Maria Callas was a woman with a tragic fate who sacrificed for love. A strong, talented, beautiful, successful opera diva who only had one weak spot: Aristotle Onassis. She gave him the unconditional love of a woman, without a drop of selfishness. She loved him more than herself.

This love reminds me of Marina Abramovic’s first performance “Rhythm 0” in Naples. When you give full control over yourself to society and deprive the responsibility of humans, they (the humans) can end up doing terrible things. For no reason, no motive, a human being inflicts pain, just knowing that they will not be responsible for those actions. Mr. Onassis knew that Maria loved him with the most sincere love. Did he take advantage of it? Of course, yes. This doesn’t mean that he didn’t love her, he really did. But love has different manifestations and the consequences of different types of love are different.

Maria underwent real bullying from society and the press. As in our days, a woman often has an unstable position in society. If you do not show absolute love for your partner, you might be blamed for being a defective woman, and if you give all of yourself to the relationship, they will probably say that you are a defective person. Dependence on a man, sacrifice for him – this is what Maria felt for Aristotle.

Marina Abramovic presented her performance “7 Deaths of Maria Callas”. 7 operas, 7 deaths of women who died because of love. A powerful psychological message and energy fill up the entire space, depriving the audience of the power of speech.

The performance demonstrates feminine strength, beauty, tenderness, despair, hopelessness, and love. The concept of this feeling does not change over the centuries, it is not influenced by time, place, or culture. Marina Abramovic, as always, delves into the essence of human feelings, exposing feelings that one usually hides from others. 7 different stories, all with the same outcome and the same emotional stress.

“For thirty-one years, I have wanted to make a work dedicated to the life and art of Maria Callas. I have read all of her biographies, listened to her extraordinary voice and watched her on film. A sagittarius, like me, I have always been fascinated by her personality, her life — and her death.

Like so many of the characters she created on stage, she died for love. She died from a broken heart. Most operas end with the woman dying and more often than not, it is because of love. She will leap from precipices, burn, be strangulated stabbed or simply go mad.

I want to reenact the death scenes from seven operas — seven deaths that Maria Callas has died before me.” — Marina Abramovic.

CONSUMPTION – La Traviata

JUMPING – Tosca

STRANGULATION – Otello

HARA-KIRI – Madame Butterfly

KNIFING – Carmen

MADNESS – Lucia di Lammermoor

BURNING – Norma