HISTORY OF WROCŁAW OPERA

Operatic art came to Wrocław very early. It had been present in the lives of the city’s inhabitants as early as the seventeenth century when the local Ballhaus (the House of Amusements) began its activity in the city. It was opened in what is now Jana Ewangelisty Purkyniego Street. The venue was frequently visited by travelling companies, which were the first to introduce the local audience to new developments in theatre and opera. Somewhat later, in 1653, a singspiel by the Silesian poet Andreas Gryphius, Majuma, was staged there and was enthusiastically applauded by the delighted Wrocław audience. The most important contribution to the development of operatic traditions in Wrocław came only with the nine-year activity, from 1725 to 1734, of an Italian opera troupe led by Antonio Bioni and Daniel Treu. The company maintained regular contacts with theatres in distant Bologna and Venice as well as with Antonio Vivaldi himself. Performances were held daily, except during the summer months. Thanks to the company’s activity, audiences could see operatic productions for a nominal fee not only by the already mentioned Antonio Vivaldi but also by Nicola Porpora and Georg Friedrich Händel.

In 1754, at the junction of what are now Oławska Street and Piotra Skargi Street, construction began on a new theatre commonly known as “Kalte Asche”. The theatre, which had 485 seats, presented opera, ballet and drama performances. It served the city until 1841. The institution flourished at the end of the eighteenth century when, during Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s lifetime, The Abduction from the Seraglio was staged there in 1787, followed by Don Giovanni in 1792. Then, in a single artistic season, 1794/1795, as many as three works by the outstanding Viennese composer were presented: The Marriage of Figaro, Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute. In 1796, the institution was officially named the Royal Theatre in Wrocław and, two years later, its building was enlarged. From then on, the auditorium seated 700 people and the stage was rebuilt so that it could better accommodate the popular spectacles of the time. After the modernisation, new operas by Italian composers were performed there: Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti; by French composers: Daniel Auber, Luigi Cherubini, Christoph Willibald Gluck and Giacomo Meyerbeer; as well as works by German composers: Ludwig van Beethoven and Carl Maria von Weber. The presentation of the latest and musically highly diverse works led to the Municipal Theatre becoming one of the leading musical institutions in Germany. At the turn of the nineteenth century, the appointment of the previously mentioned eighteen-year-old Carl Maria von Weber, the creator of German Romantic opera, as Kapellmeister of Wrocław opera theatre became a symbol of the institution’s high status. He held this post from 1804 to 1806. Shortly before leaving Wrocław, he performed the overture and a choral excerpt from Rübezahl for the local audience.

In the following years, the dates of Wrocław premieres differed only slightly from the first presentations of many famous works on European stages. Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, was staged in Wrocław as early as 1816, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in 1821 and, in the same year, only a few months after the Berlin premiere, the people of Wrocław saw Weber’s Der Freischütz. At that time, the stage of Wrocław’s first theatre hosted the greatest musical celebrities, including Niccolò Paganini, Clara Schumann, Alexander Dreyschock, Antonina Miklaszewska-Campi and Karol Lipiński. The ambitions of the inhabitants of the dynamically developing city culminated in the opening of a new and impressive theatre building in 1841. Its classical form was erected according to a design by Carl Ferdinand Langhans. The building had an extremely modern stage for its time and an auditorium seating around 1,600 people. Apart from interruptions caused by two fires, in 1865 and 1871, the Wrocław opera theatre operated regularly until 1944, achieving the status of one of the leading German stages. Among the most important artistic events of the first phase of its activity were the presentation of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots in 1842 and Charles Gounod’s Faust in 1862. One of the Wrocław audience’s favourite composers at that time was Giuseppe Verdi. All his most important works were performed: Nabucco, Il trovatore, Ernani, Rigoletto, Aida, Otello and Falstaff. In 1869, Désirée Artôt made a guest appearance in his La traviata and her talent and stage creation left the audience of the time deeply impressed. 

Another composer whose works enjoyed enduring popularity in the city on the Oder was Richard Wagner. Tannhäuser, the first of his works staged in Wrocław, proved such a great success that it was performed as many as twelve times in its premiere season. In the same year, 1852, another work by Wagner, The Flying Dutchman, was staged, followed in later years by Lohengrin in 1854, Rienzi in 1858 and Tristan und Isolde in 1888. A major event was the staging, in the 1895/1896 season, of Wagner’s entire tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung by the ensemble of the Municipal Theatre. The immense popularity of the German composer among audiences meant that each season, beginning in 1897, ended with Wagnerian performances. It is worth noting that the composer himself visited the Municipal Theatre as a spectator in 1863. 

