Premiered at the National Opera in Warsaw to great popular and critical acclaim in April, Pinocchio can be watched on YouTube until January 12.
Originally conceived by Carlo Collodi in the 1880s, the Pinocchio story is presented by the Polish National Ballet to music by Mieczysław Weinberg, the Polish composer of Jewish descent who escaped the Nazis by fleeing into the Soviet Union and spent the best part of his life there.
His ballet Pinocchio, written in the mid-1950s, is described by OperaVision on its website as “a vibrant, multicoloured story full of humour, lyricism, and references to popular dances (waltz, tarantella)."
It adds: “Choreographer Anna Hop presents original story fit for the modern age, to be enjoyed by children of all ages and all thanks to: Wajnberg’s playful music, the beauty of dance, the magic of theatrical imagery, and the touching story about the triumph of vulnerability over violence, the pursuit of freedom and the necessity to sometimes lose one’s way to grow as a person.”
In the Warsaw production of Pinocchio, the Polish National Opera Orchestra is conducted by Marta Kluczyńska.
OperaVision is a free-view opera streaming platform, supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme. It brings together opera companies from Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hugary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
In addition to the National Opera in Warsaw, Poland is represented by the opera in the western city of Poznań.
Having settled in Moscow in the early 1940s, Weinberg worked as a composer and pianist. In 1953, he was arrested as part of Josef Stalin’s anti-Semitic purges, but was released after the Soviet dictator’s death thanks to support from Dmitri Shostakovich, the well-known Russian composer and pianist.
Weinberg, otherwise known as Wajnberg, died in Moscow in 1996, leaving behind an output of more than 20 symphonies, 17 string quartets and six operas, as well as a wealth of chamber music for various instruments and songs.
(mk/gs)