A visit to a performance of Polish Opera is not just a musical event! Ten opera theatres have repertoire propositions for the aficionados of Italian belcanto or Wagnerian and even contemporary music. There are performances for adults and children, and popular operettas can also be seen.

 

The Warsaw Wielki Theatre – the National Opera is the most important opera stage in Poland. Its artistic ensemble has the best singers (Ewa Podleś, Małgorzata Walewska and Mariusz Kwiecień) and hires outstanding dancers and choreographers. The most talented vocalists of the younger generation collaborate with stages nation-wide. Polish operas also engage foreign soloists for guest performances.

Performances are dominated by the classical repertoire – 19th century Italian opera, Mozart, Wagner, Russian music, classical ballet and operettas. Occasionally a rarer repertoire can be seen: the Gdańsk Baltic Opera stages, Mozart and Salieri by Rimski-Korsakow, and the Castle Opera in Szczecin, The Wisewomen, by Carl Orff, the Wielki Theatre in Poznań, Players, by Szostakowicz and, Ondyna, from E.T.A. Hoffmann, the National Opera, work from Britten and Berg. The Warsaw Chamber Opera specialises in Baroque repertoire (Händel, Monteverdi, and Hasse) and each year in the summer it stages all the scenic works of Mozart.

Halka and Starszny Dwór by Monisuzko are the most often represented pieces from the Polish repertoire. The Bydgoszcz Nova Opera stages, Manru by Paderewski, Krakowiacy i górale, by Stefani and the ballet, Pan Twardowski, by Różycki. On the stage in Poznań, Harnasie, by Szymanowski can be seen and in Wrocław two of his opera pieces, Hagith and Roger the king. Polish classics (Kamieński, Kurpiński) can be also seen in the Warsaw Chamber Opera, which does not escape from more modern work which is also performed in Poznań, Wrocław and Warsaw.