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"3 Paderewskis" - world premiere at the Kennedy Center

Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at 7:30pm

The Kosciuszko Foundation Presents: 

3 PADEREWSKIS

Wednesday, November 20, 2019, 7:30 p.m.

Terrace Theater

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20566

Following performances in Los Angeles, California, and Poznan, Poland, 3 PADEREWSKIS will have its official world premiere on the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater stage in Washington, D.C. Produced by The Kosciuszko Foundation and The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the performance is part of a celebration of the 101st anniversary of Poland's Independence and the centenary of Polish - American diplomatic relations. 

Composed by Jenni Brandon; Libretto by Oliver Mayer; Directed by David Bridel      

3 PADEREWSKIS is a 60-minute opera in one act that uniquely explores the life and work of pianist, composer, diplomat, and the first Prime Minister of the modern Polish state, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. The piece imagines three versions of the great Paderewski (one of them female) as they sift through a lifetime of memories far too vast for any one person—Ignacy the virtuoso pianist and composer, Jan the politician and statesman, and Paderewski the éminence grise and Paso Robles winemaker. Coming together and pulling apart, they summon the ghost of Antonina, Paderewski's beloved, long-dead first wife. In so doing, they release the spirit of a better Poland. A compassionate opera about a man whose greatness lay not only in his art and his politics but in pure passion for life, whose memory instructs our own moment and political and moral crisis.  

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