Richard Strauss was also personally present at the Wrocław institution. His opera Salome had its local premiere immediately after the Dresden world premiere in 1906. The standard of the Municipal Theatre ensemble delighted critics, who even rated the Wrocław production more highly than the Dresden staging. Strauss’s subsequent works presented in Wrocław included the operas Ariadne auf Naxos in 1917 and Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1920 as well as the ballets Josephs Legende in 1923 and Schlagobers in 1924. In addition, in 1927, the Viennese composer personally prepared for the Municipal Theatre the score of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Iphigénie en Tauride. Works by Charles Gounod, Georges Bizet and Giacomo Puccini also enjoyed considerable interest at that time. It should be stressed that, in its artistic explorations, Wrocław did not forget composers from the East. It was here that the German premiere of Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov took place in 1913 as well as the world premiere of Ludomir Różycki’s opera Eros and Psyche in 1917. Other Slavic composers whose works were readily presented at the Municipal Theatre included Bedřich Smetana, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Borodin. In addition to the figures already mentioned, the Wrocław theatre stage hosted many world-renowned artists, including Anton Rubinstein, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Pietro Mascagni, Franz Liszt, Henryk Wieniawski, Marcelina Sembrich-Kochańska, Erika Wedekind and Leo Slezak. Polish singers were also invited to take part in performances, including Aleksander Bandrowski, Felicja Kaszowska and Marian Alma.

In 1938, the Municipal Theatre changed its status. The richness of the institution’s operatic achievements was reflected in its new name: Opera Theatre – Breslauer Opernhaus. The war that began a year later did not prevent the opening of a new artistic season. On 8 September 1939, another period of activity was inaugurated with a performance of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. The years of conflict did not affect opera performances, which continued to take place also with the participation of foreign artists. Only the fighting for Festung Breslau interrupted the opera’s repertory continuity. 

The post-war history of the Polish operatic stage in Wrocław began on 8 September 1945 with a performance of Stanisław Moniuszko’s opera Halka. The first two years of the institution’s post-war activity were possible only thanks to the individual initiative of Stanisław Drabik, its first director. Initially, he worked without the support of the municipal authorities, which did not want to launch a theatre in the devastated city. The first subsidy, granted in return for opera performances in Lower Silesian towns, was offered only by the Provincial Office. This marked the beginning of the Lower Silesian Opera in Wrocław. Thanks to his enormous work, Drabik created the first permanent theatre ensemble. At the beginning, its musical activity was supported by Stefan Syryłło and his Polish-German orchestra. During the first two seasons, in difficult post-war conditions, as many as ten premieres and two revivals were prepared under Drabik’s supervision. In addition to the already mentioned Halka, he also staged The Haunted Manor and Verbum nobile by Stanisław Moniuszko, Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto and La traviata as well as Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.

          Drabik was succeeded by Kazimierz Wiłkomirski. He held the post of director twice, from 1947 to 1949 and from 1957 to 1960. In both periods, he sought to introduce the Wrocław audience to productions that were rarely, or had never before been, staged in Poland. During his first term, he presented Antonín Dvořák’s The Devil and Kate and, during his second term, Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Daniel Auber’s Fra Diavolo and Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. In constructing the repertoire, he did not forget works by Polish composers: the Opera ensemble prepared Feliks Nowowiejski’s Legend of the Baltic, Władysław Żeleński’s Goplana and Ignacy Paderewski’s Manru. During this directorship, people who would shape the artistic level of Wrocław Opera for many years became associated with the stage. Lia Rotbaum was engaged as the director and Zofia Konrad, Maria Tomczak, Danuta Paziukówna, Maria Bosko, Urszula Czaplarska, Tadeusz Prochowski and Janusz Zipser as soloists. In 1949, Jerzy Garda became the director. He began his term by expanding the group of soloists and appointing Stanisław Jarocki as a stage designer. Three of the productions prepared by Garda deserve special mention: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel, Stanisław Moniuszko’s Paria, in which the director himself played the role of Dżares until his death in 1951, and Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. The last of these productions was performed continuously for the next twenty years. During Jerzy Garda’s term, the Opera’s status changed: from 21 November 1949 it functioned as the State Opera in Wrocław.

The next director was Adam Kopyciński. Alongside somewhat forgotten Polish repertoire, such as Władysław Żeleński’s An Old Tale and Bolesław Wallek-Walewski’s Jontek’s Revenge, he presented contemporary operas and ballets to Wrocław audiences: Tadeusz Szeligowski’s Teodor Gentleman and Adam Świerzyński’s Song of Longing as well as Jadwiga Szajna-Lewandowska’s The Abduction in Tiuturlistan. A major success was Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, prepared under his supervision and directed by Lia Rotbaum, which remained in the repertoire for twenty-two years. However, the greatest hit of the stage led by Kopyciński was Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, directed by Adolf Popławski. The production remained on the Wrocław institution’s playbill for as many as thirty-eight years. The ballets of that period also left an enormous impression on audiences: Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, choreographed by Stanisław Miszczyk, Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé and Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka, choreographed by Henryk Tomaszewski. These productions allowed dancers such as Klara Kmitto, Barbara Goślińska, Bronisław Kropidłowski, Waldemar Karst and Henryk Sawicki to create unforgettable artistic roles. Like Wiłkomirski, Adam Kopyciński served as the director twice, from 1951 to 1953 and from 1961 to 1970.

