From 5 December 2025 (7:00 p.m.) to 4 February 2026, a recording of one of the most talked-about events of the season—the premiere of The Best City in the World. An Opera about Warsaw, which opened the 68th International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn”—will be available on https://vod.teatrwielki.pl/.
During its five performances, the opera played to full houses (8,500 spectators in total), and it is now reaching audiences across Poland and abroad.
Eighty years after the beginning of Warsaw’s post-war reconstruction, Sinfonia Varsovia, in co-production with the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, presented for the first time The Best City in the World. An Opera about Warsaw, inspired by Grzegorz Piątek’s book The Best City in the World. Warsaw Rebuilt 1944–1949, which tells the story of the capital’s revival after the war. Directed by Barbara Wiśniewska with music by Cezary Duchnowski, the work recounts one of the greatest urban-planning projects of the 20th century, shown through the lens of individual human stories.
The libretto by Beniamin Bukowski, based on the language of the era—from political speeches to urban-planning jargon—creates a contemporary drama rather than a historical reconstruction. The protagonists are a modernist architect from the BOS (Office for the Reconstruction of the Capital) and an American journalist; their encounter becomes a confrontation of ideas, experiences, and visions for the city’s future. The music blends orchestral breadth with electronics and choral parts, reflecting both the scale of destruction and the individual perspectives of the inhabitants.
The originator and curator of the opera is Jarosław Trybuś—art historian, architecture critic, and lecturer. The work was created as a co-production of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera and Sinfonia Varsovia on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the start of Warsaw’s reconstruction. The project is funded by the City of Warsaw. The project’s partner is the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn.”
Press release
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC
Additional information: www.sinfoniavarsovia.org
