Premiere Preludes
Moniuszko: just like Chopin

The 2019 Moniuszko bicentenary celebrations proved an opportunity to revisit the musical legacy of the father of Polish opera. 

Two days before the premiere of Mariusz Treliński's ultra-modern staging of Halka, we want to give our audience a chance to meet Moniuszko in a more traditional setting and experience the composer's music as his contemporaries did. Moniuszko was a very popular composer during his lifetime. He was played in the intimacy of people's houses, grand salons, and spectacular concert halls. The best-known of his arias, dances, overtures, and songs were, therefore, arranged for piano. They were also reworked into paraphrases, variations, and fantasies on a theme popularly written at the time. These often took the form of sophisticated virtuosic transcriptions or accessible arrangements that amateurs could master. 

For the purpose of the concert, we will conjure up an intimate 19th-century salon resounding with virtuosic yet light music-making, where listeners can experience fleeting moments of rapture evoked by the beauty of phrase, sound, and form... The audience will hear Moniuszko's miniatures and paraphrases for piano as well as his and Chopin's songs.

Premiere Preludes is series of concerts held on the eve of each opera opening in the Moniuszko Auditorium throughout the season. Offering a taste of less known works of the composer of the opera, sometimes in a novel context, they serve as an excellent introduction to the premiere at hand. 

The Preludes attract music lovers and opera enthusiasts seeking a beautiful music experience and a better understanding of pieces written for the stage. Featuring both chamber and symphonic works, and characteristic for their unique atmosphere, Preludes draw on the opera house's significant concert tradition, providing a wider perspective on Teatr Wielki's core programme.