In the 1953/1954 season, Marian Kościelniak took over as the director. During this short period, he presented as many as four premieres that made a clear mark on the history of the theatre: Dmitri Kabalevsky’s The Taras Family, which was never again performed in Poland, Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa, Stanisław Moniuszko’s The Countess and the ballet production The Fountain of Bakhchisarai by Boris Asafyev. For the next three seasons, beginning in 1954, the Opera was managed by Jerzy Sillich. During his term, Wrocław Opera could boast the richest repertoire of works by Stanisław Moniuszko in Poland. At that time, Halka, The Haunted Manor, The Countess, Paria, Verbum nobile, The Raftsman, Na kwaterunku, Phantoms and the ballet Fairy Tale-Memory were staged. From 1970 to 1974, the Opera was directed by Bolesław Jankowski. During his tenure, two outstanding singers, Maria Łukasik and Agata Młynarska, became associated with the institution while the face of Wrocław ballet was transformed by the newly engaged choreographer Teresa Kujawa. She prepared the productions Sculptures of Master Piotr by Romuald Twardowski and Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian. Another major event was the first presentation in Poland of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. From 1977 to 1982, Robert Satanowski served as the director. He introduced a highly diverse repertoire to Wrocław Opera. His version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro from 1978, praised for the world-class standard of its production, entered the institution’s history in particular. Satanowski also introduced the post-war Wrocław opera audience, for the first time, to works by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Antonio Vivaldi and Joseph Haydn. Another major success of this period was the chamber opera The Mannequins, based on the prose of Bruno Schulz, with music composed by Zbigniew Rudziński. The production was presented many times not only in Poland but also abroad. Eugeniusz Sąsiadek’s directorship opened in 1982 with the Wrocław premiere of Karol Szymanowski’s King Roger. During his term, which lasted until 1984, other productions worthy of mention included the premiere of Henryk Czyż’s Inge and the organisation of Italian Opera Week. As part of this event, the audience was presented with works by Giacomo Puccini: Tosca, La bohème and Madama Butterfly as well as works by Giuseppe Verdi: La traviata, Un ballo in maschera and Don Carlos. The culmination of his tenure was the premiere of Charles Gounod’s Faust.

From 1984 to 1989, Wrocław Opera was directed by Wiktor Herzig. During this period, some of the most important events were the world premieres of Witold Rudziński’s The Ring and the Rose and Ryszard Bukowski’s Antigone. A new production of Stanisław Moniuszko’s Halka, directed by Maria Fołtyn, was also created at that time to mark the fortieth anniversary of Wrocław Opera. In 1986, the Wrocław audience saw a production prepared by Italian artists: Gioachino Rossini’s L'Italiana in Algeri. Later that same year, there was the premiere of Edward Grieg’s rarely staged Peer Gynt, based on Henrik Ibsen’s drama and choreographed by Hanna Chojnacka. The following year, audiences were delighted by Ludomir Różycki’s ballet Mr Twardowski, choreographed by Witold Gruca. For two artistic seasons, beginning in 1989, the post of the director was held by Sławomir Pietras. He continued cooperation with Hanna Chojnacka, who staged Joaquín Rodrigo’s Flamenco – Love and Death. The director engaged well-known theatre directors: Adam Hanuszkiewicz, who prepared a controversial version of Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, and Krzysztof Kolberger, who was responsible for the premiere of Jan Stefani’s Cracovians and Highlanders. This vaudeville production featured Maryla Rodowicz, Danuta Rinn and Artur Żmijewski. For the next two seasons, from 1991 to 1993, Wrocław Opera was overseen by Marek Rostecki. One of the premieres he prepared was Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, in which the title role was performed by the Japanese singer Sotoko Yano. His achievements also include the preparation of Leonard Bernstein’s ballet Mass and Mike Oldfield’s Three Steps from Here, directed by Ewelina Sojecka. Wrocław Opera owes to Rostecki the first post-war productions of works by German masters: Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in concert version and Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz. From 1993 to 1995, the position of the director was held by Mieczysław Dondajewski. He began his directorship by staging Camille Saint-Saëns’s rarely performed opera Samson and Delilah, featuring Ewa Podleś, and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Pimpinone in the Aula Leopoldina at the University of Wrocław. He also revived Cracovians and Highlanders and brought about the production of Zygmunt Krauze’s The Star at Wrocław Opera. In the latter production, the talent of Jolanta Żmurko was fully revealed. The inauguration of the 1994 season, when Stanisław Moniuszko’s Phantoms was presented in the historic spaces of the Museum of Architecture, also entered the institution’s history permanently.

From 1995 until 2016, Wrocław Opera was directed by Ewa Michnik. In her repertorial explorations, she often turned to the classics. She frequently presented works by Giuseppe Verdi, including Aida, Un ballo in maschera, Falstaff, Joan of Arc, Macbeth, Nabucco, Otello, Requiem, Rigoletto and La traviata; operas by Richard Wagner – she was the first in Poland to present the complete Ring of the Nibelung cycle as well as prepared premieres of Parsifal and The Flying Dutchman; works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, including Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro; productions of Georges Bizet’s Carmen and The Pearl Fishers; Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème, Madama Butterfly and Tosca; Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann; and Stanisław Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor and Halka. The classics also dominated the ballet repertoire, which included, among others, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet, and Ludwig Minkus’s Don Quixote.

