Operetta Gala

Saturday, August 31, 2019, 7:00 PM

  • Saturday, August 31, 2019, 7:00 PM
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Graceful music, sharp comedy, crazy intrigue, enchanting melodies, entertaining protagonists, fulfilled love, happy-ever-afters with a touch of melancholy… What’s your favourite thing about operetta?
We are taken into its joyful, dazzling world with the traditional Operetta Gala held at the Róż Avenue (31 August). “As in previous years, we present excerpts from some of the most popular operas and operettas – if you love beautiful voices and greatest hits of classical music, make sure you join us in Nowa Huta! And, as in previous years, all participants receive roses. This year’s events form a part of the 70th anniversary of Nowa Huta,” explains Izabela Helbin, director of the Krakow Festival Office.
The most beautiful spot in the district welcomes guests straight from The Land of Smiles, including The Countess Maritza, The Csardas Princess, The Gypsy Baron, The Tsarevich and Paganini. Arias and duets from classic operettas by Franz Lehár, Johann Strauss and Imre Kálmán are performed by soloists of the Kraków Opera including Agnieszka Kuk, Małgorzata Korybalska, Tadeusz Szlenkier, Adam Szerszeń and Jarosław Bielecki, accompanied by the Kraków Opera Orchestra under the baton of Tomasz Tokarczyk. The artists also recall the 200th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko falling this year: the Róż Avenue resounds with Jadwiga’s ballad from The Haunted Manor and dashing Highlander dances from Halka. Let’s go to Varaždin… erm, we mean Nowa Huta! (Barbara Skowrońska)

 

For whom: for children, for seniors, for families
Other: open air event, free admission, acceptable for people with disabilities

Rose (Róż) Avenue

This was the most representational place in Nowa Huta. Little wonder that it was here that a monument to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was built.

The avenue owes its name to the roses that were planted here in such copious quantities. Originally, it was to be the street linking the transportation centre (the Central Square) to the main forum of Nowa Huta: plac Ratuszowy, i.e. the Town Hall Square. The latter was never completed, and aleja Róż became a typical road to nowhere, a promenade serving the leisure and amusement of locals. It also became the most important commercial street of the district. Even in the days of the crisis, the shops operating here would be very well-stocked thanks to the state stocks and reserves, creating an illusion of well-being and plenty that was to be available once Poland became fully communist.

At one one end, the avenue was closed by Wzgórza Krzesławickie Hills, and on the other – the faraway Beskidy Mountains. Perhaps this is why a 7-tonne monument to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, presented as a walker moving towards Mount Babia (which he liked so much during his stay in the region prior to the First World War) was put up here in 1973. The founders were “the people of the steelworks”, whose extra (13th) monthly salary and three months’ bonus were forfeited for the purpose in a decision of the management. Little wonder that not everyone was happy with the monument. On the night of 17/18 April 1979 a failed attempt at blowing Lenin up was conducted. Although the powerful explosion had all the windows in the area knocked out, the revolutionary lost no more than a heel. The monument to Lenin was finally removed on 10 December 1989. Two years later, the figure, which was a work of Marian Konieczny, was sold to a Swedish millionaire, for a sum that was below the price of the material it was made of. Today, the Lenin from Nowa Huta can be admired overseas, in a theme park near Stockholm.

In 2023, Rose (Róż) Avenue regained its original appearance and we can once again admire rows of roses and enjoy the greenery.

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