The World Première of the new opera by Eugeniusz Knapik will be held on June 25 in the Teatr Wielki -Opera Narodowa [Grand Theater – National Opera] in Warsaw as a part of the Terytoria series. With a libretto by Krzysztof Koehler based on Herman Melville’s novel, Knapik’s Moby Dick will be directed by Barbara Wysocka, and the National Opera Orchestra will be conducted by Gabriel Chmura.
The composer himself calls this opus a mystery opera. “From the beginning I knew that it wouldn’t be a typical opera, but some kind of a show” – he explains in an interview with Magdalena Stochniol. Read the full interview in English at pwm.com.pl.
Eugeniusz Knapik is one of the most important contemporary Polish composers, a student of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, a classicist of modernity. His opera trilogy, created in collaboration with the great Flemish director Jan Fabre (The Minds of Helena Troubleyn), dazzled opera audiences some years ago. Moby Dick (1851) is the legendary novel by American writer Hermann Melville, the story of Ishmael who, after several voyages on merchant ships, decides to go on a whaling expedition. The skipper is the mysterious and grim Captain Ahab whose sole purpose is to take revenge on a legendary white whale. Is this pure madness? Or dreams coming true? Transcending the boundaries of life and death? The world premiere of this opera commissioned by the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera is being staged by Barbara Wysocka, a recipient of the Polityka Passport award for her production of The Fall of the House of Usher by Glass.
[Sources: pwm.com.pl, teatrwielki.pl]