Polish State Theater of Opera and Ballet

(Teatr Wielki), the oldest musical theater in Poland. The country’s first national theater, called the Teatr Narodowy, was founded in Warsaw in 1765. The theater staged both dramatic and musical productions in which Polish artists performed. The first Polish opera, M. Kamieński’s Misery Contented, was staged there in 1778. In 1833 a new theater, called the Teatr Wielki, was built by the architect A. Corazzi. An opera company performed at the theater, initially along with a dramatic group.

In the development of the Polish national opera theater a prominent role was played by the first director of the Teatr Wielki, W. Bogusławski, as well as by the composers and conductors J. Eisner and K. Kurpiński. Especially important was S. Moniuszko, the conductor from 1858 to 1872, who established a national repertoire at the theater. A high artistic level was reached by the productions of E. Młynarski, who was the theater’s conductor from 1898 to 1903 and its director from 1919 to 1929.

The theater’s repertoire includes both world classics and works by contemporary composers. Among famous Polish performing artists who have worked at the theater are J. de Reszke, E. de Reszke, W. Mierzwiński, A. Sari, A. Didur, T. Leliwa, J. Korolewicz-Waydowa, Jan Kiepura, and E. Bandrowska-Turska. In 1974 the theater’s leading performers included the singers B. Ładysz, A. Hiolski, B. Paprocki, W. Ochman, A. Kossakowska, and K. Szczepańska and the ballet dancers M. Krzyszkowska, S. Szymański, Z. Kiliński, B. Olkusznik, E. Jaroń, and Z. Szczałkowski. A. Wicherek was appointed the theater’s artistic director in 1974.

Destroyed by the Hitlerites in 1944, the theater was rebuilt in 1965. The opening performance was Moniuszko’s opera The Haunted Manor. A second stage, the Emil Młynarski Hall, was added in 1968.