KrakowInformer.com

The Krakow Opera

Although it exists only for about fifty years and has never had its own place of residence, the Krakow Opera (Opera Krakowska) can be counted among the best ones in Poland, and is surely worth visiting if you are looking for some high-class entertainment. Plus, the lack of a permanent stage encourages the Krakow Opera to seek out unusual places around Krakow to stage their performances, leading to outstanding artistic effects.

Krakow and the Opera

Although the Krakow Opera itself is a fairly young institution, the links between the city of Cracow and the opera date back to 1628, when a first libretto translation was published in one of Krakow's printing houses. The first opera was staged some 150 years later, and though it was well received by the Krakow audience, none of the institutions that were set up lasted more than a couple of seasons. This was because Krakow never had a proper Opera House.

Things got better when the Juliusz Slowacki Theater was built in the 1890s – apart from regular plays, operas could be staged there as well. It isn't surprising, then, that the cooperation with the Slowacki Theater with the Krakow Opera continued after it was finally established as an institution in 1954. From then on, two times per week (Sundays and Mondays, usually), the Slowacki Theater lends its stage to the Krakow Opera.

The Krakow Opera House

The lack of a place of residence, strangely, had some merits. The Krakow Opera was forced to seek out other stages that would allow the artists to realize their visions more fully. Those included the dark and monumental depths of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, the atmospheric chambers of the Wawel Castle, and the courtyard of the Barbican.

Hopefully this tradition will not be abandoned after the Krakow Opera moves to its first own place of residence in late 2008. The new building is under construction since 2004, and is situated between the Krakow Train Station and Rondo Mogilskie. The red brick cube might not be as beautiful as La Scala, but the interiors are to be state-of-the-art, and both the sound quality and technological possibilities offered by the stage are supposed to make it one of the best opera houses in Poland.

Those who are eager to find that out themselves will have to wait until December 2008. The first performance on the Big Stage of the new Krakow Opera House is to be a premiere of “Devils of Loudun” by Krzysztof Penderecki.

See an Opera Performance in Krakow

And those who can't wait to see and hear the Krakow Opera in action are left with the stage at the Juliusz Slowacki Theater and two minor stages, housing smaller performances of the Krakow Opera: one at NCK (Nowohuckie Centrum Kultury – The Nowa Huta Culture Center) on 232 Jana Pawla II Avenue and another one in the PWST (Higher State Theater School) Theatre on 22 Straszewskiego Street.