Music Unites! How the Kyrenia Opera Forges a Musical Connection Between the US and Cyprus

by Marie Lolis

From New York to Cyprus, the Kyrenia Opera has bridged together artists and audiences through the power of music performance and education to these countries and beyond.

Under the baton of general director Constantinos Yiannoudes, the opera company’s mission has brought together vocal productions and educational opportunities in New York, Cyprus and Vienna, Austria for budding artists to perform in and audiences to enjoy.

Kyrenia Opera’s outreach in Washington D.C.

“As a proud U.S. and Cyprus resident, the path was naturally paved to find a nonprofit company to “artistically connect New York and Cyprus,” Yiannoudes explained. An experienced professional opera singer, conductor and educator, the Cypriot-born baritone recognizes that “young, emerging artists could benefit greatly from receiving educational and performance opportunities on stage to further their careers and gain much needed and required experience in the performing arts. The dream to build Kyrenia Opera had been in my mind years before its founding in 2011,” Yiannoudes said.

Kyrenia Opera’s Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York

Kyrenia Opera’s ever-expanding repertoire of operatic, classical and Greek popular music introduces audiences to fully staged operas such as Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”, Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci”, Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors” and soprano Maria Callas’ “La Divina’s Favorites”.

Kyrenia Opera “Cyprus in Vienna” Honoring Anna Papasavva, the then Consul General of Cyprus in Vienna, Austria

Their most recent performance, “Puccini: 100 Jahre”, took place in Vienna on June 29, 2024 in dedication to legendary Italian composer Giacomo Puccini on the centenary of his passing. Two of the four soloists are Cypriot-born and were accompanied by the chamber orchestra and children’s chorus conducted by Yiannoudes.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic could not stop Kyrenia Opera — their performance titled “Tidings of Comfort and Joy” brought music to audiences when the pandemic shut the doors of theaters around the world.

Kyrenia Opera’s outreach for the elementary school in Kato Pyrgos in Tillyrias, Cyprus

The opera has also shared a plethora of great works of Greek composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, Stavros Xarhakos and Manos Hatzidakis. “It is of utmost importance to share my cultural heritage for the Greek diaspora in America and to have this music present here so that non-Greeks can be exposed to the extraordinary wealth of Greek classical and popular music and its incredible composers, promoting our long and rich history and culture,” Yannoudes explained.

Kyrenia Opera’s Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Rialto Theatre in Limassol, Cyprus

Through its educational outreach program, Kyrenia Opera has brought live opera and tailored multimedia presentations into the classroom and community setting in schools in New York, Cyprus, Washington, D.C. and Vienna for free.

“We support emerging and developing artists from the United States, Europe and Cyprus by giving them paid opportunities and assistance to perform, learn and prepare new roles and music from the standard, classical repertoire to popular Greek music — we give them opportunities to interact and collaborate with artists across continents,” he added.

According to Yiannoudes, one of the earliest educational outreaches of Kyrenia Opera was at the remote village of Kato Pyrgos in Tillyrias—on the north coast in Cyprus, “which is still standing strong just yards away from the occupied area. I was stunned by the wide eyes of the elementary and high school students when for the first time, they saw on video the incomparable Maria Callas singing a beautiful Puccini aria. They asked in amazement about the “impossible” sound that they heard of the different opera singers they listened to that day,” Yiannoudes explained.

Kyrenia Opera’s Madama Butterfly with the youth choir in Vienna, Austria

The opera is named for Kyrenia, a city in the northern part of Cyprus, where Yiannoudes grew up for a time with his grandparents.

“Kyrenia is a city of faith, family, community, beauty, fresh air, sweet water and deeply valued memories scarred by the invasion of Turkey in July of 1974,” he said.

Born in Limassol, Yiannoudes studied piano and music theory from the age of 5 — encouraged early on by his parents who saw his musical enthusiasm. “Even though I was pursuing my childhood dream [of piano], after almost three years of piano studies, I realized that singing was my true passion. So, my Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees were exclusively in Vocal Performance and Opera paired with many years of private study in orchestral and choral conducting.”

Constantinos Yiannoudes has performed in principal roles in classic operas such as the title roles of Rigoletto, Macbeth, Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Gianni Schicchi and plenty of others across the U.S. “I take great pride in being a Greek Cypriot baritone who has performed as principal soloist on the magnificent stage of Carnegie Hall in the heart of New York five times, featured in Fauré’s ‘Requiem’, Wilberg’s ‘Requiem’, John Rutter’s ‘Mass of the Children’, Stephen Walters’ ‘Requiem’ and Rossini’s ‘Ermione,” he said.

Kyrenia Opera’s Pagliacci in Vienna, Austria

The future of Kyrenia Opera to educate and develop the next generation of artists all while expanding their network of artists in the U.S., Vienna and Cyprus. Kyrenia Opera’s annual voice competition awards scholarships to up-incoming singers. In April 2024, Kyrenia Opera performed a tribute concert titled “A Song for Cyprus” where the opera awarded their annual Cyprus Award to the Children’s Choir of the Ipsonas Municipality in Limassol, Cyprus. “By providing professional productions year-round, we further the young artists’ education with opportunities for professional-level performances and interactions with experienced professionals in the arts,” he said.

Kyrenia Opera’s next performance will take place in the fall on Oct. 10, 2024 to present the Kyrenia Award at a gala concert to Ismini Michaels—a board member and supporter of Kyrenia Opera— at Terrace on the Park, New York.

“Kyrenia Opera has been committed to creating a company that involves people from many walks of life and many origins. Music unites!”

For more information about the Kyrenia Opera and future performances their website is  Kyreniaopera.org.