One of the greatest challenges was running Wrocław Opera during the long-term renovation of its building, which lasted from 1997 to 2006. Performances then began to take place in unusual venues, which very often became an additional asset of the productions presented. At the Feature Film Studio, audiences could see Charles Gounod’s Faust, Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. At IMPART, ballets such as Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Ludwig Minkus’s Paquita, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Nostalgia and Astor Piazzolla’s Tangos were staged. Mozart’s The Magic Flute was presented on the stage of the Contemporary Theatre, Verdi’s Falstaff in the Sports Hall of the Medical Academy and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in the cloisters of the National Museum. Important productions also included Puccini’s repeatedly performed Tosca, with each act taking place in a different location, and Verdi’s Requiem, which, modelled on medieval mystery plays, was performed in St. Mary Magdalene Cathedral. Another consequence of the prolonged renovation was the organisation of operatic superproductions. These were staged mainly in what is now the Centennial Hall or presented as large-scale open-air productions. They were always performed before audiences numbering in the thousands. The superproductions dazzled spectators with gigantic sets, the participation of stars from European and world opera stages and the presence of hundreds of performers, extras and animals. In 1997 and 2002, Aida was staged; in 1998 and 2005, Carmen; in 1999 and 2001, Nabucco; in 2000 and 2003, Il trovatore; in 2001 and 2002, Carmina Burana; in 2001, The Haunted Manor; then Fiddler on the Roof was presented twice in 2002, on the roof of Galeria Dominikańska and in the People’s Hall, and again in 2004, 2008 and 2013 in the courtyard of Topacz Castle. In 2003, La Gioconda was staged on Ostrów Tumski, as was Das Rheingold; in 2004, Die Walküre; in 2005, Siegfried; in June 2006, Götterdämmerung; and in October 2006, the entire Wagnerian tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung. In 2007, Boris Godunov and The Elixir of Love were presented at the Pergola; the following year, Otello on Wyspa Piasek; in 2010, Turandot at the Olympic Stadium; in 2011, Prince Igor at the Centennial Hall; in 2012, Un ballo in maschera at the Olympic Stadium; in 2013, The Pearl Fishers; in 2014, Macbeth and Rigoletto at Topacz Castle; and in 2015, The Flying Dutchman at the Pergola. The culmination of the cycle initiated by Ewa Michnik and – at the same time – a form of celebration of Wrocław Opera’s 70th jubilee season, was the staging in 2016 of the spectacle Spanish Night with Carmen – Zarzuela Show at the Wrocław Stadium.

A respite from the classical repertoire was provided by the only Contemporary Opera Festival in Poland, held every two years from 2008 onwards. It presented the Opera’s own productions as well as guest productions by other theatres. The Wrocław Opera ensemble prepared titles such as Karol Szymanowski’s King Roger and Hagith, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Paradise Lost, Bohuslav Martinů’s The Miracle of Our Lady, Hanna Kulenty’s The Mother of Black-Winged Dreams, Eugeniusz Knapik’s La libertà chiama la libertà, Zygmunt Krauze’s The Trap, and Péter Eötvös’s Angels in America. Other initiatives by Ewa Michnik worthy of mention included the organisation of a series of performances for children entitled The Mysterious Kingdom and, from 2013, the presentation of concerts featuring the world’s greatest opera singers under the title Stars of the Metropolitan Opera on the Stage of Wrocław Opera.

From September 2016 to September 2019, the position of the director of Wrocław Opera was held by Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski. His work at the helm of the Lower Silesian institution began with the premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore, which formed part of the closing weekend of Wrocław’s tenure as European Capital of Culture. The next operas prepared under his directorship included Gioachino Rossini’s Cinderella, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio, Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice – a production prepared in cooperation with Wrocław Baroque Orchestra of the National Forum of Music – Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The masterpieces of the Polish stage were not forgotten either: Jan Stefani’s Cracovians and Highlanders and premieres of Stanisław Moniuszko’s operas Halka and Phantoms, marking the centenary of Poland’s regaining independence and the celebrations of the Moniuszko Year at Wrocław Opera. Under Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, the importance of ballet art clearly increased. Dance lovers could see productions of Femme Fatale, consisting of Manuel de Falla’s El amor brujo and Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, and the production Polish Evening, in which ballet artists danced to works by Fryderyk Chopin and Wojciech Kilar. The repertoire also included productions from the classical ballet canon: Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Adolphe Adam’s Giselle, Stravinsky’s The Card Game and The Rite of Spring as well as Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.

Numerous family productions were also created such as In the Land of the Magic Flute, based on compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the ballet The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns; The Cheating Flea by Maciej Małecki; The Bravest of Knights by Krzysztof Penderecki; and Yemaya – Queen of the Seas by Zygmunt Krauze. In addition, each season ended with a superproduction. Audiences could see Charles Gounod’s Faust in the Centennial Hall and, in subsequent years, Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco and La traviata on the Liberty Square. All of these productions were later transferred to the stage of Wrocław Opera. Concerts by stars of the Metropolitan Opera also remained part of the repertoire. Audiences could admire live performances by Ramón Vargas, Joanna Parisi and René Pape. Exceptional events also included two appearances in Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov by Mikhail Kazakov, a soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. The Contemporary Opera Festival initiated by Ewa Michnik was also continued. Its fifth edition was enriched for the first time with a ballet work. Festival audiences saw Eufolia/Ambulo, with choreography prepared to music by Wojciech Kilar, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Prasqual and Louis Andriessen. An exceptional operatic premiere presented during the festival was Immanuel Kant by the popular musician and composer Leszek Możdżer. A novelty was the introduction of cyclical events: pre-premiere chamber concerts and educational projects, Opera Labyrinth and Academia dell’Opera. Wrocław Opera also enabled young creators to develop: the Open Door initiative was organised especially for choreographers, allowing them to present their choreographic works with the ballet artists of Wrocław Opera.

