The Forest Opera ( pl, Opera Leśna, german: Waldoper) is an open-air

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

located in

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest ci ...

, Poland, with a capacity of 5047 seats, the orchestra pit can contain up to 110 musicians.

History

Built in 1909 (when the location was part of Germany), the amphitheatre is used for various entertainment events and shows, including

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 libr ...

performances and song festivals. After World War I and almost till end of World War II it was a place of operatic festivals (''Zoppot Festspiele'') and Sopot was recognized throughout Europe and frequently labelled as ''the

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital o ...

of the North''. During that time, mostly

Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

operas and his music dramas were performed regularly each year. After World War II the

Baltic State Opera Baltic State Opera Foyer Baltic Opera (formerly Baltic State Opera) is an opera company located in Gdańsk, Poland. History It began in February 1949 as the Music and Drama Studio (in Polish: Studio Muzyczno-Dramatyczne) set up by Iwo Gall. In ...

held few performances each year at the Forest Opera between 1962 and 1977 (''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

'' in 1962, ''

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 ...

'' in 1964, ''

Der Zigeunerbaron ''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Joka ...

'' in 1965, ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'' in 1968, ''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original li ...

'' in 1977), and sporadically outside this range (''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...

'' in 2000). Each year, starting from 1964 (with some interruption in the early 1980s), the

Sopot International Song Festival The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival (later called ''Sopot Music Festival Grand Prix'', ''Sopot Top of the Top Festival'' from 2012–13 and ''Polsat Sopot Festival'' in 2014) is an annual international song contest held in S ...

takes place at the Forest Opera, events being organizsd by the Ministry of Culture and Art in cooperation with the Polish Artistic Agency (PAGART). It was a music event transmitted to the

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

countries via television. Starting in 1994

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; "Polish Television"; TVP), also known in English as the public Polish Television is a Polish state media corporation. It is the largest Polish television network, although viewership has been declining in the 2010s. Sinc ...

(TVP) became the producer of the festival. The Forest Opera hosted the 1991 edition of the

Miss Polski Miss Polski is a national beauty pageant in Poland to select the official ambassador of Poland at the Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Supranational pageants. This pageant is one of famous Polish national pageant after Miss Polonia ...

beauty pageant on 19 July 1991, and was also the venue of

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...

's only live concert in Poland, held on 22 August 1999 as part of her '' My Love Is Your Love World Tour''. On 28 June 2001, the

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Ra ...

Orchestra under

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

gave a concert at the Forest Opera. An attempt was made to reactivate the Sopot Wagner Festival on the 100th anniversary of the Forest Opera's creation (20 July 2009), with the special event of a single concert performance of ''

Das Rheingold ''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National ...

'', conducted by Jan Latham-Konig – for the first time since the end of the 1930s. The announced intention of the organizers is staging the remaining parts of ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...

'' in Sopot (including some of them in the Forest Opera) within the next few years. Starting in the fall of 2009 Sopot Forest Opera underwent extensive renovation and modernization.

Performances in ''Zoppot Festspiele''

Plakat Erstes Zoppoter Waldfestspiel 1909

Sources

''The Bayreuth of the North'' by Einhard Luther, in ''Opera'' (Autumn, 1966), 7.
BART Artistic Agency

References

External links

{{authority control Amphitheaters Opera houses in Poland Resort architecture in Pomerania Sopot International Song Festival Buildings and structures in Sopot Tourist attractions in Pomeranian Voivodeship Music venues completed in 1909 1909 establishments in Germany