The season will open on August 20 with a concert by the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, which is made up of leading Ukrainian musicians from various European orchestras and refugees from their war-torn homeland.
The programme of the concert includes works by Ukrainian composers Yevhen Stankovych (Violin Concerto No. 2, with Valeriy Sokolov as the soloist) and Myroslav Skoryk (Melody), as well as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (with Ukrainian soloists: soprano Olga Kulchynska, mezzo-soprano Nicole Chirka, tenor Dmytro Popov, and bass-baritone Vladyslav Buialsky).
The Ukraine Freedom Orchestra will perform under the leadership of Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri Lynn-Wils, who, together with Peter Gelb, the director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, came up with the idea of forming the ensemble last year.
This is the orchestra’s second Warsaw residency. It is financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and, as last year, after the Warsaw concert, the orchestra will go on an international tour, sponsored jointly by the Polish National Opera and the Met.
The director of the Polish National Opera, Waldemar Dąbrowski, has told the media: ”We all remember what Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska said in March 2022: ‘Do not get accustomed to our suffering.’ Hence we want again, together with the Met, to express our solidarity with the Ukrainian nation by hosting the concert of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.”
The Wielki Theatre/National Opera in Warsaw. Photo: PAP/Piotr Nowak
The highlights of the Polish National Opera’s new season include the premieres of Luigi Cherubini’s Médée, directed by Simon Stone in a joint production with the Salzburg Festival; Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte; Beatrix Cenci by Polish composer Ludomir Różycki (1883-1953); and Dead End, a new opera by Polish composer Krzysztof Meyer, who turns 80 this year.
A wide range of revivals is also planned, including Aida, La Traviata, The Magic Flute, Madama Butterly, and La Bohème.
Opera fans will also be able to see a revival of Chorus Opera, a production featuring a selection of the most popular choruses from works by Puccini, Verdi, Mascagni, Bizet, Leoncavallo and Stanisław Moniuszko, the 19th-century composer who is hailed as the father of Polish national opera.
(mk/gs)