Although over the last few decades, the stage of the Forest Opera was usually filled with light music, this place – in accordance with its name – has classical traditions. – After 80 years, we are trying to bury the demons of the past. Politics and wars previously prevented opera from being brought back to the stage of the Forest Opera, explains Tomasz Konieczny, the originator of the Baltic Opera Festival, which began on Friday in the Tri-City.
Four stage works will be presented on two stages in the Tri-City: the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk and the Forest Opera in Sopot.
The festival was founded on the initiative of the Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny. The dream of using the Forest Opera for this purpose was born in 2009, when the artist performed for the first time on its stage in Ryszard Wagner’s Rheingold. Initiating the festival, he referred to the pre-war tradition of staging opera works in Sopot.
– The Forest Opera was actually invented and adapted to the Wagner festival. In the 1930s, this place was founded to show Wagner and we are very happy to be back after such a long time – explains Barbara Wiśniewska, director of “The Flying Dutchman”, a performance that will be staged at the amphitheater on Saturday and Monday.
As Konieczny emphasizes, the place where the Forest Opera was created was found by the bandmaster of the Municipal Theater in Gdańsk Paul Walther Schäffer. It seemed to him ideal for the implementation of his plans, i.e. creating an open-air stage.
Building “cultural bridges”
– Wagner has been played there since 1922. A Wagner festival was created, which in the 1930s became a competitor to the Bayreuther Festspiele, i.e. the Wagner festival in Bayreuth. It was created by visionaries who set themselves the task of promoting high art in natural conditions. From the beginning, the festival was extremely popular, among others thanks to the wonderful acoustics of the Forest Opera, then Die Waldope. It was conducted by the world’s greatest conductors, and stars performed, mainly from Berlin, he explains.
As Konieczny emphasizes, the problem arose when German propaganda began to use the festival for its own purposes.
– After 80 years, we are trying to bury the demons of the past. Politics and wars previously prevented operas from returning to the stage of the Forest Opera. Our festival is under the patronage of the presidents of Poland and GermanThis shows that we are trying to build cultural bridges in this special place – adds Konieczny.
Main photo source: TVN24