Tenor Piotr Beczała is cast as Radames in Verdi’s Aida at the Salzburg Festival. He is also expected to run masterclasses as part of the event’s Young Singers Project.
Also at Salzburg, baritone Mikołaj Trąbka is set to appear as Ser Amantio di Nicolao in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, while young Polish tenor Maciej Kwaśnikowski has been invited by Austria’s top conductor Franz Welser-Möst to sing in Schubert’s Mass.
Another event with a Polish flavour in Salzburg is Iphigenia, a drama production loosely based on Euripides and Goethe, directed by Poland’s Ewelina Marciniak, with the sets, costumes, music and choreography in the hands of her Polish team.
Meanwhile, one of the stars of the Richard Wagner Festival at Bayreuth in Germany is bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny. He is Poland’s first Wotan in the event’s 140-year history, performing the part in Die Walküre and Siegfried.
Konieczny has said in an interview that to sing Wotan at Bayreuth is a dream-come-true for him.
Tomasz Konieczny. Photo: Polish Radio/PR2
Polish singers are also on the cast of Verdi’s Nabucco at the Verona Opera Festival in Italy, with soprano Ewa Płonka as Abigaille and bass Rafał Siwek as Zaccaria.
Finally, young bass Krzysztof Bączyk is billed to perform the part of Oroveso in the concert version of Bellini’s Norma during the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France.
(mk/gs)