It is a joint undertaking by the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, the Polish National Opera, the Warsaw Autumn Contemporary Music Festival and the Museum of Warsaw.
The idea is to stage an opera performance involving a large orchestra, soloists, choir, dancers, as well as electronics and audiovisual projections which will be a musical tribute to the grand national effort to raise Warsaw from the ruins of World War II.
Jarosław Trybuś of the Museum of Warsaw has told the media that “the genre of opera is a great medium for a living memorial to the rebuilding of Warsaw, which was an unprecedented event that brought together many communities in the hope of building a better reality for themselves and future generations."
The official added: “We talk a lot about the destruction, we live in its shadow, but we talk very little about the miracle of reconstruction”.
The Wielki Theatre/National Opera in Warsaw, in the final stages of post-World War II reconstruction, 1960s. Photo: nieznany/unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Trybuś also said that the work should carry a universal message and bring hope to people “wherever they need to rebuild their ruined homes.”
He stressed: “Warsaw proved that this is possible and showed how to do it”.
The libretto of the opera is to be based on motifs from Grzegorz Piątek's acclaimed book The Best City in the World. Rebuilding Warsaw 1945-1949.
Leading Polish composers, whose names are yet to be announced, are to be commissioned to write the music. A panel of judges will select the winning team of composer and librettist, with the deadline for completion set for July 2024.
The production is to be premiered as the opening event of the National Opera’s 2025/2026 season.
The autumn of 2025 will mark the 80th anniversary of the start of Warsaw’s post-war reconstruction.
(mk/pm)
Source: Sinfonia Varsovia, PAP