Faust is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, draws upon Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s two-part play based on the German legend of a man who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power.
Gounod’s opera does not attempt to match the thematic breadth or the philosophical sophistication of Goethe’s sprawling masterpiece, concentrating instead on Faust’s romantic encounter with Marguerite (Gretchen in Goethe’s drama) and the tragic results of their liaison.
Faust was staged first time in Bydgoszcz in 1960, directed by Hugo Morycinski, under the musical direction of Zdzislaw Bytnar. The character returned later: in the A. Boit's opera Mephistopheles (directed by Tomasz Konina) and H. Berlioz's dramatic legend The Damnation of Faust (directed by Maciej Prus).
Paweł Szkotak said:
[...] the war background, originally appearing in the libretto without specific temporal references, is the context for the choices made by the characters. It also raises non-obvious but clear associations with the war going on in Ukraine today.
Gounod's version of Opera Nova's Faust is set during World War I in France. Costumes and props have been prepared in accordance with historical realities. The whole play can also be read as Faust's internal struggle.
Exactly 269 years ago, on January 27, a prodigy was born – a true virtuoso and a brilliant composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the musical genius of all time, in the coming months (from January to April) masterpieces such as "The Marriage of Figaro", "Così fan tutte" and "The Magic Flute" will resound in the orchestra pit and on the stage of the Opera Nova. This coming weekend (January 31 (Friday), February 1 and 2 (Saturday and Sunday) we invite y...
"Because for me it is always a celebration, during which you can meet the spirit of the operatic past, its present and you get a chance to run into its future" - writes Ilona Słojewska in the pages of Dziennik Teatralny Kujawy on the occasion of World Opera Day 2024. Because every opera performance is a uniquely constructed work, in which the voice and music give so many emotions that whenever you pass by its building, you feel the vibrations, for which you could visit it every day. And if,...
- „Orfeusz i Eurydyka” Glucka to dla mnie jeden z ciekawszych tytułów operowych - przyznaje Robert Bondara, który jako reżyser i choreograf na nowo odczytuje mit o Orfeuszu, by zabrać nas w mroczne głębiny ludzkiej podświadomości i niczym w thrillerze rozwikłać zagadkę szaleństwa. Listopadową premierę Opery Nova zwiastuje już plakat Diany Marszałek, która jest także autorką scenografii spektaklu. Na „Orfeusza i Eurydykę” zapraszamy 16 XI (premiera), a także 17 i 19 XI 2024 r.
"Don Pasquale" by Gaetano Donizetti, directed by Paweł Szkotak, will return in October!