Tomasz Konina

Tomasz Konina

Born	(1972-06-23)23 June 1972
Died	26 August 2017(2017-08-26) (aged 45)
Citizenship	Polish
Occupation(s)	Director (theatre and opera), stage designer
Website	tomaszkonina.com

Tomasz Konina (23 June 1972 – 26 August 2017^[1]) was a Polish theatre and opera director and stage designer.

Biography

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1972, Konina graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw in 1996.

He made both his theatre and opera debut in 1998: Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at the Teatr Ateneum in Warsaw and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro at the Wrocław Opera.

In 2002 he was granted the scholarship of Vilar Young Artists Programme (presently: Jette Parker Young Artists Programme)^[2] at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London.

Graduate of the University of Economics in Wrocław (Managerial Postgraduate Studies on Business Management, Institute of Contemporary Management, at the Faculty of Management, 2013).^[3]

From 2007 to 2015 he was the artistic and executive director of the Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole.^[4]

Opera, operetta and music productions

2000 – Rossini's Tancredi, Polish National Opera in Warsaw (with Ewa Podleś in title role, under music direction of Alberto Zedda)
2001 – Boito's Mefistofele, Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz
2002 – Beethoven's Fidelio, Grand Theatre, Poznań
2004 – Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Grand Theatre, Łódź
2005 – Verdi's Macbeth, Grand Theatre, Łódź
2005 – Lehar's The Merry Widow, Music Theatre in Łódź
2006 – Verdi's La traviata, Wrocław Opera
2007 – Be like Callas (based on own scenario), Music Theatre in Łódź
2013 – Verdi's Falstaff, Grand Theatre, Poznań
2014 – Boito's Mefistofele, Cracow Opera
2015 – Strauss's The Gypsy Baron, Grand Theatre, Łódź^[5]^[6]
2015 – Boito's Mefistofele z Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
2017 – Verdi's La forza del destino, Silesian Opera, Bytom^[7]

Konina directed many works which had never been staged in Poland before:

2002 – Debussy's Pelléas and Mélisande, Polish National Opera, Warsaw
2003 – Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims, Polish National Opera, Warsaw (with Ewa Podleś as Marchesa Melibea, under music direction of Alberto Zedda)
2005 – Ullmann's The Emperor of Atlantis, Warsaw Chamber Opera^[8]
2005 – Bernstein's Candide, Grand Theatre, Łódź
2010 – Ptaszynska's The Lovers From the Valldemosa Monastery, Grand Theatre, Łódź

Theatre productions

2001 – Suassuna's A Dog's Will, Cyprian Kamil Norwid Theatre in Jelenia Góra
2008 – Schimmelphennig's For a Better World, Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole
2008 – Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole
2009 – Dumas's The Lady of the Camellias, Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole
2009 – Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole
2009 – Iwaszkiewicz's The Maids of Wilko, Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole
2010 – Andersen's The Snow Queen, Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole
2013 – Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Jan Kochanowski Dramatic Theater in Opole
2014 – Andersen's The Snow Queen, Teatr Polski in Warsaw

Other

As a manager, he initiated cooperation with a number of important theatre festivals:

Shakespeare's Globe in London
Seoul Performing Arts Festival in Korea
Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre in Georgia
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York
The Studio Players in Istanbul
Teatr International Festival Minsk in Belarus
Istanbul Theatre Festival in Turkey
Uijeongbu International Music Theatre Festival in Korea
Eurothalia Theatre Festival Timișoara in Romania

As director of the theatre in Opole he invited the cooperation of many famous artists like: Agnieszka Holland, Maja Kleczewska, Aleksandra Konieczna, Monika Strzępka, Michał Borczuch [pl], Mikołaj Grabowski [pl], Mikołaj Mikołajczyk [pl], Paweł Passini [pl], Jacek Poniedziałek, Anna Smolar [pl], Cezary Tomaszewski [pl] and many others. He has enabled many theatrical debuts for people who have later become recognised artists, such as Krzysztof Garbaczewski [pl], Paweł Świątek and Jędrzej Piaskowski.^{[citation needed]}

Sources

Tomasz Konina in Polish Theatre Encyclopedia
Tomasz Konina in e-teatr.pl
Portal Operabase – list of Tomasz Konina opera productions
List of Tomasz Konina productions in Polish National Opera Archives
Portrait of Tomasz Konina in Dziennik Teatralny (first Polish theatre portal)
Scores written by geniuses are always contemporary – conversation with Tomasz Konina (English version), Trubadur, 3(20)/2001

References

^ Warszawa. Nie żyje Tomasz Konina
^ "Former Young Artists — Royal Opera House". www.roh.org.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
^ "Wyborcza.pl". opole.wyborcza.pl. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
^ "Wyborcza.pl". opole.wyborcza.pl. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
^ "Spektakle – Teatr Wielki w Łodzi". www.operalodz.com. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
^ "Review of Zingerbaron by Tomasz Konina in Lodz".
^ Borszcz, Sabina. "Moc przeznaczenia – zobacz zdjęcia z premiery!". silesion.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2017-04-22.
^ Bristiger, Michał (March 5, 2005). "Viktor Ullmann's Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis)" (PDF). Muzykalia. XIII.