The protagonist of the opera Manru feels trapped between the duties of his rural family life and his former freedom as a travelling Gypsy; between his faithful but unhappy wife and his former lover. On the surface, it’s a simple story of a mésalliance, but deeper down it touches on timeless, important issues of social differences and intolerance. Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s only stage work comes to the Kraków Opera.
Paderewski based his work on Wagnerian dramas in giving his protagonists distinctive motifs: the lively melody accompanying Manru at work as a blacksmith resounds with his hammer hitting the anvil, while his wife Ulana – rejected by her mother and community after her marriage to the Gypsy – is symbolised by a mournful, low cantilena. There are enchanting Highlander folk and Gypsy themes and the symphonic – again, verging on the Wagnerian – sounds of the orchestra. As one of the critics wrote after the premiere of Manru in 1901, “Paderewski is gifted with fantasy and temperament!” (Barbara Skowrońska)

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Manru

Direction: Laco Adamik
Musical direction: Tomasz Tokarczyk
Scenography and costumes: Milan David
Choir preparation: Jacek Mentel