The work, with a libretto based on a 1928 play by Gerhart Hauptmann, had its world premiere in 1986 in Salzburg.
The production is directed by David Pountney, an acclaimed British opera director and librettist who has worked closely with Polish companies and promoted Polish music for many years.
Bassem Akiki, a Lebanese-Polish conductor with a long-standing experience in Poland, is the production’s music director.
Friday's premiere of The Black Mask, described by Pountney as "a present-day warning against building social order on fragile foundations," coincides with the eve of the 91st anniversary of Penderecki's birth.
The Black Mask is one of Penderecki’s four operas. The Devils of Loudun premiered at the Hamburg Staatsoper in 1969 and went on to enjoy successful productions at theatres worldwide. Similarly, Paradise Lost, which debuted in Chicago in 1978, and Ubu Rex, which had its premiere in Munich in 1991, both earned acclaim on the global stage.
Pountney’s previous work on Polish operas includes Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Passenger, Karol Szymanowski’s King Roger and Stanisław Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor.
Pountney holds the Knight’s Cross of the Polish Order of Merit. In 2019, he was knighted in Britain for his services to opera.
Penderecki, a towering figure in contemporary classical music, died in 2020 at the age of 86.
(mk/gs)