HALKA to Play at Moniuszko Auditorium

Halka, an opera in four acts, will play at Moniuszko Auditorium Feb. 11-23, 2020.

Moniuszko never visited the Tatra mountains, nor did he hear the native music of the Polish Highlands. He simply imagined it, creating a universal folk idiom from different elements of Polish folk music. And so, his opera about Highlanders quite surprisingly features a mazurka (which has since become one of those very Polish folk tunes that originated in the mind of a composer and then became popular among the actual folk), while the rather agreeable 'Highlander dances' are to highlander music what mozzarella is to oscypek.

The librettist, W?odzimierz Wolski, originally wanted the opera to be set in the region of Kielce, more than 200 km to the north of the Tatras... Still, the score is fresh and delightful, on a par with other operas written at the same time elsewhere in the world, as evidenced by the recent performance of Halka in Italian by a lineup of international singers and the legendary Europa Galante under Fabio Biondi.

Although it was written almost half a century earlier, Jontek's aria Szumi? jod?y (The fir trees sigh on mountain peaks) is our E lucevan e stelle - a gem of Polish vocal literature that gives delighted audiences goosebumps.

Overall, this story of a tragic mésalliance echoing with underlying social tensions seems to be an operatic evergreen. The new production from the award-winning director Mariusz Treli?ski will undoubtedly address the important issues of the day.

The opera's cast features; Krzysztof Szumanski as "Stolnik," Maria Stasiak as "Zofia," Dariusz Machej as "Dziemba," Tomasz Rak as "Janusz," Piotr Beczala as "Jontek" and Izabela Matula as "Halka."

The creative team includes: Lukasz Borowicz (Conductor), Mariusz Trelinski (Director), Boris Kudlicka (Set Designer), Dorota Roqueplo (Costume Designer), Marc Heinz (Lighting Designer) and Tomasz Jan Wygoda (Choreographer).

For more information and tickets to Halka, tap here.