One of the highlights of the festival’s theatre programme is the production of Europa, premiered at Warsaw’s Nowy Theatre earlier this year. Based on Europa’s Pledge by Lebanese-born Wajdi Mouawad, regarded as one of the most renowned contemporary playwrights, it is directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, with sets by Małgorzata Szczęśniak, music by Paweł Mykietyn, and an ensemble of leading Polish actors, such as Andrzej Chyra, Magdalena Cielecka, Bartosz Gelner, Maja Ostaszewska and Magdalena Popławska.
At 64, Warlikowski is one of the most emblematic figures in European theatre, with a wide range of acclaimed productions of Shakespeare, Greek tragedies, plays by modern authors, as well as operas to his credit. His honours include the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre from the Venice Biennale.
According to the programme note for the production: “In his theatre, Warlikowski probes responsibility and guilt […] Europa’s Pledge delves into the memory of a crime, the burden of silence, and the way trauma is passed down through generations. With this new play, Wajdi Mouawad continues his exploration of inherited violence and of theatre as a space for reckoning and repair.” The Nowy Theatre production of Europa is to have a run of three performances, on August 10, 12 and 13.
Internationally-acclaimed soprano Iwona Sobotka is making her Salzburg Festival debut in Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Three concerts, with the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti, and mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa, tenor Michael Spyres and bass Maharram Huseynov as the remaining soloists, are scheduled for August 15, 16 and 18.
Polish bass, Rafał Pawnuk, is returning to Salzburg in the part of Antonio in Gioachino Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. In previous years, he appeared there as Mars in Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Antonio in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
(mk/jh)