Opera / theatre
Work where music, theatre and opera meet — newest first.
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2026
only Love can break your Heart — Tomasz Prasqual
photo: Michał Piórkowski Chamber opera combining the poetry of the 16th-century Venetian poet Gaspara Stampa with texts by the Nigerian poet Logan February.
- Cezary Tomaszewski – direction
- Giulia Fornasier, Tomasz Prasqual – libretto
- Lilianna Krych – music direction
- Justyna Rapacz, Michał Sławecki, Justyna Wasilewska, Mateusz Górski, Bartosz Koziak, Dominik Płociński
The production on the TR Warszawa website (opens an external site)
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2024
Mahagonny. Afterparty — Kurt Weill, Kasia Głowicka
photo: Pat Mic Brecht and Weill’s Songspiel paired with Kasia Głowicka’s “Afterparty” about today’s Warsaw.
- Krystian Lada – direction, set design
- Lilianna Krych – music direction
- Bartosz “Fisz” Waglewski – Afterparty song lyrics
The production on the Teatr Studio website (opens an external site)
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2024
D’ARC — site-specific opera for the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
photo: Marzena Lewandowska A contemporary opera set on three time planes: Paris 2024, Warsaw 1944, Rouen 1429.
- Krystian Lada – concept, direction, set design
- Anka Herbut, Łukasz Barys – libretto
- Music: Dobrawa Czocher, Teoniki Rożynek, Wojciech Błażejczyk, Rafał Ryterski, Julius Eastman, Roman Padlewski
- Lilianna Krych – music direction
- Hashtag Ensemble, Match Match Ensemble, 10 cellists
Watch the full performance on OperaVision (opens an external site)
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2024
IMPACT – an Inner Journey out of Darkness — Amir Shpilman, Shiran Eliaserov
photo: Martin Popelář An experimental immersive opera combining live music, singing, electronics, choreography and film stunt work. Through spectacular falls, collisions and acrobatics synchronised with the orchestra and choir, the creators explore the experience of trauma, the fragility of the human body and the process of regaining agency after a traumatic event. The performance blurs the boundaries between opera, physical theatre and performance art, making the performer’s body both a carrier of the narrative and a musical instrument in its own right.
- Lilianna Krych – conductor
NODO festival description (opens an external site) · Opera PLUS review (Czech) (opens an external site) · The creators’ website (opens an external site)
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2024
Solaris — Karol Nepelski
An opera after Stanisław Lem’s novel; the singing is generated by a computer algorithm triggered by the actors’ voices.
- Waldemar Raźniak – libretto, direction
- Lilianna Krych – music direction
- Hashtag Ensemble
The production on the Stary Teatr website (opens an external site)
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2023
Aspern — Salvatore Sciarrino, Polish premiere
photo: Sisi Cecylia - Pia Partum – director
- Magdalena Maciejewska – set design
- Lilianna Krych – musical direction
- Joanna Freszel, Hashtag Ensemble
The production on Teatr Studio’s website (opens an external site)
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2022
The Turn of the Screw — Benjamin Britten
photo: Michał Piórkowski - Kamila Siwińska – direction
- Lilianna Krych – music direction
Lilianna Krych at the Polish Royal Opera (opens an external site)
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2022
Salvatore Sciarrino — Luci mie traditrici, Aspern Suite, Superflumina
A long-standing fascination is the music of the Sicilian master Salvatore Sciarrino. His unique sound world captivated the duo of Lilianna Krych and director Pia Partum. Together they brought about the Polish stage premiere of Luci mie traditrici and the video clip Aspern Suite. They work on Sciarrino’s music with New Opera Days Ostrava, where Luci mie traditrici (2018) and Superflumina (2022) were shown.
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2022
Little Thunder. Saint Catherine of Siena
photo: Marta Ankiersztejn A performance by an independent international group of actress-singers: Rhianna Compton, Julianna Bloodgood, Ditte Berkeley, Sarai Ogara, Paulina Krupa, Olga Kunicka, Nenè Barini, Lilianna Krych.
- Julianna Bloodgood – text, direction
- Katarzyna Szwed – music
- Lilianna Krych – musical direction
- Waldemar Raźniak – lighting
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2021
Bunker. Fake Opera — Wojciech Błażejczyk
photo: Grzegorz Mart Kafka’s story The Burrow became the starting point for Bunker. Fake Opera, in which the language of politics and the media, and our presence in it, is scored for 4 performers, 10 instrumentalists, conductor, electronics and video. The work of Wojciech Błażejczyk and Waldemar Raźniak (libretto, direction), performed by Hashtag Ensemble, premiered at the 64th Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music in 2021 and was well received by audiences and critics. It is an innovative approach to opera in which both content and form are thoroughly contemporary, reflecting the reality we live in and arguing with it.
