The main event of the 3rd Moniuszko Festival, organized by the Grand Theatre in Poznań as part of its jubilee 2025/2026 season, will be the premiere of the opera The Countess (Hrabina) by Stanisław Moniuszko, directed by Karolina Sofulak. Performances will take place on October 10, 12, 14, and 16, 2025.
The director of this new production, Karolina Sofulak, has encapsulated her staging concept in the title:
“The Dream of Independent Pol(s)ka.”
In Sofulak’s interpretation, The Countess presents various visions of what Poland is or could be, drawing the audience into a delicately woven narrative connecting past and present: the struggle to define the nation in 1860 remains just as relevant today.
As the Festival organizers emphasize:
“The Poznań premiere of The Countess invites a debate on how we perceive the dynamics of change in our country over the centuries, and whether we feel like a part of that process. The production is not a commentary on the behavior of society at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries — which often succumbed to foreign fashions and customs — but rather a search for answers to the question of what national identity is, and what role women played (and still play) in shaping it.”
Karolina Sofulak’s vision will be brought to life by Katarzyna Tomala-Jedynak (musical direction), Dorota Karolczak (set design), Ilona Binarsch (costume design), Mariusz Otto (chorus master), Monika Myśliwiec (stage movement), Karolina Fender Noińska (video projections) along with the soloists, choir, and orchestra of the Grand Theatre in Poznań.
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC
Detailed programme: https://opera.poznan.pl/pl/repertuar
