On June 20, the Mazowiecki Teatr Muzyczny organized the tenth anniversary Kiepura Gala Awards evening at the Warsaw Philharmonic. The evening was emceed by Director of the Mazowiecki Teatr Muzyczny, Alicja Węgorzewska, together with Marcin Cejrowski. PMC Director Marek Zebrowski served as a special guest award presenter for the event.

The evening began with a splendid fashion show spotlighting elaborate theatre costumes created by Warsaw Art Academy designers, who also received the Music Theatre Award for best stage costumes. Wiesław Rosocha received an award for the best poster design and Hanna Wójcikowska-Szymczak received an award for the best stage design.

Anna Lasota and Krzysztof Dzwoniarski received awards for best vocalist in a musical and Ms. Lasota was featured in a performance of “Don’t Cry for me, Argentina” from Evita, while Mr. Dzwoniarski was heard in an excerpt from Les Misérables. They were accompanied by the Gorzów Philiharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Monika Wolińska, who also provided backing for other artists, including Joanna Moskowicz (heard in Olympia’s Aria from Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman), Paweł Skałuba (who sang Stefan’s Aria from Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor), and Emil Ławecki (who performed Lenski’s Aria from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin).

Anna Lasota receiving her award.

In the dance category, the lauded artists included Mai Kageyama and Maxim Wojtiul, while Maciej Prus received the best director award. The best musical direction award went to Jakub Chrenowicz and the best choreography award to Jacek Tyski. The musical Cyrano, composed by Krzysztof Herdzin to a libretto by Jacek Bończyk was awarded the best show and the lifetime achievement award was given to the outstanding tenor, Ryszard Karczykowski. All award recipients were presented with a Kiepura statuette and a diploma.

After the intermission, Maestra Wolińska took to the podium to lead the Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra in selections from film music by Bronisław Kaper and Jan A. P. Kaczmarek. The repertoire heard at the Warsaw Philharmonic that night can be found on a superb CD recording, Bronisław Kaper/Jan A. P. Kaczmarek—Spotkanie, which was released in 2015 and is distributed by Warner Music Poland.

[Sources: niezalezna.plkulturaonline.plradiolodz.plnews.o.pldzienniklodzki.pl. Photos courtesy of Danuta Bodzek, Mazowiecki Teatr Muzyczny]