This year’s Solidarity of Arts Festival features the Polish premiere of the production of Roman Statkowski’s opera Maria directed by Michael Gieleta. The event takes place under the patronage of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
In 1904, the composer Roman Statkowski participated in a contest announced by the Warsaw Philharmonic, for a work setting a libretto based on Antoni Malczewski’s poem Maria. Until two years ago, his winning opera to his own libretto had been produced only six times and only in Poland. Then it returned to the stage at the Irish Wexford Opera Festival, one of the distinct festivals in the world of opera, which often reintroduces forgotten works to the scene.
Maria is the 17th-century story of a family tragedy on the frontier of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A father’s desire for power and wealth takes precedent over the happiness of his son, leading the father to plot the murder of his son’s wife in order to change his fortune. The pessimistic plot concludes with a message that true love can overcome death and mock evil.
The Wexford production in 2011 had premiered Statkowski’s work under the Polish director Michael Gieleta. Under Gieleta’s direction, Maria takes place in the Gdańsk shipyards during the 80s to offer a unique image of the Solidarity era. "It’s very interesting and even thrilling at times, this resurrected and forgotten work", said Michael Dervan, a music critic for The Irish Times. The production was nominated in the category for Best Opera for the 2011 Irish Times Theatre Awards.
Polish audiences now have the opportunity to see this show for the first time at the 2013 edition of the Solidarity of Arts Festival in Gdańsk.
For more information about the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and its projects, visit: http://iam.pl/en
Sources: press materials, Culture.pl. Author. SW, 6/08/2013
Translation: SMG, 7/08/2013