QUDSJA ZAHER at Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa, Moniuszko Auditorium

One of the most anticipated pieces of contemporary Polish music in recent years, commissioned by the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. Qudsja Zaher is a story happening, like a myth, today and 1000 years ago, under the water and on the stage, in the imagination and in the heart, in the ears and within the soul. It comprises a sorely beautiful, touching wave of music by Pawe? Szyma?ski; the poetic world of theatrical metaphors created by Eimuntas Nekrošius, who teaches an unusual lesson on how to direct music,
and music alone; the documentary-like concreteness of Maciej J. Drygas – here the librettist, otherwise one of the most interesting Polish documentary film makers; the insightful and sensitive hand of conductor Wojciech
Michniewski, who brings out what is the most delicate in the TW-PNO orchestra; phenomenal rapping by the Warsaw Boys’ Choir. Finally: a woman’s lamentation – performed by the unparalleled Olga Pasiecznik (the score was composed with her in mind) or Katarzyna Trylnik – from which the
phrase “Greetings to you, death!” remains with us until the end. Forever.