Madame Curie
Elżbieta Sikora
world prapremiere 15 XI 2011, Paris
polish premiere 25 XI 2011, Gdansk
music director Wojciech Michniewski
set designer Hanna Szymczak
cooperation in preparing the Choir Jan Kurek
cast:
| Maria Skłodowska-Curie | Anna Mikołajczyk |
| Pierre Curie | Paweł Skałuba |
| Paul Langevin | Tomasz Rak |
| Einstein | Leszek Skrla |
| Loïe Fuller |
Joanna Wesołowska
Julia Ławrenowa (BDT)
|
| Ewa child |
Weronika Weiss / Zofia Sójka (solo violin) |
| Ewa | Anna Michalak |
| Irena child |
Julia Robak |
| Irena | Marta Siewiera / Małgorzata Gałuszka-Armata (8, 9 III) |
| Missy Maloney | Monika Fedyk-Klimaszewska |
| Gustav Téry | Bartłomiej Misiuda |
| Henri Perrin | Szymon Kobyliński / Paweł Konik (8, 9 III) |
| Paul Painleve | Daniel Borowski |
| V-ce president | Jan Szenk (recording) |
| Choir (voices) |
Katarzyna Grajewska, Liliana Kamińska,
Izabela Plath, Krzysztof Brzozowski,
Wojciech Dowgiałło, Marek Gerwatowski,
Jacek Jasman, Andrzej Kosecki, Leszek Kruk,
Taras Kuzmych, Tomasz Potkowski,
Krzysztof Rzeszutek, Rafał Sambor,
Adam Siebiera, Łukasz Wroński, Witalij Wydra
|
"Nobody questions her greatness, yet we do not know much about her. Usually it is a stereotypical set of information about a chemistry professor, grey hair, dour looks, Noble Prize and a husband who participated in it. Few people have actually read books about her life, ever fewer realise what kind of a milestone her scientific discoveries were.
She has been given the place she deserves in the pantheon of national heroes. We name streets, school and universities after her. She is one of seven globally known people of Polish origin accompanied by Nicolaus Copernicus, Frédéric Chopin, Karol Wojtyła, Lech Wałęsa, Pola Negri and Roman Polański. Every educated person in the world knows her and recognises her. Now that 2011 has been announced her year, the knowledge about her will grow and become more popular. I hope it will.
I have been her great fan for very many years, and I admire her even more as the years go by pass and my life experience grows. I set her as an example for myself and for my children but do I know who she really was? Recently a lot of publications about her came out where authors try to polish her statue and bring back to peoples' memory the human part of Marie Curie's life. We have decided to join these truth seekers and tell in our own, opera way about this extraordinary woman who conquered the world overcoming numerous obstacles such as human aversion, hostility and her own weaknesses. Her strong character and ingenious mind grew in a delicate body, brought to a test by passions, desire and temptation, that were a far cry from the puritan image of a workaholic straight from laboratory. A beautiful, dramatic character – a human through and through. That is how we would like to present her and how we want to love her".
Marek Weiss
The production co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
The opera Madame Curie is produced as a part of celebrating International Year of Chemistry and 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Prize for Marie Skłodowska-Curie.
The opera Madame Curie is produced and presented as a part of International Cultural Programme of Polish Presidency 2011.
Patronage over the opera was taken by:
Barbara Kudrycka, the Minister of Science and Higher Education
Mieczysław Struk, Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship
Adam Adamowicz, President of the City of Gdańsk
Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to UNESCO
Institut Francais de Varsovie
