Athens is the only capital of a member-state of the European Union, and in the Balkans, which, though being a 'presence' in opera internationally, with Maria Callas as the outstanding figure in that presence, does not possess yet a building for the performances of the country's sole State Opera Company. The promotion of efforts to house the National Opera is not only a task of significance for the whole of Athens and the whole of Greece, but fills this regrettable gap at the centre of the Hellenic world.

The efforts of the Company for the Opera Building and the 'Maria Callas' Opera Academy have had as a vision the realisation of this major task.

It is within this philosophy that a series of contacts with figures in the world of politics and finance - among them the 'Stavros Niarchos' Foundation - should be seen.