Fidelio: A Holocaust Memorial ```Production
INTERNATIONAL VOICE OF JUSTICE, together with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra and Beethoven Association of Krakow, Poland and the Oslo Music Academy of Norway presented Beethoven’s Opera, Fidelio: A Holocaust Memorial Opera in Poland.
Performances were given in November and December of 2010 in five cities: Wroclaw, Lublin, Warsaw, Lodz and Krakow. Each performance was followed by long, standing ovations. The production received critical acclaim, both in Poland and in Opera Magazine, UK, the leading publication in the opera world. (Click here to read review, reprinted by permission of John Allison, chief editor, from Opera UK, Feb. 2011).
Beethoven’s original concept of FIDELIO was set in a political prison in Spain in the 1700’s and used a German spoken text. In this production, the German text is replaced by a Polish text, written by Dr. Martha Smith (text copyright Martha Smith, 2010) and inspired by Julia Pevzner, stage director (concept copyright, 2010). (This text may be translated and adapted to each nation where the production will be presented.) In the Polish text, an elderly Leonore (played by an actress) has taken her grandson, Jacob, to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum to tell him the story of his grandfather, Florestan, and of Florestan’s rescue from Auschwitz at the time of liberation in 1945. Florestan had been a leader in the Polish Resistance. Leonore had left London where she had fled for safety because of her Jewish heritage. Dressed as a young man named Fidelio, she courageously returns to Poland to find and rescue her husband. The singers recreate Leonore’s story (in German) on stage. Actual films of pre-war life in the ghettos of Warsaw and Krakow, everyday life in Poland, Krystal Nacht, the Polish Resistance and other Holocaust-related photos and films from the time are used during the overtures, combining real-life events with the story as it unfolds before the eyes of Jacob, Leonore’s grandson.
Maestro Piotr Sulkowski (Krakow Opera, Tulsa Opera, Turon Symphony Orchestra Director) conducted the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, the Polish Radio Chorus and soloists: Ana Puche Rosado, Marzeline; Mateusz Zajdel, Jaquino; Katarzyna Holysz, Leonore; Przemyslaw Firek, Rocco; Peteris Eglitis, Pizarro; Markus Ahme, Florestan; and Grzegorz Pazik, Don Fernando. Adam Lucki was the costume and set designer based on the concept of Dr. Martha Smith. The lighting technician was Ada Bystrzycka. The stage direction was by Julia Pevzner (Israeli Opera, Opera Boston, Bolshoi-Moscow Opera, Houston Grand). The concept creation and design of the Fidelio Holocaust Memorial is by Dr. Martha Smith together with Dr. Haakon Smith (co-directors of International Voice of Justice, an NGO based in New York, USA promoting Holocaust education in Europe through music and the arts.) (Fidelio: Holocaust Memorial Opera copyright: Dr. Martha J. Smith, registered at the Library of Congress Copyright Office, Washington, D.C. Nr. PAu001834248/1994-02-14).
The production in Poland was a partnership between the Beethoven Academy Orchestra of Krakow (Marcin Kleidycz, President), Beethoven Association, Krakow, Director, Elsbieta Penderecki, Oslo Music Academy (Dr. Haakon Smith, Director) and International Voice of Justice. The "Fidelio: Holocaust Memorial Production" was financed by grants from the Norwegian Fund for Poland, Polish Ministry of Culture, European Cultural Commission, American Embassy, Warsaw, Poland, the Eugene and Emily Grant Family Foundation, New York, USA, the Schnurmacher Foundation, New York, USA and private donors to International Voice of Justice.
Should you be interested in setting up this production please contact us at: ivoj.europe@yahoo.com.