Opera Nova Bydgoszcz

The Opera Nova is an opera house in Bydgoszcz, Poland. It was established in 1956, and it also plays the role of a musical theatre. It is one of the 10 opera houses in Poland and the only one of this size in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Opera Nova also welcomes the scene of the Bydgoszcz Buratino Puppet Theatre.

Location

Opera Nova building is located in a bend of the Brda river between Old Town and Downtown Bydgoszcz. The opera House is connected with a footbridge over the Brda river to Mill Island (): from the surrounding terrace it overlooks Bydgoszcz Cathedral, and Mill Island's granaries and mills.

Characteristics

Opera Nova is a cultural institution co-administrated by Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage & Kuyavian–Pomeranian Voivodeship. It realizes artistic activities comprising operas, operettas, ballets and musicals. Its activities also include educational projects, such as introducing opera and ballet to children.
The Opera Nova company performs in Bydgoszcz, but also in other opera festivals in Poland and abroad. Since 1989, the ensemble has made numerous tours to Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Malta and Italy.

Opera Nova extends its cultural influence out of Kuyavia–Pomerania, reaching audience and artists to neighboring provinces (Piła, Koszalin, Olsztyn).

The repertoire includes operettas, musicals, opera galas; it attracts a very enthusiastic and popular public. Financial sponsors of the Opera Nova, critical for such an institution, come from many financial and industrial tycoons in the area.

Maciej Figas is since 1992 the director of the Opera Nova, he is also the conductor of the opera orchestra.

In 2014 more than 82,000 people came to the Opera Nova.

History

First times

The history of the theatre in Bydgoszcz dates back to the 17th century, when was built a special theatre hall in the city Jesuit College, able to accommodate approximately 300 people. In the 19th century, operas and operettas were played in the Prussian Municipal Theatre; from 1896 to 1920, opera companies from Gdańsk, Poznań or Rostock performed in Bydgoszcz. In the years 1920–1939, a cultural institution run by the German minority called ''Deutsche Bühne'' (''German scene'') was located in the backyard of 66/68 Gdanska. It was a professional theatre, which displayed opera ensembles and orchestra performances based on the local Bydgoszcz Conservatoire located at 9 Mickiewicz Alley. Its popularity matched Municipal Theatre. Deutsche Bühne staged operas, operettas, musicals and vaudeville, hosting German companies (Berlin, Hamburg, Königsberg). On 3 May 1930, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Jan Kochanowski's birth, the theatre premiered "The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys" (), as a tribute to the Polish community. After 1933, its repertoire followed the cultural Nazi propaganda diktats.

The first Polish opera in Bydgoszcz was founded in 1919. On 3 October 1921, members of Bydgoszcz Municipal Theatre presented the Polish national opera, Stanislaw Moniuszko's ''Halka''. From 1921 to 1923, the Municipal Theatre organized summer opera seasons, with companies from Poznan and Warsaw opera houses. There were also recital singers with eminent artists from the world of Polish opera and operetta. Between 1923 and 1926, series of concerts in Bydgoszcz starred among others, Stanisław Gruszczyński, Ignacy Dygas, Jadwiga Dębicka, Victoria Kawecka. In 1926, the first recital of New York's Metropolitan Opera's bass Adamo Didur had a huge success in the city. The Municipal Theatre invited several times in the 1920s and 1930s Ada Sari for recital performances with piano.

For the season 1925/1926, an institution was created, the ''Pomeranian Opera Theatre of Bydgoszcz-Torun-Grudziadz'' directed by Karol Benda. The company included a 36-musician orchestra, a 22-singer chorus, a small ballet and external individuals from Warsaw, Poznan and Lviv. In addition, operetta guests were outstanding Polish artists of the time (Matilda Lewińska-Polińska, Ignacy Dygas, Stanisław Gruszczyński, Jan Kiepura, Lucyna Messal). The ''Pomeranian Opera'' performed in the Municipal Theatre 15 premieres and 69 operas and operettas, such as ''Halka'', ''Rigoletto'', ''Tosca'', ''Carmen'', ''Madama Butterfly'', ''Aida'', ''Countess Maritza'', ''The Gay Hussars'', ''The Merry Widow''.

During 11 seasons (1927–1938), the director Wladyslaw Stoma enlarged the repertoire of operas and operettas performed in the Bydgoszcz Municipal Theatre. In many instances, new pieces from Berlin and the Vienna have been specially translated for the Bydgoszcz institution. Wladyslaw Stoma hired professional singers and the orchestra acquired military professionals from the 61st Infantry Regiment () billeted in Pomorska Street. In the 1930s, the theatre staged with its own company forces (soloists, orchestra, choirs) operas ''Halka'', '' La Traviata'' (1930), ''The Tales of Hoffmann'', ''Madama Butterfly'' (1931), ''Carmen'' (1932), in addition to host every year Warsaw Opera performances. The last musical premiere before the outbreak World War II was '' Susanna'', on 4 April 1939. Throughout the interwar period, performances were staged in the Municipal Theatre: Bydgoszcz did not possess yet any opera house.

In German occupation times, the Municipal Theatre was intended "only for Germans" and manned by a German-Latvian troupe from Riga under the direction of Heinrich Voit. The inaugural session, on 1 October 1940, staged von Weber's opera ''Der Freischütz''. The repertoire of the theatre until 1944 included several musical performances (opera, operetta, ballet evenings), and also Municipal Symphony Orchestra performances. In 1944, the German scene gave way to a decorated cinema building showing propaganda films.