In November 2019, Ewa Koleszko took over the duties of the director. During this time, the publication Stanisław Moniuszko at Wrocław Opera was issued, closing the celebrations of the centenary of Poland’s regaining independence and the Moniuszko Year at Wrocław Opera. The premiere of the ballet The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and choreography by Youri Vámos, was staged; there was also a concert performance of Emmerich Kálmán’s operetta The Gypsy Princess. Further plans, including the staging of a new Carmen by Georges Bizet, were thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic, which caused the temporary closure of Wrocław Opera. Moreover, in June and July 2020, recordings were made of two chamber operas by Benjamin Britten: The Burning Fiery Furnace and Curlew River. The productions were directed by Michał Znaniecki, who – in his staging – used not only the stage space but also the entire interior of the auditorium. Musical direction of the production was entrusted to Adam Banaszak.

In July 2020, Halina Ołdakowska became the new director of Wrocław Opera. To work on a new vision for the institution, she invited one of the most recognisable Polish soloists in the world, Mariusz Kwiecień, as the artistic director, and the outstanding conductor Bassem Akiki as the music director. The beginning of a new period in the institution’s activity was heralded by highly popular open-air rehearsals of soloists, chorus and ballet, which gathered crowds of Wrocław residents in front of the Wrocław Opera building. The new 2020/2021 season was inaugurated with an Opera Gala featuring some of the greatest stars of the world and Polish opera stages. The audience saw performances by Charles Castronovo, Lianna Haroutounian, Ekaterina Siurina, Piotr Buszewski, Monika Ledzion-Porczyńska, Remigiusz Łukomski, Szymon Mechliński, Arnold Rutkowski, Małgorzata Walewska and Joanna Zawartko. The difficult period and restrictions imposed on theatres during the pandemic forced the entire artistic activity of Wrocław Opera to move online. To date, audiences watching on computer screens could see the works most popular among music lovers: Stanisław Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor and Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème. : A special event, New Year’s Eve with Wrocław Opera, marked the final night of 2020. Viewers could watch excerpts from works forming the canon of operatic literature and guaranteeing sparkling entertainment. Virtually, they were guests at Violetta Valéry’s party from Verdi’s La traviata, spent the night on the streets of Paris in the company of the characters of Puccini’s La bohème and observed Nemorino’s adventures after drinking the love potion in Donizetti’s opera. The production featured leading artists from Polish opera stages: Piotr Buszewski, Jerzy Butryn, Adriana Farfecka, Grzegorz Szostak and Adam Zaremba as well as well-known soloists of Wrocław Opera: Maciej Krzysztyniak, Jakub Michalski, Aleksandra Opała, Maria Rozynek-Banaszak, Łukasz Rosiak, Tomasz Rudnicki, Hanna Sosnowska and Aleksander Zuchowicz. The orchestra in this unusual production was conducted by Bassem Akiki and Adam Banaszak. Unfortunately, with the new year, the restrictions were not lifted and the separation from audiences in the Wrocław Opera auditorium continued to lengthen. For the youngest spectators, a series of workshops introducing the secrets of dance and singing, A Winter Musical Quarter of an Hour, was prepared. For older music lovers, a respite from pandemic everyday life was provided by broadcasts of the most popular works. In January 2021, Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann was streamed, with Charles Castronovo in the role of Hoffmann and Ekaterina Siurina as Antonia, as was Adolphe Adam’s Giselle.

In June 2021, audiences were invited back to the building for the first premiere of the season. On 4 and 5 June, the first two performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte took place. As with Don Giovanni, this title was prepared by South American creators: director André Heller-Lopes, stage designer Renato Theobaldo and costume designer Sofía Di Nunzio. The production was prepared as part of the Opera of the Young project, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. On the weekend of 9 and 10 October, Wrocław Opera celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of Zygmunt Krauze’s creative work. Admirers of the eminent composer watched a screening of the film The Road between Notes, a concert version of the production The Trap and the children’s opera Yemaya – Queen of the Seas. The performance of The Trap was also part of the celebrations of the Tadeusz Różewicz Year, observed at that time.

