Performers

Poznań Opera Orchestra

Now known as the Orchestra of the Stanisław Moniuszko Grand Theatre in Poznań, it first played at the Grand Theatre’s inaugural spectacle (Moniuszko’s Halka) on 31st August 1919. In 1925 Pietro Mascagni conducted his Cavalleria Rusticana at this theatre. Until the outbreak of World War II, the orchestra was directed with much success by Zygmunt Latoszewski. Poznań Opera was the first to resume activity after the wartime interval (in 1945, under the direction of Zygmunt Wojciechowski). The first postwar premiere, that of Karol Kurpiński’s Superstition, or The Cracovians and the Highlanders, took place on 2nd June 1945. Starting with the first complete postwar artistic season, the post of the Grand Theatre’s director was given again to the Zygmunt Latoszewski, in recognition of his earlier work for that stage.

Under the tenure of Walerian Bierdiajew (1949–1954), the theatre presented many out- standing productions of operas by, among others, such Russian composers as Modest Mussorgsky, Alexander Borodin, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The Grand Theatre’s ensembles won such accolades as the Golden Rose of the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice and the special award of the International Music Festival in Salsomaggiore for interpretations of works by Giuseppe Verdi. The Polish premiere of Marcel Landowski’s opera Galina, held at the Grand Theatre on 30th May 1999, won such great and universal acclaim that the spectacle was selected as the only one from a Polish opera house to be presented at the World Expo 2000 in Hanover.

Since the 2012/2013 season, the post of the Theatre’s artistic director has been held by Gabriel Chmura.
Przewiń do góry