The Black Mask

Krzysztof Penderecki A production of the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk

Act I

Duration: ca. 1 h 40 min. without intermissions

31 March 2016 Thursday 19:00 Moniuszko Auditorium

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Composer Krzysztof Penderecki will meet the audience before the performance at 5:30 pm in the Redutowe Rooms.

'Krzysztof Penderecki's The Black Mask is one of the greatest contemporary operatic masterpieces. The apocalyptic vision of the future of the European civilisation ominously corresponds with the recent developments on our continent. Considering that the work opened exactly thirty years ago in Salzburg, the story – inspired by Gerhard Hauptmann's play of the same title – unfolding during a modest social function held by a provincial mayor strikes with its prophetic power as it foreshadows the downfall of the bourgeois civilization of ours brought about not by a whim of blind fate but being our own doing.

'The conviction that history is dependant on manifestations of human goodwill and malevolence is shared by the artistic team of the Baltic Opera and informs their artistic and repertoire choices. Demanding and brilliant, The Black Mask has been one of the greatest highlights and toughest challenges in our repertoire.'

Marek Weiss
Director of the production; General and Artistic Director of the Baltic Opera

Krzysztof Penderecki
THE BLACK MASK

opera in one act

libretto after Gerhard Hauptmann's play of the same title Harry Kupfer, Krzysztof Penderecki

music direction Szymon Morus
staging and direction Marek Weiss
set design Hanna Szymczak
choreography Izadora Weiss
chorus master Anna Michalak
music consultant Adi Bar
assistants to the conductor Alexander Humala, Jakub Kontz
assistants to the stage director Magdalena Szlawska, Krzysztof Rzeszutek
assistant to the set designer Monika Ostrowska
répétiteurs Liana Krasyun-Korunna

cast:
Silvanus Schuler Sylwester Kostecki
Benigna Katarzyna Hołysz
Arabella Karolin Sołomin
Rosa Sacchi Karolina Sikora
Jedidja Potter Ryszard Minkiewicz
François Tortebat Ryszard Morka
Daga Anna Fabrello
Löwel Perl Robert Gierlach
Robert Dedo Jacek Batarowski
Plebanus Wendt Stanisław Kierner
Hadank Aleksander Kunach
Graf Ebbo Piotr Nowacki
Gräfin Monika Fedyk-Klimaszewska
Schedel Krzysztof Rzeszutek
Dr Knoblochzer Rafał Sambor
Black Death Joanna Wesołowska
Johnson Radosław Palutkiewicz