Five questions for… mezzo-soprano Małgorzata Walewska – the first ambassador of #POLISHOPERANOW
Małgorzata Walewska has more than thirty years of experience on opera stage. For the last decade, she has been on the jury of the popular TV show “Your Face Sounds Familiar”. She has just become the first ambassador of www.polishoperanow.com
It is the first time you have become someone’s ambassador. Why have you agreed to collaborate with #PolishOperaNow?
For a very simple reason – for the sake of opera. I am happy I can use my influence to promote the website promoting the world close to me.
A long time ago, you said in an interview for Onet.pl: “Any way of promoting opera is valuable.”
And I still think so. There is not enough cultural information on popular news portals. #PolishOperaNow meets the needs of the modern world. They are online, including social social media through which everyone communicates nowadays and which have become the source of news.
So you are reading us?
Of course! I was amazed by – and found it very helpful – how #PolishOperaNow brings together various important things in one place. Let me give you an example. I was interested in the production of “Madama Butterfly” from the Bregenz Festival. You wrote it would be screened in movie theatres. I was always on the road, and on your website I found information about where in Poland I could watch the opera and at what time. And the link for tickets saved me a lot of time.
Our slogan is: Who? What? Where? When?
I love it! #PolishOperaNow do not evaluate, they inform. They provide details, and the readers have to decide for themselves whether they want to attend the show. In my opinion, Polish media devote too little space to opera.
Isn’t it because opera is perceived as quite an elitist art, a genre for connoisseurs?
I don’t agree with that! After all, opera is for everyone! You need to be able to encourage people to delve into the world of opera. Today, theaters devote a lot of energy to building bonds with young audiences, and performances are adapted to contemporary times, realities and audience expectations. Modern opera combines the brilliant principles of vocal art developed in the 19th century with a new directing approach. A great example is our national pride – Jakub Józef Orliński, who sings like the famous castrato Farinelli and dances like a B-boy!