The premiere of Der Freischütz was very important as it was connected with the inauguration of the celebrations of the 180th anniversary of the opening of the opera building in Wrocław. The production was directed by Cezary Tomaszewski, who introduced the figure of a narrator, thereby modifying the formula of the singspiel. The stage design was created by Paweł Dobrzycki and the orchestra was conducted by Łukasz Borowicz. At the premiere, the role of Agathe was performed by Aleksandra Kurzak while Alec Carlson, a tenor from South Africa, appeared as Max. Dariusz Machej performed as Kaspar, Jacek Jaskuła as Kuno, Łukasz Rosiak as Kilian and Szymon Mechliński created the character of Ottokar. Remigiusz Łukomski played the double role of Samiel and the Hermit. An additional attraction of the performance was the ghost of Carl Maria von Weber, who appeared as a hologram in one of the proscenium boxes and encouraged the audience to watch the production. Exceptional events included two concerts entitled Seekers of Lost Arias – A Concert of Unknown Arias, held on 26 and 28 November, featuring Szymon Mechliński, Joanna Zawartko, Piotr Buszewski and the Wrocław Opera Orchestra under the baton of Bassem Akiki. During the event, forgotten works by Franciszek Mirecki, Adam Münchheimer, Henryk Jarecki, Henryk Skirmuntt, Konstanty Gorski and Gabriel Rola-Rożniecki were given new life on stage.

The ballet premiere of the 2021/2022 season was Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Don Juan. The choreography was prepared by Giorgio Madia, who had previously created La fille mal gardée and Coppélia on the Wrocław stage. The production was full of original stage ideas, such as the use of a huge mirror, a scene showing the escape from Donna Anna’s house, a series of doors creating a farcical chase after the title seducer and a gigantic dress flowing down onto the stage in the final phase of the performance. The set design was prepared by Cordelia Matthes and the costumes, which effectively emphasised the characters’ personalities, by Bruno Schwengl. Łukasz Ożga performed the title role of Don Juan, Kei Otsuka delighted audiences as the comic and agile Zanni and Andrzej Malinowski appeared as the Devil. The premiere took place on 9 and 10 February and was a transfer of a production from Komische Oper Berlin. On 13 February 2022, audiences once again celebrated St. Valentine’s Day in the Opera building, this time during the concert Rossini – with Love. The event was held as part of the Opera of the Young project. It featured Aleksandra Opała, Hubert Zapiór, Petr Nekoranec and the Orchestra of Wrocław Opera under the baton of Adam Banaszak. On 20 and 21 May 2022, the last of the Mozart-Da Ponte works, The Marriage of Figaro, was presented. The premiere was again directed by André Heller-Lopes, with stage design by Renato Theobaldo. It was preceded by a chamber concert in the Opera foyer on 15 May, entitled Figaro’s Bachelor Party. At the end of the season, on 25 and 26 June 2022, the pearl of French opera, Jules Massenet’s Manon, was staged. The direction and set design of this work, which is practically absent from Polish stages, were undertaken by Waldemar Zawodziński; the colourful costumes were designed by Maria Balcerek and the choreography was prepared by Janina Niesobska. The main element of the set consisted of walls surrounding the stage with theatre boxes – silent witnesses to the drama of the title character’s life. Musical direction of the production was entrusted to Bassem Akiki. In the premiere performances, the role of Manon was performed by Simona Mihai and Hanna Sosnowska-Bill, Des Grieux by Charles Castronovo and Eric Fenell, Lescaut by Szymon Mechliński and Mariusz Godlewski and Count des Grieux by Grzegorz Szostak and Jakub Mechliński.

The new 2022/2023 artistic season opened on 3 September with the Inaugural Gala featuring Erwin Schrott. he Uruguayan soloist delighted the audience with arias from some of the most important roles in his repertoire. That evening, excerpts could be heard from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Verdi’s La forza del destino, I vespri siciliani and Don Carlos and Puccini’s Tosca as well as fragments less widely known in Poland from Puccini’s opera-ballet Le Villi and Charles Gounod’s opera Philémon et Baucis. Alongside the famous bass-baritone, the stage also featured Wrocław Opera soloists Jadwiga Postrożna and Maria Rozynek-Banaszak as well as the Chorus and Orchestra of Wrocław Opera under the baton of Bassem Akiki. In October, the long-postponed premiere of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, delayed because of the pandemic, took place. The production was directed by Maria Sartova and the rather ascetic set design was created by Damian Styrna, whose visual concepts were supported by multimedia projections by Eliasz Styrna and lighting design by Bogusław Palewicz. The strengths of the production included the ballet prepared by Małgorzata Dzierżon and the chorus under the direction of Anna Grabowska-Borys. Michał Klauza conducted the orchestra dynamically and with verve. Monika Ledzion-Porczyńska appeared in the title role, Giorgi Sturua sang the part of Don José and Jerzy Butryn that of his rival Escamillo. Young Gabriela Legun delighted the audience as Micaëla. A true treat for music lovers was Marina Rebeka’s performance at the Gala Concert on 5 November. The Latvian soprano presented works from the German and Italian operatic repertoire, some of which appeared on her solo album Essence. The recordings had been made in 2021 with the Orchestra of Wrocław Opera under the baton of Marco Boemi. On Independence Day, 11 November, as part of the patriotic concert Home Songbook, soloists, the Chorus, the children’s chorus, laureates of the Third Antonina Campi née Miklaszewicz International Vocal Competition and participants in the Opera of the Young programme performed works from Moniuszko’s repertoire: the operas The Haunted Manor, Halka and Paria as well as Rokiczana and songs from Home Songbook. On 20 January, another choreography showcase was held under the new title Elements. The project was coordinated by the ballet manager Małgorzata Dzierżon. During the evening, eleven new stage études were presented. The event was preceded by a Chamber Concert of Young Composers and Instrumentalists on 17 December, during which works by students and graduates of Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław were performed; most of the choreographies were created to these pieces. The concert and the showcase were held as part of the Opera of the Young programme. The Opera audience bid farewell to the old year at the Concert of Three Tenors. The performers were Rafał Bartmiński, Giorgi Sturua and Tadeusz Szlenkier, who, under the baton of Adam Banaszak, sang the most famous tenor arias that evening.

