Monica Bellucci ‘s love for Greece is well known – and vice versa.
Today, the Italian actress, one of the most famous stars of world cinema, met with Greek journalists in a press conference, discussing the unknown “letters and memories of Maria Callas” (Maria Callas: Lettres & Mémoires) that she will read in French with her own of her sensual way at the Herodion, on September 21, 22 and 23.
The touring show premiered in Paris in November 2019 and was scheduled to premiere at the Herodion last year, was postponed due to a pandemic, and now the demand for tickets has led organizers to add one more day to meet the needs. The recall was secured for the Greek public by the cultural organization “Lykofos” of George Lykiardopoulos.
The reading is based on the book of the same name by Tom Wolf – director of the play, but also of his recent film, “Maria by Callas” – in which she collected from her personal friends, institutions and private collections, more than 350 unpublished letters of Callas, written by her for 30 years (1946-1977).
The reading of the letters follows a chronological order, bringing to light hidden and unknown aspects of the great diva. From her childhood in New York, to the years of the war in Athens and from the first steps of her career to her marriage and her subsequent stormy love for Aristotle Onassis, in a life characterized by success, glory, fame and personal sorrow and despair.
Monica Bellucci is accompanied by the sounds of the Camerata-Orchestra of the Friends of Music, under the direction of the leading Greek conductor, George Petrou, who at the end of the performance will perform an excerpt on the piano which belonged to Maria Callas and was given for the three days of performances by the Onassis Foundation.
“I am just happy to be here. I love your country, you know that. It will be three very intense nights, “the actress said in the press conference.
For Monica Bellucci, theater “is a completely new experience, so different from cinema.”
“I was scared when Tom Wolf asked me to interpret Maria Callas’ letters, but I could not resist,” she continued. “They are so full of emotion, fragility, honesty. Many have said that she had a tragic life, I would say she had a brave life, she followed her heart, a woman irreconcilable. She did what she wanted and knew what she did, say people who knew her. She sacrificed her whole life in music, her career – and when she met Aristotle Onassis she wanted to live her life as a woman. And he got divorced at a time when it was banned in Italy. She did not have children, she often talked about an unhappy childhood life, about the difficult relationship with her mother. Maria Callas remains a woman who inspires, a modern woman “.
Finally, he wondered why Tom Wolf chose her to read Callas ‘letters: “Maybe it was Callas’ Mediterranean energy? Maybe her international career? Maybe because she was a stranger wherever she went? Music enriched her own life. “Her letters enriched my life,” said Monica Bellucci.
(с) Η Μόνικα Μπελούτσι στην Αθήνα: «Είμαι συγκινημένη που βρίσκομαι εδώ -Αγαπώ την χώρα σας»