The Krakow Opera Yesterday and Today

The tradition of Opera Theatre in Krakow is over two hundred years old. It has been preserved through decades, with varying success, by numerous enthusiasts driven by artistic and organisational ambitions, as well as simply by the love of music. Their efforts did not lead, however, to bring an opera scene into being, although the Royal City often resounded to magnificent movements from Halka, Carmen or Faust. And in the best renditions!

There were approximately 250 premiere performances, including remarkable ones, which enter into the Operatic history in Poland. Their creators are part of Polish and global cultural heritage. The Opera ensemble was conducted by such outstanding personalities as Kazimierz Kord or Robert Satanowski . The performers included world class singers as magnificent as Teresa Żylis-Gara, Jadwiga Romańska, Jadwiga Rappé and Wiesław Ochman. Among the producers there were such names as Kazimierz Dejmek, Helmut Kajzar, Tadeusz Kantor, Władysław Krzemiński, Józef Szajna . They were accompanied by top Polish set designers, such as Wojciech Krakowski, Andrzej Majewski, Lidia and Jerzy Skarżyński, Andrzej Stopka, Kazimierz Wiśniak and Krystyna Zachwatowicz.

The new Opera facility was built between 2004 and 2008 and financed with European Union funds, with the aid of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The new stage was inaugurated on 13 December 2008 with the premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Devils of Loudun directed by Laco Adamik and conducted by Andrzej Straszyński.

With its own venue, the Krakow Opera expands its activity, and its artistic offer gains high opinions and common recognition.

The doubtless strength of the Krakow Opera is the professionalism of the performers and producers. The group of singers who cooperate with us is made up of world’s and Europe’s renowned performers and there are soloists in our regular team including Małgorzata Walewska, Mariusz Kwiecień, Andrzej Dobber and Łukasz Borowicz, whose talents lead to the most prestigious music places in the world like La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera. The team of producers – conductors, directors, set designers and choreographers – are outstanding authors of music theatre and the quality of their work was successfully verified by the Polish and various international audiences.

The Krakow Opera’s current running repertoire includes over twenty titles. These are the works of Polish composers and the world’s classics, as well as ballet performances and performances addressed to children. During the season, the Krakow Opera Theatre opens for the audience around two hundred times and supplements its repertoire with concerts, guest performances of other theatres as well as meetings with the Opera composers and creators. Each year, the Opera organises also a Summer Festival and presents its own performances, eirther in the open-air or in the historic interiors of Krakow and its neighbourhoods. The spectacles at the Wawel Royal Castle are already a tradition. The Krakow Opera is favourably disposed towards artistic initiatives. Stage – Opera Studio favours unconventional forms of music and artistic experiments. Grateful to its audience for their presence, loyalty and so warm acceptance, the Krakow Opera constantly tries to elevate the quality of its artistic offer in order to meet the high expectations of the contemporary, sensitive recipients.