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Zygmunt Krauze - Works

Symphonic Chamber Piano Vocal Operas Music for Theatre Musical Space Compositions

Operas

Polyeuctus (in preparation)

Opera in two acts based on Pierre Corneille's drama
Libretto: Alicja Choinska and Zygmunt Krauze
Directed by Jorge Lavelli
Premiere: Spring, 2009, Warsaw Chamber Opera
Commission: Warsaw Chamber Opera

 

Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy (2004)

Opera in four acts for soloists, chamber choir and orchestra

Libretto: Grzegorz Jarzyna and Zygmunt Krauze after Witold Gombrowicz's theater play

World premiere of concert version: 20th - 21st November 2004, Theâtre Sylvia Monfort, Paris

Under the auspices of Bertrand Delanoë - mayor of Paris, and Lech Kaczynski - president of Warsaw
In celebration of the centenary of Witold Gombrowicz's birthday.

Cast:
Yvonne - Dominika Kuzniak
King Ignace (bass) - Dariusz Machej
Queen Margareth (soprano) - Magdalena brylak
Pronce Philip (tenor) - Adam Zdunikowski
Chamberlain (baritone) - Grzegorz Pazik
Isabelle - maid of honor (soprano) - Joanna Tylkowska
Cyryl - prince's friend (contra-tenor) - Michal Wajda Chlopicki
Cyprian (contra-tenor) - Michal Czernikowski
Yvonne's aunt I (alto) - Joanna Cortez
Yvonne's aunt II (alto) - Agnieszka Dabrowska
Dame I (alto) - Joanna Cortez
Dame II (alto) - Agnieszka Dabrowska

Polish Radio Orchestra
Andrzej Straszynski - conductor

World premiere: 29th September 2006, National Theatre, Warsaw Autumn

Premiere at the National Opera: 1st February 2007, Warsaw

Producer and Director: Marek Weiss-Grzesinski
Set Designer: Wieslaw Olko
Costume Designers: Gosia Baczynska, Wojciech Dziedzic
Lights: Miroslaw Poznanski

Soloists and Orchestra of the National Opera
Conductor: Andrzej Straszynski

Cast:
Yvonne: Kinga Preis
King Ignacy: Dariusz Machej
Queen Margaret: Magdalena Barylak
Prince Philip: Adam Zdunikowski
Chamberlain: Artur Rucinski
Isabella: Monika Ledzion
Cyril: Piotr Lykowski
Cyprian: Krzysztof Kur
The first Aunt: Joanna Cortes
The second Aunt: Agnieszka Dabrowska

About the opera:

Yvonne - the main character of the opera, does not say a word. She does not sing nor does she speak. Her silence creates the most fascinating plot which causes rise of tension between Yvonne and other characters. This leads to an absurd murder on the edge of grotesque and surrealism, fulfilled at last after a series of unsuccessful attempts.

Gombrowicz's drama is ambiguous. The characters and their behavior can be interpreted in different ways. In the opera the music takes the role of an interpreter. I had lots of possibilities to form the situations and picture the characters. I chose the easiest one: not to interpret at all, but to describe the characters with music in the easiest and literal way, which follows the word. I chose this way, because I believe in the strength of classical structure which features Gombrowicz's play. This way I gave each character a clear direction and created more freedom for the director and singers.

It is hard for me to talk about Yvonne's music. It took me three months to write the whole opera and everything what this music consists of, comes directly from the words. I hear the music through the words.

Zygmunt Krauze

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Balthazar (2001)

Opera in two acts for soloists, choir and orchestra
Libretto: Ryszard Peryt after Stanislaw Wyspianski's theater play Daniel

World premiere: 7th October 2001, Warsaw Chamber Opera.
Comission: Warsaw Chamber Opera

Ryszard Peryt - staging and direction
Ruben Silva - musical direction
Andrzej Sadkowski - stage design

Cast:
Balthazar - Andrzej Klimczak
Voice-She-Death - Marta Boberska
Daniel - Leszek Swidzinski
Old Prisoner - Jerzy Mahler
Young Prisoner - Michal Kanclerski
Three Athletes - Bernard Pyrzyk, Jakub Burzynski, Krzysztof Kur
Three Poets - Zdzislaw Kodyjalik, Slawomir Jurczak, Zbigniew Debko

Sons of the Conquered Nation, Guards, Courtiers, Sins

Chamber Choir of the Warsaw Chamber Opera
Warsaw Sinfonietta
Ruben Silva - conductor

About the opera:

The theme of the opera is the subjugation of one nation by another, the tormented nation's struggles and surrender and spiritual strength, which leads to ultimate victory. The theme was topical not only during Wyspianski's lifetime (the Partitions of Poland among the three neighbouring powers), but it is also of relevance today, if only to mention Tibet, the Kurds, the Balkans, Chechnya, Palestine and many other hotbeds of tension in the world, in which religion has played a significant role.

