Celebrating French Baroque: The 4th Polish Royal Opera Festival

The 4^th Baroque Festival of the Polish Royal Opera is about to begin, this time filled with the refined elegance of French composers’ music. The festival will open with the premiere of the opera “Titon et l’Aurore” by Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, directed by Natalia Babińska and conducted by Krzysztof Garstka. Across three performances (October 4, 5, and 7, at the Royal Theatre in the Old Orangery of the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw), artists of the Polish Royal Opera will weave a musical tale of Titon, a shepherd bound by mutual love with Aurora, the goddess of dawn.

On Saturday, October 11, audiences will be enchanted by the sweet cantatas from the cycle “Les quatre saisons” by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. The Palace on the Isle at the Łazienki Królewskie Museum in Warsaw – an enchanting historic setting – will host a captivating performance by Olga Pasiecznik, Adam Dobek, and the Early Music Ensemble of the Polish Royal Opera, Capella Regia Polona. Then, on October 12, the same distinguished venue will welcome one of the most gifted harpsichordists of his generation, Maciej Skrzeczkowski, who will lead the audience into the exquisite world of the French style.

The festival will conclude with the Grand Final Concert at the Great Assembly Hall in the Royal Castle in Warsaw, featuring works by the most renowned masters of the Sun King’s era – including one of the great motets by Richard Delalande, “Super flumina Babylonis,” “Suite en trio e minore” by Marin Marais, and the radiant and triumphant “Te Deum” by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.