| Under the leadership of artistic director Placido Domingo, The Washington
Opera’s artistic vision features a growing list of internationally renowned singers,
directors, conductors, and designers. The 2001 – 2002 season presents eight grand
operas, among them the first Polish opera production brought to the United States, a
glorious account of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly from Teatr Wielki –
Opera Narodowa (Grand Theatre – National Opera) in Warsaw. This production marks an
important new stage in the Teatr Wielki relationship with the Washington area opera
community, which began in 1999 when Polish tenor Wiesław Ochman appeared in our
production of Boris Godunov.The entire production is directed by Mariusz
Treliński, best known for his work in film and television, a student of Poland’s State
School of Film, Television and Theatre. His film Farewell to Autumn premiered in
1990 at the Venice Film Festival. |
It won the Andrzej
Munk Award and a Minister of Culture and Art Award for best debut of year. Treliński made
his opera debut with Elżbieta Sikora’s The Heart Snatcher at Warsaw’s Teatr
Wielki in 1995. In addition to Madama Butterfly, he staged Karol Szymanowski’s King
Roger last year, and won the 2001 Karol Szymanowski Award for his innovation in
theatrical production.
One of the world’s most popular operas, the production from Teatr Wielki – Opera
Narodowa is both stunning and innovative. Butterfly was most loved by Puccini of all his
many heroins. For her he" wrote music in the night” and created one of the greatest
roles in opera, and on her story he lavished his most haunting, poignant, soaring music.
Three highly acclaimed sopranos: Catherine Malfitano, Veronica Villarroel and Sun Xiu Wei
share this extraordinary role. Polish tenor Dariusz Stachura, who made his operatic debut
as Lensky in Eugene Onegin at the Łódź Opera, and Marcus Haddock, who appeared
in Washington Opera productions La Rondine and Tosca, share the role of the
caddish B.F. Pinkerton.
The Washington Opera will stage ten performances of Madama Butterfly in the Opera House
of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from October 27 through November
17,2001. |
