- Street: ul. Nowogrodzka 49
- Postcode and town: 00-695 Warszawa
- Mail: sekretariat@operakrolewska.pl
- Phone number: (+48 22) 511 59 00
- Website: operakrolewska.pl
The Polish Royal Opera started its activity as a new state cultural institution on 1 August 2017, by virtue of the Ordinance of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of 25 July 2017 . The opera was formed in order to meet the strong demand for a new chamber opera house vocalized by the musicians and music lovers community. Ryszard Peryt became the first director of the Polish Royal Opera. Now this position is occupied by Andrzej Klimczak, who has participated in the organization and development of the Opera from the very beginning.
The activity of the Polish Royal Opera is based on three pillars. The main one are new productions of the greatest period operas, especially Baroque and Classicist works. Another important task for the Opera is to bring back the abundant, and often forgotten, Polish repertoire: operas, but also vocal and instrumental pieces. Apart from opera productions, the institution is also active when it comes to concerts. Period and modern compositions, chamber and symphonic works are presented with care for the highest possible level of performance, so as to offer the audience the sound possibly closest to the original.
In order to fulfil all the above goals, the Polish Royal Opera employs a permanent team of great artists. Apart from the extraordinary soloists, the chorus and the orchestra, the Opera has its own period instruments ensemble, the Capella Regia Polona. The Opera also invites top-class artists of the Polish and international scene – soloists, conductors, and directors – to participate in individual opera productions and concerts.
One of the priorities for the Polish Royal Opera is the "Opera on the road" cycle. The main purpose of this programme is to popularize high culture in various remote places in Poland, especially where the access to professional theatres is limited. Apart from the organization of running events – both in the capital and outside of it – the Polish Royal Opera hosts two festivals. The Summer Festival, an annual summary of the passing season, has become a permanent feature in the capital’s cultural offer in July. The first Music of the Kings of Poland festival took place in autumn 2019. Its purpose was to popularize the not-so-well-known, although abundant, Polish musical works of the past centuries.
The name, the emblem, and the activity profile of the Polish Royal Opera are a reference to the great origins of opera in Poland. Preserving the memory of theatrical achievements during the reign of king Władysław IV, who founded the first permanent opera theatre in Poland – and one of the first in the world – with a stage in the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Polish Royal Opera strives for the magnificence for which the Chapel Royal at the courts of the Polish Vasa kings was famous. On the other hand, the impressive building of the Royal Theatre in the Łazienki Park is a reminder the flourishment of the opera during the reign of the King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who was the initiator of the construction. At present, this is the main stage of the Polish Royal Opera, an institution whose mission is to cultivate and popularize Polish musical heritage, and to build and strengthen the Polish and European identity focused around the three Platonic ideals: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
updated: 2020 (ac)
