harmony. She pursued postgraduate studies in Twentieth-Century Music and Musicology at Paris IV–Sorbonne University, where she completed her doctoral dissertation in 2008, receiving the highest distinction. Her dissertation focused on the string quartets of Nikos Skalkottas.
Her research focuses on modern and contemporary music, opera and musical theatre, with particular emphasis on the relationships between music, theatre, literature and ancient mythology. She has extensively studied the work of Greek composers, including Giorgos Koumendakis, Mikis Theodorakis, Spyridon Samaras and Anestis Logothetis, as well as the adaptation of literary and mythological works for opera. She has presented papers at academic conferences in Greece and abroad, including France, Spain, Portugal, Serbia and Italy.
She has published scholarly articles and studies and is the author of the university textbook Ancient Greek Myths and Tragedies in Twentieth-Century Opera, published in 2023 by Kallipos Open Academic Editions. Her publications also include studies on Medea, The Murderess, Mikis Theodorakis’s Electra, Greek operetta and the work of Giorgos Koumendakis.
Alongside her academic and research activities, she has extensive teaching and artistic experience. She has worked as a teacher in public primary education and as a research associate at the Technological Educational Institute of the Ionian Islands. She has also undertaken musical direction, teaching and performance in music-theatre productions. Among other collaborations, she has worked with the Laboratory of Stage Practice and Speech of the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras on the production The Chessboard Escapees by Giorgos Kouroupos and Eugene Trivizas, which was presented in Patras, Corinth and Nafpaktos.
She has also participated in professional development initiatives and educational programmes focusing on music and theatre education, delivered lectures and presentations, and undertaken musical direction for theatre workshops. She is a member of the Pedagogical Society of Greece and the Laboratory of Stage Practice and Speech (ESPLo) of the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras.
She has received an award from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation and successfully participated in the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP) examination for the recruitment of music teachers (PE16.01), ranking fifth overall.