Directed by Mariusz Treliński and designed by Boris Kudlička, this production of Madama Butterfly premiered over a quarter of a century ago, in 1999. It was an epoch-making performance. Just like Emperor Meiji modernised Japan at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Treliński and Kudlička revolutionised the idiom of Polish opera. Coincidentally, the Meiji era (1868–1912) is when the story of Madame Butterfly is set – the libretto cites the year 1904. The period saw Japan’s transformation from a feudal state dominated by the Tokugawa shogunate into a modern country with a thriving economy and culture. Treliński and Kudlička’s achievement was an event of similar magnitude for Polish (and international) opera. Owing to their imaginativeness and sensitivity, the two artists paved the way for the introduction of a more accessible and universal language into contemporary opera directing. The production is not just a story about Butterfly’s love or a study of the clash between two cultures; it is a token of cultural transformation.

Madama Butterfly

Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera

The story of Romeo and Juliet is one of the best-known cultural tropes reproduced in theatre, musical, and film. Composers discovered the power of the Verona lovers’ tragedy already in the 19th century. One of them was the prominent French composer Charles Gounod, who wrote sacred music, oratorios, songs, and fared well on the operatic scene. Romeo and Juliet is his most popular work for the stage, alongside Faust. The opera won acclaim immediately after its premiere at the1867 Paris Exposition, quickly gaining renown in Europe as well as the United States.

Romeo and Juliet

An opera about Auschwitz seemed unimaginable. And yet, it did. It was composed by Mieczysław Weinberg, a Polish-Jewish Varsovian who lost his family in the camp and of whom the opera's director, David Pountney, said that he "spent his life creating music in memory of his lost loved ones." Weinberg was inspired by the novel The Passenger (1962) by Zofia Posmysz. The author survived the camp. The decision to bear witness to the cruelty of the Holocaust was obvious to her. The Passenger describes a voyage on a luxury ocean liner, during which the Polish woman Marta recognizes the elegant woman, Lisa, an SS overseer from Auschwitz (the German woman's real name is Annelise Franz). Weinberg's music, in keeping with the action, is diverse, realistic, and symbolic at once; different when it accompanies conversations in the sun on the ship's deck, with the orchestra playing for the passengers to dance to, and different when the hell of Auschwitz unfolds below deck. The prisoners are of different nationalities, so their solo singing, as well as the seven-voice Song of Life and Death , is multilingual. The prisoners ' Requiem for the Black Wall echoes with the bell, Bach's Chaconne , and the camp orchestra. Weinberg's The Passenger, completed in 1968 in the Soviet Union, could not be performed there because its content was too reminiscent of Soviet labor camps. Only in 2006, after the composer's death, was it performed in Moscow in concert. Did staging an opera about Auschwitz seem impossible? And yet, it was. David Pountney produced it in 2010. First, there was the Bregenz Festival and Warsaw. Then London, Houston, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Florida. And everywhere, every time: a stage bisected by light and sound. A cheerful, prosperous Europe. And the hell of the Holocaust. Its memory endures. The world cannot forget.

Passenger

Since the premiere of the Warsaw version of Halka in 1858, Stanisław Moniuszko's opera has enjoyed cult status. The story of a highlander's unhappy love for a young master remains one of the most important artifacts of Polish (pop) culture. The opera's extraordinary success stems from its skillful blend of spectacular spectacle with important social themes, primarily class exclusion. After all, the tragic ending of the love story is linked to misplaced love – Halka and Janusz are separated by a gulf of social class differences.

Halka

The story of Cio-Cio-San is one of Giacomo Puccini's most beautiful love operas. And to think, the premiere of this production in 1904 at La Scala in Milan was one of the composer's most bitter experiences. The atmosphere in the audience was unbearable. The audience chanted "La Bohème!!!" – accusing the composer of duplicating musical passages, booed, and yawned loudly. The performance was a complete failure. Critics also lambasted the composer. Only after several changes were made and a performance at the Teatro Grande in Brescia did the opera triumph. Seven encores were required, and from then on, it has been a popular addition to the repertoire of opera houses around the world.

Bartosz Kieszkowski

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 22 - Nov 21, 2026

Madama Butterfly · Polish National Opera

Past events

Oct 22 - Nov 21, 2026

Madama Butterfly · Polish National Opera

Oct 2 - Nov 8, 2026

Romeo and Juliet · Polish National Opera

Future and recently performed repertoire

Bonzo in Madame Butterfly by Puccini

Polish National Opera

Bonzo in Madama Butterfly by Puccini

Polish National Opera

Frère Jean in Romeo and Juliet by Gounod

Polish National Opera

2. SS man in The Passenger by Weinberg

Polish National Opera

Piper in Halka by Moniuszko

Polish National Opera

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