In Wyspianski's play, the ideas are presented in an extremely concise form, almost in slogans. There is not a single unnecessary word. Even the lyrical fragments are presented in a cool light, as it were, without any emotion. It is the reader whose emotions are affected. The poet remains strong, objective masculine.

The word is the source of the music. Wyspianski's text gave me the impulse and energy to search for the sound which would enhance its importance or change it. I have employed in this piece both solutions in equal measure in order to overcome stereotypes.

The gist of my compositional process consisted in creating characters by means of sounds. I searched for gestures and motifs, with which I could grapple with the text. The choice of a musical idiom was of secondary importance. This is why in composing Balthazar I drew on my earlier musical experience, renouncing experiments and search for new artistic solutions. My search and experiments were directed at the characters, their expression, their peculiar features, their changing and complex nature. Wyspianski's text provokes such experiments because it has many meanings. This creates a wealth of characters and thus opens up opportunities for the composer.

Zygmunt Krauze

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The Star

3rd VERSION (2006):

One act opera for soprano, computer and two camera-men
ca 50'

First performance: 19th January 2006, Teatr Polski, Wroclaw

Cezary Duchnowski - electroacustic adaptation and music direction
Agata Zubel - soloist

Andrzej Makowiecki - direction
Stanislaw Chwiszczuk - video
Marek Stanielewicz - costumes and scenography

The adaptation of Zygmunt Krauze's "The Star" was Agata Zubel's idea. At first it was meant to be an electroacoustic realization of the instrumental parts from the chamber version of the opera. The actual sounds of the instruments used in the score were supposed to be the basic material. However, then I decided that spreading the unistic theory on to the area of texture and colour would be more interesting. I decided to treat unism "totally". It demanded a great deal of effort from Agata, as she had to perform all of the instrumental parts of the symphonic version of the opera. Then these recorded parts were amplified, so that maintaining the timbre of Agata's voice they would imitate the orchestra's instruments and create a homogenous, symphonic sound.

Cezary Duchnowski about the new version of Zygmunt Krauze's The Star

2nd VERSION (1994):

One act opera for soprano, mezzo-soprano, orchestra, choir and ballet
ca 55'
Libretto: Helmut Kajzar
Manuscript by the composer

First performance: 12th June 1994, Wroclaw Opera

Stefan Szlachtycz - staging and direction
Zygmunt Krauze - musical direction

Jolanta Zmurko and Elzbieta Kaczmarzyk - soloists
Commission: Ministry of Culture and Art, Warsaw

1st VERSION (1981):

Chamber opera for 2 sopranos, 2 mezzo-sopranos, alto voice; tenor saxophone, trumpet, percussion, accordion, electric guitar, violin and double-bass
ca 55'
Libretto: Helmut Kajzar
Edition: Universal Edition, Wien

World premiere: 7th April 1982, Nationaltheater Mannheim.

Peter Rasky - direction
Donald Runnicles - musical direction

Astrid Schimer and Sabine Sipos - soloists

Commission: Nationaltheater Mannheim

Following productions:

Warsaw premiere: 21st June 1985, The National Theatre.

Wojciech Szulczynski - direction
Bogdan Hoffman - musical direction
The Star - Halina Slonicka, Krystyna Szostek Radkowa
Voice II - Wanda Bargielowska, Maria Olkisz
Voice III - Ewa Gawronska, Hanna Zdunek
Voice IV - Krystyna Jazwinska, Elzbieta Panko
Voice V - Maria Olkisz, Maria Vranova

Hamburg premiere: 15th June 1986, Staatsoper.

Helmut Danninger - direction and staging
Zygmunt Krauze - musical direction

The Star - Hildegard Uhrmacher
The Servant - Horst Schweimler
An actress - Simone Alex

Soloists from Philharmonischen Staatsorchestrer: Christa Bohnhoff, Dorothea Nerlich-Kruse, Anne Pellekorne, Linda Plech, Martina Su

Paris premiere: June 1989, Theatre National de la Colline.

Jorge Lavelli - direction

Viorica Cortez (mezzo-soprano), Sylvie Valayre, Françoise Degeroges, Muriel Lluch, Laure Mailfert, Denise Poray - soloists

Ensemble Musique Vivante: Claude Barthélémy, Pierre Blanchard, Felipe Canales, Jean-Louis Chautemps, Gilbert Roussel, Gérard Siracusa
Zygmunt Krauze - conductor

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