Madre Salonico

Madre Salonico is a music-theatre work built from Sephardic songs in Ladino, the Judaeo-Spanish that was the mother tongue of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community. It received its premiere at the Greek National Opera’s Alternative Stage across six performances on 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11 April 2025. The work was written by Leon A. Nar and directed by Victor Arditti.

Martha Mavroidi adapted the Ladino songs and composed the original score, performed by the ensemble Smari with the violinist Fotis Siotas. Eleni Ouzounidou and Leonardos Batis performed the principal roles. The performances on 9 and 10 April were given as fully accessible, with audio description for deaf and blind audiences. The Alternative Stage is the smaller experimental house of the Greek National Opera within the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre at Faliro.