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Roman Statkowski's "Maria" on the Stage of the Baltic Opera
2013-08-21
Already on 25 August, as part of the Solidarity of Arts Festival, the premiere of Roman Statkowski's opera, „Maria” will take place, performed by artists from the Baltic Opera. The next shows will be 27 and 29 August. Łukasz Borowicz took on the direction of the musical side of the project and Michael Gieleta the staging. In the lead role we hear Izabela Matuła, as Wacław – Paweł Skałuba, while for Miecznik – Leszek Skrla. The soloists will be accompanied by the Bałtycki Teatr Tańca and the Choir and Orchestra of the Baltic Opera conducted by Łukasz Borowicz.Marek Weiss said about the circumstances surrounding the preparation for the Gdańsk premiere:
"When the tireless explorer of forgotten Polish works, Łukasz Borowicz, recorded a CD with Roman Statkowski's opera Maria, whose libretto is based on a romantic poem by Antoni Malczewski, I decided to present this work as soon as possible in the Baltic Opera. I imagined the difficulty in putting the borderland climates of distant times on the stage and I thought about a staging in the spirit Moniuszko, Sienkiewicz and Matejko, dedicated 'to uplifting hearts'. I think that from time to time, there should be noble images on our stages, in spite of all fashions and trends. It would take along time for me to explain why I still think so, even though I myself often move old libretti to contemporary realities.
And here a very promising English director with Polish roots, Michael Gieleta, anticipated my intention and presented Maria at the very interesting Irish opera festival in Wexford, where his bravura staging was met with great success. Alert, as ever in such cases where Polish art is appreciated in the wider world, Paweł Potoroczyn, director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, convinced me that it is worth showing this performance in Gdańsk and helped us establish close and productive collaboration with Wexford in this matter.
Since the staging refers directly to martial law and Gdańsk realities, it seemed to us reasonable to suggest the premiere as one of the events of the festival 'Solidarity of Arts', which for yet another year will build bridges between different types of artistic activity, between historical divisions and world view orientations, and whose name, thought out by the undersigned, aimed to restore the proper meaning of the word, once so sacred to us, SOLIDARITY. "
http://www.operabaltycka.pl/pl/spektakl/maria
http://solidarityofarts.pl/view/page/id/23/title/Maria%3A+opera+Romana+Statkowskiego+z+1903+roku
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