Music: Jenni Brandon
Libretto: Oliver Mayer
At his grave, we meet three versions of Paderewski (one of them female): Ignacy the virtuoso pianist/composer, Jan the politician/founder of the Polish nation, and Paderewski the éminence grise/Paso Robles winemaker. Coming together and pulling apart, sifting through a lifetime of memories far too large for any one person, they summon the ghost of Antonina, their beloved long-dead first wife. In so doing, they summon the spirit of Poland itself. A compassionate opera about a man who changed the world not only through his music but through pure passion for life, whose memory instructs our own moment of political and moral crisis. This project has been commissioned by The Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international
cultural program POLSKA100 accompanying Poland's Centenary of regaining independence.
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual program NIEPODLEGŁA 2017-2022.
