Three concert performances, two plays and two recitals with one common denominator. The Opera Rara Kraków festival returns to us at the time of carnival to remind us that openness and the ability to be enthralled by beauty are the most important things in interacting with art. This year's programme will be braced by presentations of outstanding voices: Ian Bostridge at the opening event (he will be accompanied on piano by Piotr Anderszewski – what a duo!) and Matthias Goerne at the closing event. Both of these outstanding singers will draw on Schumann’s most famous song cycle Dichterliebe composed to poems by Heine. Works of German Romanticism will also be presented in Elegy. Brahms – a play with script and direction by Krystian Lada, who treated Schicksalslied and Nänie as a starting point for reflecting on how much we are prepared to sacrifice to fulfil our own ambitions. It is worth noticing that Capella Cracoviensis will play 19th-century music on period instruments or their copies, which is still rare on world stages. ‘This will make our Brahms sensual and full of human passions, not a marble figure,’ the organisers announce. The Fairy Queen will also find its way to the stage – a staging of Purcell's opera-masque is being prepared specially for the occasion by Cezary Tomaszewski, and it is not a bit surprising that, at the time of writing, one of the three evenings with this title has already been sold out. Mozart's Mitridate, the fruit of the then 14-year-old composer's first trip to Italy, will be given a concert performance full of vocal fireworks with Philippe Jaroussky, one of the greatest countertenors of our time, this time making his conducting debut in Kraków. Leading a performance of Mozart's opera was his dream, which makes us all the more eager to hear the results! The operatic feast will also include sophisticated French dishes: Lully's Alceste, performed by the Les Epopées ensemble and featuring Claire Lefilliâtre in the title role, and Rameau's Dardanus under the direction of Marcin Świątkiewicz. The first work was last played in Poland over 30 years ago, while the second will be the Polish premiere – and there could hardly be a better point to the announcement of the festival that declares its concern for rarely performed operas already in its name.

2 February 2024, Sunday, 7pm
Kraków Philharmonic
Robert Schumann Dichterliebe
Béla Bartók Bagatelles
Ian Bostridge tenor
Piotr Anderszewski piano

8 February 2024, Saturday, 6pm
ICE Kraków / S2
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mitridate concert version
Zachary Wilder – Mitridate
Rebecca Bottone – Aspasia
Joanna Sojka – Sifare
Rafał Tomkiewicz – Farnace
Dorota Szczepańska – Ismene
Krzysztof Lachman – Marzio
Joanna Zaucha – Arbate
Capella Cracoviensis
Philippe Jaroussky conductor

11 February 2024, Tuesday, 6pm
Kraków Philharmonic
Jean-Baptiste Lully Alceste concert version
Claire Lefilliâtre – Alceste
Jérôme Boutillier – Alcide
Cyril Auvity – Admète
Frédéric Caton – Lycomède, Charon, Un Homme désolé
Camille Poul – Céphise, Une Femme affligée
Léo Vermot-Desroches – Lycas, Phérès, Alecton, Apollon
Geoffroy Buffière – Cléante, Straton, Pluton, Éole
Cécile Achille – Proserpine, Diane, Thétis
Les Epopées
Stéphane Fuget artistic direction

12 February 2024, Wednesday, 6pm
13 February 2024, Thursday, 6pm
Kraków Philharmonic
Jean-Philippe Rameau Dardanus concert version
Antonin Rondepierre – Dardanus
Sophie Junker – Amour, Iphise
Tomáš Král – Teucer, Isménor
Jarosław Kitala – Anténor
Anna Zawisza – Vénus
Sylwia Olszyńska – Bergère, Premier Songe, Une Phrygienne, Un Plaisir
Sebastian Szumski – Troisième Songe, Un Phrygien
Bartosz Gorzkowski – Deuxième Songe
Festival Orchestra
Marcin Świątkiewicz conductor

14 February 2024, Friday, 7pm
15 February 2024, Saturday, 5pm
16 February 2024, Sunday, 5pm
Łaźnia Nowa Theatre
Henry Purcell The Fairy Queen
Cezary Tomaszewski direction
Ingrida Gapova soprano
Aleksandra Żakiewicz soprano
Anna Koehler soprano
Natalia Kawałek mezzo-soprano
Vincenzo Capezzuto countertenor
Artur Plinta countertenor
Karol Kozłowski tenor
Zbigniew Malak tenor
Jakub Borgiel bass
Michał Dembiński bass
Festival Orchestra
Ana Liz Ojeda Hernandez musical direction

21 February 2024, Friday, 7pm
22 February 2024, Saturday, 5pm
23 February 2024, Sunday, 5pm
Łaźnia Nowa Theatre
Elegy. Brahms
Johannes Brahms:
Symphony No. 1 in C minor
Alto-Rhapsodie
Gesang der Parzen
Schicksalslied
Nänie
Krystian Lada script direction set design
Łukasz Misztal set design co-operation
Natalia Kitamikado costumes
Aleksandr Prowaliński lights
Wojciech Grudziński choreography
Wojciech Rodak director’s assistent
Justyna Rapacz alto
Capella Cracoviensis
Jan Tomasz Adamus conductor

24 February 2024, Monday, 7pm
Juliusz Słowacki Theatre
Robert Schumann Dichterliebe
Johannes Brahms Vier Lieder nach Gedichten von Heinrich Heine
Johannes Brahms Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 32
Matthias Goerne baritone
Bernadette Bartos piano