On 13 March 2023, Halina Ołdakowska was dismissed from the position of the director of Wrocław Opera. Until a new director was selected, Izabela Kurc-Kuriata was appointed the acting director. The changes, however, did not prevent the presentation of the next premiere of the season. On 25 March 2023, the Ballet Triptych was staged, combining different dance aesthetics and musically distant works. The first part, Flight, choreographed by Małgorzata Dzierżon to music by Somei Satoh and Kate Whitley, was maintained in a modern convention. The second part, set to Maurice Ravel’s well-known Bolero and choreographed by Meryl Tankard, referred to shadow theatre. The final part, Elsa Canasta, choreographed by Javier de Frutos to music by Cole Porter and inspired by the authentic story of artists from Diaghilev’s ballet, was presented through sounds drawn from old musicals. The premiere was preceded by a chamber concert on 19 March, which introduced the style and atmosphere of the works presented in the triptych. On 21 June, the idea of open-air concerts in front of the Wrocław Opera building was revived as part of the Music Day celebrations.

On 1 July 2023, Tomasz Janczak took up the position of the director of Wrocław Opera. He managed the theatre together with Michał Znaniecki, who served as the deputy director for artistic affairs. On the initiative of Michał Znaniecki, on 24 August 2023, Ukraine’s Independence Day, the production A Zaporozhian beyond the Danube by Semen Hulak-Artemovsky was shown in Wrocław, directed by Jolanta Denejko. The open-air performance was organised on Wzgórze Polskie, next to the Ceglarski Bastion, opposite the Racławice Panorama. Specially invited artists from Ukraine took part in the production.

The new 2023/2024 artistic season opened on 2 September with the Inaugural Gala. During the evening, soloists of Wrocław Opera performed a highly varied repertoire. Owing to great audience interest, the concert was repeated on 10 September. On 1 October, The Magic Flute in Breslau had its premiere. The production was based on W.A. Mozart’s masterpiece and Emanuel Schikaneder’s libretto; however, it was also enriched with new dialogues written by Marek Krajewski, the author of the famous crime series about detective Eberhard Mock. It is this character who becomes entangled in the story known from the opera and begins an investigation in the dark and dangerous Wrocław of the 1920s. The production was directed by Michał Znaniecki, the unsettling sets were created by Luigi Scoglio and the visual concept was complemented by multimedia by Karolina Jacewicz and lighting by Dariusz Albrycht. The costumes were designed by Magdalena Dąbrowska. Because of its distinctive convention, The Magic Flute in Breslau was intended for adult audiences. However, the youngest spectators were not forgotten; on 4 October young music lovers could see the first performance of The Disenchanted Flute. This family production was based on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, with the plot presented from the perspective of one of six characters: Papageno, Tamino, Papagena, Monostatos, the Queen of the Night and Pamina. Each part contained different arias and different plot threads so, in order to understand the story fully, it was worth attending all parts of the production. On the occasion of the premiere, audiences could obtain a Young Music Lover’s Passport and cards featuring characters from the performances. On 24 October, Jakub Józef Orliński performed in the Opera building as part of his Beyond tour, together with the Il Pomo d’Oro orchestra. On 6 and 7 December, for the second time as part of the Elements project, audiences could admire twelve new choreographies created by young artists to music mostly written especially for the event by students of Karol Lipiński Academy of Music. New Year’s Eve and New Year were celebrated at Wrocław Opera during the Opera Italia gala. During the spectacle, directed by Waldemar Zawodziński, audiences could hear numerous Neapolitan songs and excerpts from works by Rossini, Donizetti, Offenbach, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Mascagni and Verdi. The performers included Joanna Moskowicz, Barbara Bagińska, Katarzyna Haras, Elżbieta Kaczmarzyk-Janczak, Łukasz Gaj, Edward Kulczyk, Zdzisław Madej, Aleksander Zuchowicz, Jacek Jaskuła, Łukasz Motkowicz and Grzegorz Szostak. The orchestra was conducted by maestro Giorgio Croci.

