A Polish theme for the week

Over the last couple of days, thanks in no small part to my new iPad (I will soon write a post about how it serves as a musician's tool), I have found myself bombarded with information about English National Opera's production of Mieczysław Weinberg's The Passenger. While this does not strictly speaking have anything to do with the subject matter of this blog, I nonetheless feel compelled to share some of my sources, as this year seems to be bringing Polish-born composers into the limelight (apart from ENO's gambit with Weinberg, there is also Wexford Opera's production of Statkowski's Maria, an opera that I've heard great things about from David Agler himself, and also Dan Joy, who will be singing the Kozak), which makes me ever so slightly proud, and makes for more interesting conversations about Polish opera (thank God it's not just Moniuszko and Penderecki anymore), but these articles are (in my humble opinion) simply worth sharing!

First off is one of my favourite blogs, that of WNO's new Artistic Director, and famous British opera director, David Pountney: click here. The more recent post also concerns Weinberg's opera.

And then, thanks to a medium I've only recently started tentatively exploring, namely Twitter, I found this article in The Observer.

Needless to say, next time I'm back home in Poland, I will be hunting for the book... As for the opera, it's doubtful I'll be able to see the ENO production, but if it's as stunning as it supposedly is, then it's surely only a matter of time before it 'comes to a theatre near you'.