Time 19:00
The Royal Theatre in the Old Orangery in the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw
BUY TICKET
Rodelinda is widely considered to be one of Georg Friedrich Handel’s finest operas. After its premiere on the 13th of February 1725 at the King’s Theater in London, the performance was shown thirteen more times. The reopening of the opera with a new cast in 1731 proved equally successful. The work was also staged in Hamburg (in 1735 and 1736), only to disappear from opera houses for almost two hundred years. In 1920, Rodelinda, happily rediscovered by Oskar Hagen, a lecturer in art history at the University of Göttingen, inaugurated the triumphant return of Handel’s works to opera stages.
Handel’s love of opera is no secret. Having composed over forty titles, he devoted half of his creative life to this genre, investing not only his health and energy but also financial resources. The creation of Rodelinda coincides with the heyday of Handel’s Royal Academy of Music, generously supported by King George I.
The compact, very well-written libretto was prepared by Nicola Francesco Haym on the basis of an earlier libretto by Antonio Salvi, and the plot has its source in the works of Paul the Deacon of Aquileia, who, in his History of the Lombards, recalls the story of the faithful and steadfast Queen Rodelinda. It is also possible that Handel himself participated in the final editing of the text used in the opera. The narrative is perfectly reflected in the clear and well-planned dramatic form of the work. Contrasting affects carry powerful emotions – love and hate, despair and hope.
MUSIC DIRECTOR KRZYSZTOF GARSTKA
DIRECTED BY ANDRZEJ KLIMCZAK
SET DESIGN MARLENA SKONECZKO
ARTISTIC SUPERVISOR OLGA PASIECZNIK
LIGHTING DESIGN KAROLINA GĘBSKA
VIDEO PROJECTIONS MAREK ZAMOJSKI
LIGHTING PIOTR RUDZKI
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR SŁAWOMIR JURCZAK
II ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AGNIESZKA KOZŁOWSKA
SET MANAGER DOROTA LACHOWICZ
CAST
RODELINDA OLGA PASIECZNIK
BERTARIDO KACPER SZELĄŻEK
GRIMOALDO RAFAŁ ŻUREK
EDUIGE ANETA ŁUKASZEWICZ
UNULFO MAŁGORZATA BARTKOWSKA
GARIBALDO PAWEŁ MICHALCZUK
FLAVIO LEON POKRZYWIŃSKI
GUARDS SŁAWOMIR JURCZAK, PAWEŁ PIĘKOŚ, MAREK WAWRZYNIAK
THE PERIOD INSTRUMENTS ENSEMBLE OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA CAPELLA REGIA POLONA
CONDUCTOR KRZYSZTOF GARSTKA