On 1 March, Zbigniew Rudziński’s chamber opera The Mannequins, based on the prose of Bruno Schulz, returned to the Wrocław Opera stage. The work had its world premiere at the theatre in 1981. The new version of the production was directed by Kamila Siwińska, who, inspired by a photograph from a Hasidic wedding in Grodzisk, gave the work a new form. The Orchestra of Wrocław Opera was conducted by Trajan Muryń. The production was also presented before its official premiere at the closing of the POLIN Music Festival in Warsaw on 25 February. On 18 and 19 May, premiere performances took place of Rossini’s hilarious opera buffa L’Italiana in Algeri, directed by Waldemar Zawodziński. In his intelligent and humorous staging, he asked questions about perceptions of women and the power of cultural stereotypes. The Orchestra of Wrocław Opera performed under the baton of Georgios Balatsinos. On 22 May 2024, Garrick Ohlsson, winner of the 1970 International Chopin Piano Competition, performed as part of the Chopin Recitals concert tour. On 25 and 26 May, Wrocław Opera staged The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Tomasz Janczak, which marked the ceremonial closing of the celebrations of the seventy-fifth anniversary of Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. The final premiere of the 2023/2024 season, on 8 June, was the ballet Napoli 1841, choreographed by Johan Kobborg and inspired by August Bournonville’s classical ballet. The production brought audiences closer to the figure of the Danish ballet creator and the themes of his journey to Naples, which inspired him to create his most frequently staged ballet. The music for Napoli was composed by as many as four Danish composers: Holger Paulli, Eduard Helsted, Niels Wilhelm Gade and Hans Christian Lumbye. Otto Bubeníček’s set design evoked both the atmosphere of the colourful, lively Italian city and the fantastic underwater world of Bournonville’s work. The production was conducted by Rafał Kaczmarczyk. At the premiere, the role of the famous Danish dance pedagogue was performed by Marcin Kupiński and that of his favourite dancer by Caroline Mizuno Toma. On 21 June, again as part of Music Day, Wrocław residents could listen to Wrocław Opera soloists singing at an open-air concert in front of the building on Świdnicka Street. In addition to opera excerpts, the repertoire included pieces from the most famous musicals and operettas. The event was hosted by Jacek Jaskuła and Aleksander Zuchowicz.

The first event of the next artistic season, 2024/2025, was the symphonic concert Opera for the Young, organised in cooperation with the STOART Association of Performing Artists, which took place on 1 September. During the event, the talented sixteen-year-old violinist Bartosz Olszewski presented his skills. The Orchestra of Wrocław Opera was conducted by Paweł Przytocki. On 6, 7 and 8 September, Inaugural Galas were held once again, featuring artists of Wrocław Opera. The first premiere of the 2024/2025 season was Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco. The production, directed by Tomasz Janczak, was staged for the first time on 11 and 12 October. The set design was created by Mariusz Napierała and the costumes by Małgorzata Słoniowska followed a classical convention while incorporating new technologies. The staging was intended to show how relevant the libretto remains in its presentation of the struggle between good and evil and the power of love and hatred. The orchestra performed under the baton of Giorgio Croci. During the premiere performances, the role of Nabucco was performed by Mikołaj Zalasiński and Leszek Skrla, Abigaille by Karina Skrzeszewska and Jolanta Wagner, Zaccaria by Grzegorz Szostak and Szymon Kobyliński and Fenena by Jadwiga Postrożna and Barbara Bagińska. On 18 October, Tomasz Janczak was dismissed from the position of the director.

At the end of the year, on 13 December, the ballet world premiere of The Snow Queen was presented, choreographed by Małgorzata Dzierżon to Max Richter’s music – a recomposed version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons). The orchestra was conducted by Rafał Kaczmarczyk. This fairy-tale spectacle, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story, combined contemporary and classical dance techniques and was additionally enriched with elements of acrobatics. The stage design and impressive multimedia projections were created by Mikki Kunttu and the costumes by Małgorzata Słoniowska. At the premiere, Miho Okamura performed the role of Gerda, David Oscar Blat that of Kay, Nonoka Miyamoto was the title Snow Queen, Daniel Agudo Gallardo the Raven and Phoebe Anderssen and Łukasz Ożga the Princess and the Prince. Małgorzata Dzierżon’s choreography was awarded the 2025 Arlekin Prize, granted by the City of Wrocław.

Since 1 January 2025, Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny has been the director of Wrocław Opera.

•          Stanisław Drabik (1945-1947)

•          Kazimierz Wiłkomirski (1947–1949, 1957-1960)

•          Jerzy Garda (1949-1951)

•          Adam Kopyciński (1951–1953, 1961-1970)

•          Marian Kościelniak (1953-1954)

•          Jerzy Sillich (1954-1957)

•          Bolesław Jankowski (1970-1974)

•          Ludwig Mika (acting director, 1975-1976)

•          Robert Satanowski (1977-1982)

•          Eugeniusz Sąsiadek (1982-1984)

•          Wiktor Herzig (1984-1989)

•          Sławomir Pietras (1989-1991)

•          Marek Rostecki (1991-1993)

•          Mieczysław Dondajewski (1993-1995)

•          Ewa Michnik (1995-2016)

•          Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski (2016-2019)

•          Ewa Koleszko (acting director, 2019-2020)

•          Halina Ołdakowska (2020-2023)

•          Izabela Kurc-Kuriata (acting director, 2023)

•          Tomasz Janczak (2023-2024)

•          Mirosława Kuczyńska-Wrzeszcz (acting director, 2024)

•          Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny (2025-present)

Prepared by: Karolina Chojnacka, Archives of Wrocław Opera