Today, the new opera by Polish composer Eugeniusz Knapik, Moby Dick, will receive its first performance at the Teatr Wielki (Opera Narodowa) in Warsaw.
The libretto in English has been written by Krzysztof Koehler, after Herman Melville's novel, already adapted as an opera by Peter Westergaard in 2005 and Jake Heggie in 2010.
Previous operas by Eugeniusz Knapik include the trilogy The Minds of Helena Troubleyn (I. Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas, II. Silent Screams, Difficult Dreams, III. La libertà chiama la libertà).
The opera should last almost 3 hours (including one intermission). Gabriel Chmura conducts and Barbara Wysocka directs the following cast : Arnold Rawls (Ismael), Sébastien Soules (Queequeg), Wojtek Smilek (Mapple), Caroline Whisnant (Jezabel), Tomasz Madej (Elijah) and Agnieszka Rehlis (Hagar).
Excellent piece. I recommend it. However it doesn´t last for 3 hours but only for two and about 10 minutes. The rest is intermission time.
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