Name: Madama Butterfly
Start: 2026-11-21T19:00:00
Location: Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera

Szymon Mechliński

Mateusz Zajdel

Piotr Jaworski

Bartosz Kieszkowski

Aytaj Shikhalizada

Joanna Zawartko

Dumitru Mîțu

Paweł Grabarczyk

Boris Kudlička

Stanisław Zięba

Emil Wesołowski

Mariusz Treliński

Polish National Opera

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

This triple bill showcases neoclassical ballet at its purest. Last season, the programme embraced pieces by three generations of choreographers, George Balanchine, Toer van Schayk, and Edward Clug, who turned to the music by Beethoven, Chopin, and Bizet. Each choreography had its own unmistakable appeal and was enthusiastically received by the audience. This season, the triple bill returns with even greater emotional resonance. Symphony of Dance: An Encore opens with Balanchine’s Symphony in C to Bizet’s music. The spectacular symphony of dance by the father of neoclassical ballet is followed by Edward Clug’s more subdued piece, fittingly titled Ssss… Set to Chopin’s nocturnes, the work provides a shift in mood from nostalgic to pensive. Finally, the programme culminates with Krzysztof Pastor’s choreography to Ravel’s Bolero. The piece needs no special recommendation: it is an explosion of passion and an apotheosis of rhythm that rouses, captivates, and hypnotises.

Symphony of Dance: an encore

The new initiative of Krzysztof Pastor, Director of the Polish National Ballet seeks to bridge the gap between ballet school training and the demands of professional ballet companies. PNB’s newly created, 10-person strong junior company will work separately from the major company for a year or two to hone their artistic and technical skills and attain the qualifications needed to join PNB or another Polish ballet company as a professional dancer. The junior dancers will be offered special coaching from PNB’s experienced artists and master classes led by international ballet masters. They will present their own artistic programmes on our small stage and subsequently in other Polish theatres, as well as take part in the major company’s daily programme and shows.

Juvenalia 5

The Dresden premiere of Richard Strauss’s Salome in 1905 was a shock to the public. As the basis for the libretto, the composer used Oscar Wilde’s play, which had already been banned in a few countries. The playwright drew inspiration from a brief biblical passage about Herod’s step-daughter. Wilde not only gave her a name but made her a fully-fledged character. Salome's appeal is irresistible to the entire court, including her stepfather. There is, however, one person who remains unmoved by her charms: the prophet Jochanaan, who is being held captive by Herod. Salome does not give up. When she fails to win Jochanaan’s favour, she resolves to achieve her goal by other means. Through the Dance of the Seven Veils, she manages to persuade Herod to grant her wish: the prophet’s head, served on a platter. She triumphs, kissing Jochanaan's dead lips, yet she will have to pay the ultimate price for her victory.

Salome

This selection of songs by Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and Eugeniusz Morawski-Dąbrowa paints a coherent, multifaceted portrait of turn-of-the-century music. During this era, the art song evolved from an intimate form into a powerful, psychologically charged poem.

Strauss, Mahler, Morawski-Dąbrowa

Verdi’s final work is commonly perceived as a joyful comedy about a fat boozer who cynically seduces two women and gets severely punished for it. Only once you read into the Shakespearian original and carefully analyse the extraordinary richness of the opera’s musical motifs, you get to the bottom of the mysterious work, consciously written by the aged composer as a farewell to his momentous oeuvre, impressive life, and the mortal world, which he ironically summed up as the Creator’s painful joke played on humans and their endeavours.

Falstaff

The story is simple and full of charm. A young woman named Swanhilda notices her fiancé, Franz, hanging around under Doctor Coppélius’s windows, trying to woo the inventor’s supposed daughter. In a fit of jealousy, Swanhilda discovers that Coppélia is just a mechanical doll and decides to mock the inventor and teach her sweetheart a lesson. Associated with the Paris Opera, the creators of Coppélia employed this comedic intrigue to develop what turned out to be one of the most popular ballets of the 19th century. The events unfold in a Polish town in Austrian-occupied Galicia, which is reflected in the score, with a beautiful Delibes mazurka and other familiar musical motifs. Coppélia was staged multiple times, with some versions being performed on our stage. Most recently, the ballet was presented in Warsaw 50 years ago in a version by Russia’s Asaf Messerer. This production is choreographed by Manuel Legris, the former principal dancer of the Paris Opera Ballet, who went on to lead the Vienna State Ballet and La Scala Theatre Ballet. Warsaw audiences undoubtedly remember him from his staging of Le Corsaire. Now, Legris is developing his take on Coppélia especially for the Teatr Wielki. It promises to be a treat for lovers of classical ballet and our new family performance.

Coppélia

The end and beginning of the year have a special energy in the world of music. It is a time of rituals, excitement, and programmes put together with panache. The New Year concerts at Vienna’s Musikverein attract audiences with their long-established tradition: listeners know when to clap in time to Johann Strauss I’s Radetzky March and when to let themselves be carried away by the undulating melody of Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube. London’s Last Night of the Proms wows with its dazzling repertoire and Edward Elgar’s ever-present Land of Hope and Glory. Season finales, on the other hand, tend to be a showcase of the entire ensemble’s prowess – a moment when institutions turn to a repertoire that is particularly spectacular and engaging.

New Year's Eve Gala

Not unlike Picasso or Klimt, Puccini painted a series of fascinating and multifaceted female portraits. His Manon, Mimi, Tosca, Cio-Cio-San, Magda, and the seemingly frigid Turandot who secretly pines for love, continue to spellbind opera audiences across the world. As time goes by, the characters do not lose any of their distinct flavour, appeal, and relevance, although their stories are set is long-gone realities. Ever since its 1900 premiere at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, Tosca has sold-out nearly everywhere it was put on. The tragic love story involving blackmail, cruelty, different dimensions of humanity and its lack, crime, and amoral attitudes fascinates audiences that become engulfed by this deadly love tornado.

Tosca

New Year's Concert

The story of Káťa Kabanova might seem simple at first glance. A young woman living in an unhappy marriage and suffering abuse from her mother-in-law gets involved in an affair. Hounded by her guilty conscience, she eventually confesses her betrayal to her husband and commits suicide. Although factually accurate, this brief synopsis does not convey the opera's psychological complexity.

Káťa Kabanová

Italy is the world’s leading exporter of beauty in all its forms, including architecture, music, and the creative arts. This production of Rigoletto, directed by Gilberto Deflo and designed by Ezio Frigerio, should be featured on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The dazzling music conveys a range of emotions, from joie de vivre to passion, despair, and mourning. The production is also a glowing tribute to stagecraft. The Duke of Mantua’s fabulous palace appears onstage only for a quarter of an hour, but its execution is timelessly beautiful. During the interval, the Polish National Opera’s well-coordinated technical crew carefully dismantles the ducal residence’s breathtaking stained glass, so that the audience can immerse themselves in a different mood in the subsequent act with the memory of the palace’s opulence still fresh in their minds. Once the curtain goes up again, the astonished public watches the stage being flooded with pouring rain… Nowadays, it is extremely rare to witness an opera staging that is both faithful to its era and genuinely compelling. This is classic opera at its best.