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Poland's Musical Innovation And Heritage Comes to Carnegie Hall, Today
By: BWW
News Desk Nov. 14, 2018
The Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera presents the North American premiere of its heralded Voices of the Mountains program at Carnegie Hall in New York in a one-night-only performance on November 14, 2018. Voices of the Mountains is a multimedia concert inspired by the music of the Polish Highlands and featuring projections based on photos taken by Polish composer Mieczys?aw Kar?owicz. Conceived by Waldemar D?browski, General Director of Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera, Voices of the Mountains takes the audience on a musical journey of the Polish Highlands through chamber and vocal music by some of Poland's most revered composers, including Wojciech Kilar, Karol Szymanowski, Henryk Miko?aj Górecki, and Frederic Chopin, in arrangements by the young Polish composer Jan Smoczy?ski, as well as traditional Highland melodies performed by Polish folk musicians.
The concert event melds Poland's cultural history with its future, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Poland's Independence on November 11, 2018.
Teatr Wielki first presented the popular Voices of the Mountains in Warsaw in 2011, and has brought it back every season since for sold-out performances.
Waldemar D?browski, General Director of Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera, said:
"Voices of the Mountains is a unique project in the repertoire of the Polish National Opera. Sitting in the auditorium, you get a primeval feeling of being a part of an extraordinary meeting between musicians belonging to different aesthetic universes. The concert fuses the organic sound of folk instruments and great creations by classical composers who were fascinated with the Tatra Mountains and the culture of the Podhale region. Presented at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw and several prestigious venues internationally, Voices of the Mountains has never failed to enchant its audience. The musical splendor, virtuosity of performers, and metaphysical climate transports the listener to a world of true beauty."
The works featured in Voices of the Mountains are performed in modern arrangements by Polish composer Jan Smoczy?ski who fuses folk, classical, and jazz music alongside traditional melodies of the Polish Highlands. Projections depicting the majestic and awe-inspiring Tatra Mountains were adapted from photographs of the region taken by Polish composer Mieczys?aw Kar?owicz and form the atmospheric backdrop for this multimedia concert.
Voices of the Mountains brings together some of Poland's most celebrated ensembles and musicians, including Sebastian Karpiel-Bu?ecka's Highlanders Quartet specializing in folk music of the Polish Highlands using traditional instruments, Atom String Quartet, an internationally-renowned Polish jazz quartet, and NEO String Quartet, Poland's premier ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music. In addition to composing the modern arrangements performed on the program, Jan Smoczy?ski will be featured on the keyboard joined by Jan M?ynarski on drums and Andrzej ?wi?s on double-bass. Polish pianist Janusz Olejniczak, who was featured on the soundtrack to Roman Pola?ski's Oscar-winning film The Pianist and as Chopin in ?u?awski's La note bleue, will also perform. The esteemed Polish composer and conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk will conduct.
Following this one-night-only performance of Voices of the Mountains, Teatr Wielki will again be represented in New York when the Metropolitan Opera revives Teatr Wielki's acclaimed double-bill production of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle. The revival production - directed by Mariusz Treli?ski, Artistic Director of Teatr Wielki, and starring Sonya Yoncheva as Iolanta and Gerald Finley as Bluebeard - will run for six performances, January 24 through February 14, 2019.
Teatr Wielki's Voices of the Mountains at Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
57th Street and Seventh Avenue
New York, NY
November 14, 2018
8:00 p.m.
Conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk
Concept and script: Waldemar D?browski, Janusz Olejniczak, Jolanta Trykacz
Music director: Janusz Olejniczak
Music arranged by: Jan Smoczy?ski
Executive producer and project coordinator: 2T Vision Promotion sp. z o.o.
Jan Smoczy?ski, keyboard instruments
Sebastian Karpiel-Bu?ecka's Highlanders Quartet
Atom String Quartet
NEO String Quartet
Jan M?ynarski, drums
Andrzej ?wi?s, double bass
Krzysztof Kuzbik, sound support
Piotr Kamil Ponsko, animation support
PROGRAM
Traditional Highland Melodies
KILAR Piano Concerto
CHOPIN Lulaj
GÓRECKI Piano Concerto, Op. 40
Traditional Highland Melodies
SZYMANOWSKI Mazurka, Op. 50, No. 1
Mazurka, Op. 50, No. 2
MATEUSZ SMOCZY?SKI Zakopane
KILAR Orawa
For more information on Voices of the Mountains, click here.
For ticket information on Voices of the Mountains at Carnegie Hall, click here.
For tickets to Voices of the Mountains:
Carnegie Hall Box Office
57th Street and Seventh Avenue
Monday through Saturday, 11 AM-6 PM
Sunday, 12 PM-6 PM
CarnegieCharge: 212-247-7800
Monday through Sunday, 8 AM-8 PM
ABOUT TEATR WIELKI
Warsaw's Teatr Wielki is Poland's leading opera, ballet, and concert venue, and one of the largest theatres in the world. First erected in the first half of the 19th century in the heart of Warsaw, it was almost completely destroyed during World War II. After extensive restoration, the theatre reopened in 1965 as one of the most opulent and best-equipped theatres in Europe.
The Polish National Opera is helmed by Waldemar D?browski, an award-winning arts administrator, former Polish Minister of Culture, and member of the Board of Opera Europa. Leading the Polish National Ballet is Krzysztof Pastor, formerly a resident choreographer of the Dutch National Ballet and the Washington Ballet, whose pieces have been staged by companies such as West Australian Ballet, Chicago's Joffrey Ballet, the Israel Ballet, the Hong Kong Ballet, and the Scottish Ballet.
The Polish National Opera's artistic director is Mariusz Treli?ski, a world-class opera director and winner of the 2018 International Opera Award. His production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde opened the Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, while his Iolanta/The Bluebeard's Castle returns to the Met in the 2018-19 season.
Each season, the Polish National Opera and the Polish National Ballet present first-rate performances, many developed in collaboration with international partners. Teatr Wielki's productions have travelled to nearly every continent, including such prestigious venues as the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, English National Opera, and the Bregenz and Baden-Baden festivals.
Teatr Wielki houses Poland's first theatre museum, a contemporary art gallery showcasing 20th Century Polish painters, and an opera studio for emerging singers and répétiteurs. Every year, the venue hosts festivals, galas, concerts, special events, and official commemorations, such as the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Poland's Independence in 2018.
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