The Naturalists of Capella Cracoviensis BY Joanna TargońMusic ‘The Naturalists’ is no outdoor concert. The idea is simple – singing romantic songs about nature while trekking through a picturesque forest
CRAFTSMEN OF CULTURE:The Show Must go On Talk with Teresa KrasnodębskaMusic Half an hour before a premiere I paint my nails. Some elegant colour, no greens or dots. This particular activity requires me to be absolutely calm – interview with a stage manager at the National Opera in Warsaw
And We Break Down Ourselves BY Joanna RoszakMusic Coetzee’s libretto doesn’t span the entirety of the book; together with composer Nicolas Lens, the author shifts his focus to three characters, whom director Maja Kleczewska describes as ‘suspended in lasting’ – Joanna Roszak on Coetzee and Lens’ ‘Slow Man’
The Only Thing Shocking Left in Theatre Talk with Stephen WadsworthMusic You can make King Roger not gay or gay, you can be just as open as you want to be, but this sensual awareness is one aspect of the piece you can’t get away from – Stephen Wadsworth speaks about intimacy and directing ‘King Roger’, which premiered 21 July 2012 in the Santa Fe Opera
Fear of Man BY Tomasz CyzMusic The sound of Poppea is subtle and airy; thanks to the perfection of Sylvain Cambreling and Klangforum Wien, the piece is like a fine cobweb – ‘L’incoronazione di Poppea’ directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski in Madrid
Everything in Opera Leaves a Mark Talk with Krzysztof WarlikowskiMusic Premiering a drama production leaves me wondering what it is that I want to talk about in my next piece. I don’t really know anything about the next subject or work that I’d like to or could direct. Unlike the opera, which opens up a world of opportunities
The Turbulent Lifeof Madame Curie Talk with Elżbieta Sikora, Marek WeissMusic ‘I didn’t want Marie Curie to be that figure we all know from our school textbooks. I wanted to depict her as a real, live person and a woman at that.’ – composer Elżbieta Sikora and director Marek Weiss talk about ‘Madame Curie’
White Boy From an Artistic Family Talk with Jan KomasaFilm We live in a society where the number of suicides is rising in direct proportion to the number of psychologists
Beczała and Borowicz, Slavic Opera Arias BY Tomasz CyzMusic Beczała is passionate (as Dvořák’s Prince), enamoured (Lensky), full of longing (Stefan), dreaming (Jontek), wild joy (Hermann)
A Black Wall BY Dariusz CzajaMusic So, an opera about Auschwitz. Let’s say that one more time, out loud. An opera. About Auschwitz. A mind-boggling thing. Something that could be situated halfway between impossibility and impropriety
Xenakis – the Punk Talk with Michał ZadaraTheatre I didn’t really know Xenakis before, but it turned out that he touches the precise parts of my sensitivity that until recently were satisfied by other music, such as punk and avant-garde. His music comes from the same source as punk music, while being ahead of it, like every avant-garde
War Children.The Heart of Darkness BY Tomasz CyzTheatre Jan Kott wrote that in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, history is shown as a nightmare, something that shocks and terrifies; that it is opaque like a nightmare. ‘And, like in a nightmare, everyone gets bogged down in it.’ In Warlikowski’s ‘Macbeth’, this nightmare seems to have no end. Nor a beginning