After the end of World War II, efforts were made to create a permanent Opera facility in Bydgoszcz, but despite large popular audience, the initiative did not get approval from the authorities, which did not believed in the success of the project. To overcome the situation, opera sessions were held by the Pomeranian Symphony Orchestra, together with Bydgoszcz Choirs, to perform opera overtures, fragments of orchestral and choral opera.

''Opera Studio''

''Opera Studio'' (), created on 15 December 1955 at the initiative of the Music Society. "I. J. Paderewski", was the first step towards a professional opera theatre in Bydgoszcz. The initiator of the project was Felicia Krysiewicz, a singer, pianist and animator of musical life in Bydgoszcz.

In January 1956, an agreement for a working structure was reached with the cooperation of Pomeranian Philharmonic, ''Arion'' choir in Bydgoszcz and the Social Music and Ballet department: orchestra was directed by Zdzislaw Wendyński, the choir by Antoni Rybka and the ballet by Raymond Sobiesiak. In May 1956, the ''Citizens' Committee for the Creation of Musical Theatre'' was established under the lead of Kazimierz Maludziński.

On 21 September 1956 the inauguration of the ''Opera Studio'' premiered Stanisław Moniuszko's ''Flis'' and '' Verbum nobile'', and Karol Kurpiński's ballets ''The Marriage Fathers'' (), with 150 people, including 20 solo-singers, 30 ballet dancers, 40 orchestra players and 60 chorus singers. In 1958 was created an institution called ''Bydgoszcz Comedy Music'' () which aim was to perform in summer time operettas and musical pieces with tailored ensembles. Led by Józef Szurka, it had realized by the end of the 1980s around 1500 performances throughout the country, mainly in small towns.

''Opera Studio'' repertoire gave the lion's share to comic opera and operetta classics. Performances were held in the building of the Polish Theatre in Mickiewicz Alley, in various clubs and occasionally in the hall of the Pomeranian House of Art. During its four-year activity, ''Opera Studio'' gave 10 premieres and around 400 performances, including 34 outside Bydgoszcz (Toruń, Grudziadz, Inowrocław, Świecie) which attracted an audience of 22 000.
In 1958, thanks to minister credits, full-time soloists were engaged, as well as half-time choir, ballet and administration individuals. On 10 April 1958 the first ballet was performed, ''The Nutcracker'' by Tchaikovsky, and on 2 July Offenbach's operetta ''Orpheus in the Underworld''.
''Opera Studio'' was renamed on 3 March 1959, ''Musical Theatre of Opera and Operetta'' (), so as to meet cultural expectations of the inhabitants of the entire Bydgoszcz Voivodeship. A year later, on 1 March 1960, the institution was nationalized. In 1963, the ''Musical Theatre of Opera and Operetta'' had then its own orchestra established, putting an end to the use of musicians from the Pomeranian Philharmonic.

State Opera and Operetta in Bydgoszcz

Bydgoszcz musical scene, once nationalised, changed its name several times: ''Opera and Operetta'' (1964), ''National Opera'' (1980), ''Opera Nova'' (1990), and from 1996, ''Opera Nova – State Opera in Bydgoszcz''. Until the mid-1990s, the institution did not have its own facility: it used the Pomeranian Art House building and three times a week staged in Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz. In spite of these unusual conditions, the company gained there its first experience and several artists who started here, appeared later on national stages in Warsaw, Łódź and Poznań: Barbara Zagórzanka (soprano), Lidia Skowron, Bożena Kinasz-Mikołajczak, Bożena Betley, Elżbieta Hoffmann, Monika Olkisz-Chabros (soprano) Henryk Kłosiński (tenor), Bronisław Pekowski (bass-baritone), and others. Besides, the troupe hosted the greatest opera artists: Maria Foltyn (1960), Antonina Kawecka (1962), Bogna Sokorska (1960), Krystyna Szczepańska (1964), Teresa Żylis-Gara (1959), Wiesław Ochman (1965), Bernard Ładysz (1960), Bogdan Paprocki (1962), Ryszard Tarasiewicz (1970) Marcin Bronikowski (1994, 2012).
The Bydgoszcz opera executed works by contemporary composers, who had their world premieres: musicals ''Hel'' of Jerzy Lawiny-Świętochowski and Ryszard Damrosz (1965), opera ''Przemysław II'' by Henryk Swolkień (1986), ballets ''Anna Karenina'' by Radion Shchedrin (1979), Bernadett Matuszczak's ''Wild swans'' (1992) and Bogdan Pawlowski's ''Puss in boots'' (1997). Many companies from East and West countries came to Bydgoszcz stage and Opera Nova ensembles toured abroad, mainly to Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg), performing at numerous opera festivals. These foreign contacts resulted in an enhanced cooperation with opera music centers in Europe.

In the 1960s, operas and operettas were performed far out Bydgoszcz Voivodeship, in places like Piła, Wałcz, Zielona Góra, Konin, Płock, Żary. Most popular couple on stage was then Barbara Zagórzanka and Henryk Herdzin.
In 1971, ''Bydgoszcz Opera and Operetta'' had cumulated 2200 performances watched by 1.2 million people. Guest soloists from socialist countries and outstanding Polish artists were invited, such as: Bernard Ładysz, Bogdan Paprocki, Antonina Kawecka, Krystyna Szczepańska and Wieslaw Ochman.

The idea to build a new seat for the Opera company in Bydgoszcz appeared in 1960 and was strongly supported by the then director of Pomeranian Philharmonic, Andrzej Szwalbe. It was the only solution to avoid performances being scattered in several smaller stages all around the city (Polish Theatre, Chamber Theatre, Pomeranian House of Arts or movie theatre). These scenes were not fitted at all for soloists, choir, ballet and orchestra.
In 1973, building started in a picturesque bend of the Brda river