● NEW OPERA PRODUCTIONS
The first new opera of the season (November 2024) is David Pountney’s take on ☛ Krzysztof Penderecki’s The Black Mask under Bassem Akiki. The work tells the story of a woman who harbours a dark secret. Despite her efforts to escape her old life, the past catches up with her when she least expects it, causing her world to shatter.
The second new opera production of the season is ☛ Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra (February 2025), a tragic love story unfolding against the backdrop of political conflict in a post-apocalyptic setting. The production, which marks Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s debut as opera director, is conducted by Fabio Biondi and features Sebastian Catana in the title role alongside Rafał Siwek as Jacopo Fiesco.
The tension between social expectations and personal aspirations is the central axis of ☛ Richard Strauss’s Ariadne on Naxos (April 2025). The opera’s two main characters make very different choices. How will Mariusz Treliński interpret the two stories with opposing endings? Lothar Koenigs conducts.
☛ Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet famously explores a love affair made impossible by familial and political conflict. The concert version of the opera can be heard under Patrick Fournillier in May 2025.
Ill-starred love is also the theme of Łukasz Godyla’s Wòlô bòskô. The cycle of songs for baritone and piano draws inspiration from traditional Kashubian texts and melodies selected by the singer and the region’s native Damian Wilma. A staged version of the cycle directed by Jarosław Kilian opens on our small stage in December 2024.
☛ Ludwik Grossman’s Ghost of the Governor is set in uncertain times. The work, which enjoyed huge popularity in the 19th century, both in Poland and abroad, owes its comeback to conductor Marta Kluczyńska and director Cezary Tomaszewski. The concert version of the opera opens in April 2025.
● NEW BALLET PRODUCTIONS
Our ballet season promises to be equally exciting. In his take on ☛ Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, Edward Clug successfully employs the language of ballet enhanced with ultramodern imagery to evoke the fantastical atmosphere of the title character’s adventures. The first new ballet production of the season opens in October 2024.
In June 2025 Krzysztof Pastor will present his choreographic take on the ☛Prometheus story. The director of the Polish National Ballet decided to set his mythology-inspired piece to a score that combines music by Philip Glass and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
● REVIVALS
The 2024/25 season sees the return of some of our productions of previous seasons. These include contemporary works, such as ☛ Krzysztof Meyer’s Dead End and ☛ Mieczysław Weinberg’sPinocchio, as well as pieces of the operatic canon: ☛ Carmen, The Magic Flute, The Haunted Manor, Così fan tutte, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca (the last two featuring Aleksandra Kurzak), and such ballet classics as ☛ The Lady of the Camellias, Don Quixote, or Giselle. Furthermore, our Premiere Prelude concert series will continue to offer audiences a more intimate perspective of the composers of this season’s new operas and ballets.
● SPECIAL EVENTS
Music lovers will undoubtedly revel in the opportunity to watch new opera stars in the making at the 12th edition of ☛ the International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition (2–7 June 2025).
● ON TOUR
Reaching out to international audiences, two of our shows – Giselle and Aida – will travel to Dubai Opera.
● ONLINE BROADCASTS
Viewers at home and abroad will also be treated to free online broadcasts of some of our most popular productions, including Wojciech Faruga’s take on Piazzola’s María de Buenos Aires, Anna Hop’s Pinocchio set to Weinberg’s music, the ballet triple bill Beethoven and the Dutch School, and Barbara Wysocka’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème.
● EXHIBITIONS
The Theatre Museum will hold two exhibitions: one focusing on Cesare Trombini, the other devoted to Jadwiga Maria Jarosiewicz. The Opera Gallery will mount exhibitions exploring the work of painters Stanisław Baj and Andrzej Dudziński.
Tickets go on sale on 21 May 2024 at 11 a.m. We are offering a special 21% discount on that day. ☛ MORE TICKET INFO