Bunker. Fake Opera on the Warsaw Autumn website (opens an external site)
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2021
The Rape of Lucretia — Benjamin Britten
photo: Karpati & Zarewicz - Kamila Siwińska – direction
- Lilianna Krych – music direction
Lilianna Krych at the Polish Royal Opera (opens an external site)
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2020
Il barbiere di Siviglia — Gioachino Rossini
photo: Polish Royal Opera - Jitka Stokalska – direction
Lilianna Krych at the Polish Royal Opera (opens an external site)
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2019
Birdy — Karol Nepelski
photo: Tête-à-tête Festival archive A chamber opera born from the collision of William Wharton’s novel Birdy with the world of sound and spatial experiments of composer Karol Nepelski. Libretto and direction: Waldemar Raźniak. Premiered at the Tête-à-tête festival in London in 2019.
Description, photos and a full recording on the festival website (opens an external site)
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2019
Bastien und Bastienne — W.A. Mozart
photo: Polish Royal Opera - J. Kilian – direction
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2018
Song of the Goat Theatre — Return to the Voice, Hamlet. Commentary
photo: Mateusz Bral Performances in China (Shanghai), Romania (Sibiu), Gdańsk (Shakespeare Festival), Warsaw (Warsaw Theatre Meetings) and Wrocław.
Song of the Goat Theatre is one of the strands of post-Grotowski theatre – the search for expression through the body, movement and voice. Polyphonic songs form the basis of the performances, and the distinctive voices of the actor-singers give the sung polyphony its particular meaning.
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2017
Monachomachia — Piotr Tabakiernik
- Igor Gorzkowski – direction
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2016
Trojan Women — Teatr Polski, Poznań
photo: Teatr Polski in Poznań archive - Kamila Siwińska – director
- Karolina Fandrejewska – set and costume design
- Barbara Klicka – dramaturgy
- Marta Śniady – music
- Lilianna Krych – musical direction
- Aurora Lubos – movement
- Paulina Góral – lighting
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2015
Orlando Paladino — Joseph Haydn
production poster - Waldemar Raźniak – direction
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2015
Runners, after “Born to Run”
- Nikolet Burzyńska – music
- Kamila Michalak – direction
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2014
The Bacchae after Euripides — Egon Wellesz
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2014
Don Giovanni — W.A. Mozart
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2013
The Rape of Lucretia — independent opera production
An independent opera production in the post-industrial hall of the Old PAP Printing House in Warsaw.
- Kamila Siwińska – director
- Karolina Fandrejewska – set design
- Cast: Aleksandra Klimczak, Andrzej Marusiak, Magdalena Krysztoforska, Małgorzata Bartkowska, Jadwiga Niebelska, Marcin Wortman, Tomasz Raff
Video
YouTube video — loads only after you click.
Play video: Mahagonny. Afterparty — behind the scenes (Teatr od kuchni #10), STUDIO teatrgaleria
Play video: Benjamin Britten – The Rape of Lucretia, end of Act 1
Play video: Wojciech Błażejczyk – Bunker. Fake Opera, Warsaw Autumn 2021
Play video: Little Thunder: Saint Catherine of Siena
Play video: Trojan Women after Euripides, Teatr Polski in Poznań
Play video: Marc-Antoine Charpentier – Actéon, final concert of the 28th International Summer Academy of Early Music, 17 July 2021
Reviews
Another woman decided the success of this outstanding performance: Lilianna Krych, leading the musicians of the Polish Royal Opera so as to reveal the full richness of Benjamin Britten’s score.
And finally, all of this – the whole complex musical tissue that was under the reliable baton of Lilianna Krych. One can speak of this performance of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia only in superlatives.
Best opera performance: The Rape of Lucretia, Benjamin Britten, musical direction: Lilianna Krych, dir. Kamila Siwińska, Polish Royal Opera in Warsaw (…) Concentration, simple means of expression, in counterpoint to many of today’s opera performances full of pathos and simplification.
The musicians of Spółdzielnia Contemporary Ensemble, who prepared the performance under conductor Lilianna Krych, drew fleeting flutters, vibrations and sighs from their instruments. And the audience held its breath so as not to disturb the mysterious rite unfolding on stage.
(…) this baton dictated to voices and instruments now a piano on the verge of silence (for example the strings in their pizzicatos), now the maximum forte in sharp tutti accents.