SNFCC Cancels New Year’s Eve Live Audience Events Due to Covid-19

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens, has announced the cancellation of all New Year’s Eve festivities that were scheduled to take place with a live audience.

The center said the decision was taken following the implementation of new measures by the Greek government to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the Omicron variant in the country.

SNFCC’s program for the turn of the year will be broadcast live on ERT2 TV channel.  It will also be available via live-streaming on SNFCC’s website, Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The program will feature the Greek National Opera with video clips from opera and dance performances.

The GNO will present arias from Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, W. A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Georges Bizet’s Carmen, a choreography to one of Nikos Skalkottas’s Greek Dances, and a special choreography on music by J. S. Bach.

After the turn of the year, ERT2 will continue its broadcast with a recorded concert of the Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Stavros Niarchos Hall.

The event will include a spectacular fireworks show along with the eye-catching choreographies of SNFCC’s dancing fountains and the bright lights of the Stavros Niarchos Park.

Photo source: @Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

Free access to outdoor areas

Meanwhile, access to the outdoor areas of the SNFCC, including the Stavros Niarchos Park which hosts the festive light installations, will remain free on New Year’s Eve. However, it will not be possible for visitors to watch the fireworks show.

The park will remain open until 2am while the ice rink will operate as usual, with pre-registration.

SNFCC’s New Year’s Eve program to be broadcast on ERT2, will be realized thanks to an exclusive grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

More information can be found on the center’s website at snfcc.org/Xmas, as well as on social media @SNFCC.