The Opera Krakowska (also known as the Kraków Opera) is an
opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets.
While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...
located in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, Poland. It was founded in 1954 in postwar Kraków, although the tradition of
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
in the city dates back to 1628 when the first ever full
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
in
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
was released by the local publishing house, followed by the first fully-fledged opera performance in the city in March 1782. The Kraków Opera company stages 200 performances each year, including
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
,
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
s and
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
s for the young, with an audience occupancy rate of 98%. The Kraków Opera's main repertoire includes both international and Polish operatic classics, reaffirming its status as one of the country's leading
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
companies.
The long list of names of renowned artists associated with it includes conductors such as
Kazimierz Kord
Kazimierz Kord (18 November 1930 – 29 April 2021) was a Polish conductor. Between 1949 and 1955, he studied piano at the Leningrad Conservatory. He also studied at the Academy of Music in Kraków.
He held major conducting positions with the ...
,
Robert Satanowski
Robert Satanowski (January 20, 1918 – August 9, 1997) was a Polish general who later became a major European orchestra and opera conductor.
Life
Military career
A teacher with a background in engineering, during World War II he joined the Sovi ...
,
Jan Latham-Koenig
Jan Betrand Latham-Koenig, (born 1953) is a British conductor. He was born in England, coming from French, Danish and Polish origins. He attended Highgate School and then studied at the Royal College of Music in London before he founded the K ...
,
Roland Bader Roland Bader (born 24 August 1938) is a German choral conductor and music director. He is the principal guest conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra and the Opera Krakowska, officially authorized as representative for their guest performan ...
set designers
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
such as
Tadeusz Kantor
Tadeusz Kantor (6 April 1915 – 8 December 1990) was a Polish painter, assemblage and Happenings artist, set designer and theatre director. Kantor is renowned for his revolutionary theatrical performances in Poland and abroad. Laureate of ...
,
Lidia Zamkow
Lidia Zamkow (1918–1982) was a Polish theatre actress and director.
Biography
Lidia Zamkow was born on 19 June or 15 July (sources vary), 1918 in Rostov-on-Don. Until 1939 she was studying at the National Institute of Theatre Arts in Warsaw ...
,
Józef Szajna
Józef Szajna (; 13 March 1922 in Rzeszów, Poland – 24 June 2008 in Warsaw) was a Polish set designer, director, playwright, theoretician of the theatre, painter and graphic artist.
During the Second World War and occupation of Poland, S ...
,
Krystyna Zachwatowicz
Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda (born Krystyna Zachwatowicz; 16 May 1930) is a Polish scenographer, costume designer and actress. She is a daughter of architect and restorer Jan Zachwatowicz and Maria Chodźko ''h.'' Kościesza, and wife of film dir ...
; and a plethora of opera singers, many of whom began their careers there, including
Teresa Żylis-Gara
Teresa Żylis-Gara (23 January 1930 – 28 August 2021) was a Polish operatic soprano who enjoyed a major international career from the 1950s through the 1990s.
She made her stage debut at the Opera Krakowska in 1958 in the title role of Moni ...
,
Wiesław Ochman
Wiesław Ochman (; born 6 February 1937) is a Polish tenor.
Life and career
In 1960, he graduated from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. Ochman began learning voice under the direction of Gustaw Serafin in Kraków (1955–1 ...
, and
Mariusz Kwiecień
Mariusz Kwiecień (, born 4 November 1972) is a Polish artistic director and retired operatic baritone who sang leading roles in the major opera houses of Europe and North America. He received particular distinction in the title role of Mozar ...
. The Opera Krakowska official website: "About us" /ref>
The new venue
For dozens of years, the Kraków Opera, now located at Lubicz 48 Street, lacked its own premises and instead used a number of concert venues in the city. The only permanent stage where the opera performances were staged for decades was the landmark
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre ( pl, Teatr im. Juliusza Słowackiego w Krakowie) is a 19th-century Eclectic theatre-opera house in the heart of Kraków, Poland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Erected in 1893, it was modeled after some of the best ...
in
Kraków Old Town
Kraków Old Town is the historic central district of Kraków, Poland.Ingrid GustafsonLet's Go: Eastern EuropePublished by Macmillan, page 444. Let's Go Publications, 2008. It is one of the most famous old districts in Poland today and was the c ...
. The construction of the new opera house which can seat 760 people started in 2004. The new house opened in the autumn of 2008.In the news: "New Krakow Opera House Opens" /ref>
The building of the new opera house was more expensive than originally thought. The ensuing dispute between the designer and the contractor who requested additional funds lasted for over two years. Among the reasons offered were the curtain walls for the office complex next door as well as the structural protection of other neighboring buildings. Romuald Loegler, designer of the opera, wrote letters attesting to his disagreement with the general contractor –
Gazeta Wyborcza
''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...
Long before the new opera house was unveiled, the Kraków Opera utilized historical interiors and landmark architecture in Kraków, as well as other cities, for staging its own performances. Groundbreaking productions in natural settings included the
Straszny Dwór
''The Haunted Manor'' ( pl, Straszny dwór) is an opera in four acts composed by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko in 1861–1864. The libretto was written by . Despite being a romance and a comedy, it has strong Polish patriotic undertones ...
opera performance at the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
Courtyard of the
Niepołomice Castle
Niepołomice Royal Castle is a Gothic castle from the mid-14th century, rebuilt in the Mannerism, late Renaissance style and called the ''second Wawel''. It is situated in Niepołomice, Poland and was extensively reconstructed in the 1990s.
Niepo ...
in 2002 and 2003;
Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...
was staged in the depths of the centuries-old
Wieliczka Salt Mine
The Wieliczka Salt Mine ( pl, Kopalnia soli Wieliczka) is a salt mine in the town of Wieliczka, near Kraków in southern Poland.
From Neolithic times, sodium chloride (table salt) was produced there from the upwelling brine. The Wieliczka salt ...
in 2003, while
Tosca
''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...
by
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
and Straszny Dwór (''The Haunted Manor'') by
Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuania ...
were performed against the arresting background of the
Wawel Castle
The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on ...
in 2005. The open-air performances included
Halka
''Halka'' is an opera by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. It is part of the canon of Polish national operas.
Performance history
The first perf ...
, offered at the Zakrzówek Nature Park in 2004; it was recognized by the some critics as the most important event of the entire season. More than five thousand people saw that opera. In the summertime, the Kraków Opera also used the open-air stage at the
Kraków Barbican
The Kraków Barbican ( pl, Barbakan Krakowski) is a barbican – a fortified outpost once connected to the city walls. It is a historic gateway leading into the Old Town of Kraków, Poland. The barbican is one of the few remaining relics of the ...
. The visual significance of the location enriched the impact of operatic music not only for the regular patrons, but also for the numerous tourists.
World famous soloists have visited the Kraków Opera's stage, including singers from the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
La Scala
La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. A number of noted Polish singers also performed there. The company's performers travel abroad every year to participate in special events and festivals in the
Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and as far as
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...