Xeni Tziouvaras is Dreaming of a Greek Christmas

Christmastime is here. And so we turn to mezzo-soprano Xeni Tziouvaras. As her five-syllable name and homestead in Florence, Italy, don’t necessarily suggest, Xeni is a Californian and graduate of Dos Pueblos H.S. in Goleta. This holiday season she is making a special trip home to perform at the annual Sounds and Stories of Greek Christmas benefit concert, 3 pm, on Saturday, Dec 13 at St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, 205 San Antonio Creek Road.

Okay okay okay, just – wait a minute! (interlocutor raises jazz hands in a desperate attempt to slow the narrative) A mezzo-soprano…

Yeah.

From Dos Pueblos High School.

Right. 

And now she lives in Florence, Alabama?

{*sigh*} No. Florence, ITALY.

Huh. Wow. Okay. How… um … how’d she become an opera singer?

Let’s ask.

“I’d studied classical piano with Jessica Mireles since I was six. Then in high school at DP I got serious about performing and was an avid member of the theater company. Ultimately it was the combination of theater and my voice teacher in Santa Barbara, Agatha Carubia, that inspired me to pursue classical music.”

Cool. But opera is an art form within the broader Western classical music tradition. So, like, what compelled you to make that inward leap from classical to opera?

“I actually came to love opera a little later in my theater life,” Xeni explains. “I was obsessed with musical theater, and the first full opera I saw was a new work at the Granada Theatre in downtown SB by Stephen Schwartz – famous for writing musicals like Godspell, Pippin, Wicked, and many others. The show was called Seance on a Wet Afternoon and was actually commissioned by Opera Santa Barbara. That show really sparked my interest, as it seemed to bridge the gap between opera and musical theater. Shortly thereafter, I went down the rabbit hole. I became hooked and knew I had to try it myself. By the next summer I was in the local opera chorus at the Music Academy’s summer program!”

Graduating from DP then, Xeni earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, established herself in Florence, Italy, and now performs with leading orchestras and opera companies around the world. 

But circling back to this coming Saturday’s Sounds and Stories of Greek Christmas benefit concert… what does Greek have to do with Christmas? (As is painfully obvious, this is a rhetorical question inserted at this juncture to tease a smallish historical capsule…) 

The Greek Language and Christ(mas)

We can thank Alexander the Great for this weekend’s concert. In the wake of his death in 323 BCE, the legendary Macedonian’s overcaffeinated world-conquering would make Greek the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. 

So it is that while the Bible’s Old Testament was written in Hebrew (with a couple of isolated Aramaic exceptions), any student scholar of the New Testament will tell you their headachy homework is in Greek. It seems the early Christian movement’s earnest PR machine quite sensibly used that region’s lingua franca to get the Word out. “Greek Christmas” isn’t anomalous, it goes directly to Christmas’ historical origins. 

Sounds and Stories of Greek Christmas will take lucky attendees straight to the middle of the riddle, featuring a rich blend of traditional Christmas music, rarely performed Byzantine hymns, and Greek holiday carols. What we’re all in for is a festive, culturally vibrant, and historically exalting celebration of the season. It doesn’t hurt that the concert will be followed by a brief reception where will be found joyous post-concert hubbub and traditional Christmas goodies. How might Xeni typically prepare for a vocally arduous, full-on performance?

“I have a multi-step process. I start with highlighting my lines and translating my score if it isn’t in a language I already speak, and generally as I do that I am listening to it so I can familiarize myself with the piece as a whole. Then I like to speak my text as though it’s a written script. I then speak it in rhythm, and then I add in pitches. It’s a lot of silent work at the beginning, but I find that if you do all that preparation, then adding in the actual notes becomes much, much easier! Then for final touches I run the role with trusted coaches and my voice teacher.”

Concert presenters Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) and Opera Santa Barbara will see to it that this 4^th annual performance of Sounds and Stories of Greek Christmas benefits community support efforts – which include providing college scholarships and sponsoring community cultural events.

Xeni for Your Thoughts

In another setting, Xeni Tziouvaras has described herself as a ‘born & raised Southern California girl with strong Greek roots and a love for all things caffeinated, sunny & musical…’ Her rich mezzo-soprano pipes, evocative theatricality, and globe-trotting tour schedule – Venice, Florence, Halifax, Mallorca, Palm Springs, Carnegie Hall(!) – would seem to belie the singer’s sunny SoCal Gal demeanor. How fantastic is this juxtaposition? 

Xeni has shared the stage with Plácido Domingo, worked with legendary conductors James Conlon and Zubin Mehta, and performs in French, Italian, German, English, and Greek. Add to those intimidating beaux-arts asterisks Xeni’s having won recent First Prize in Santa Barbara’s Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Awards. Okay? Xeni Tziouvaras is Santa Barbara’s approachable, humor-filled ambassador to the international proscenium. Oh, and speaking of heart-seizing operatic gestures, there is one other thing. Xeni?

The One Other Thing

“I’m getting married! My fiancé’s name is Xavier, but I call him Xave. He’s also an opera singer, a tenor, and we actually met shortly after I moved to Florence in 2020 as we were working together! He is not only a huge talent and has his own impressive career, having sung in major venues all over the UK and Europe – he is British – but has been my most steadfast confidant and support system. 

“He comes from a musical family; his dad was also a professional tenor, so it is really wonderful to have their support and understanding of the craft as well. We’ll be getting married in a traditional Greek Orthodox wedding, IN GREECE! It won’t be until summer of 2027, but the planning has already begun, and we are incredibly excited!”

…and…curtain.  

Sounds and Stories of a Greek Christmas 

Dec. 13 from 3 pm to 4:30 pm
Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church
1205 San Antonio Creek Road
Santa Barbara, CA 93111

For more info and tickets go to tinyurl.com/XENICHRISTMAS