Giovanni Battista PERGOLESI
LA SERVA PADRONA
INTERMEZZO IN DUE PARTI
Libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico
Founding of "la compagnia sassone" and events
June 2, 2023 at 6:00 p.m
PERŁA ŻELISZOWA (former Evangelical Langhans Church in Giersdorf, Bolesławiec, Poland)
As part of the 34th Silesian Music Festival
June 3, 2023, 5:00 p.m
GOSSWITZ MANSION
Ringstrasse 8, Reichenbach an der Oberlausitz
Admission free, donations welcome
FOUNDED BY
The Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony
The European Union (mobility program "Culture moves Europe")
One of the most famous intermezzi of the genre "Opera Buffa" and at the same time one of the best-known works by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736), la "Serva padrona" celebrated its premiere in Napoli in 1733 and has been very popular worldwide ever since popular. It tells the story of the servant Serpina, who, with the help of the servant Vespone, manages to convince the old bachelor Uberto to marry her. So she goes from servant to dame of the house.
In Eleni Ioannidou's production, the 45-minute intermezzo is combined with Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto Op.20 No. 3 (Il Gardelino) for recorder and strings. An important element is the impressive, natural setting of the former evangelical church in Zeliszów, today world-famous as the "Pearl of Zeliszów". The rehearsals and second performance took place in Herrenhaus Gosswitz, near Görlitz.
CAST
UBERTO Mikołaj Bońkowski
SERPINA Elvire Beekhuizen
VESPONE Bogdan Nowak
DAS LAUSITZER BAROCKENSEMBLE
Violins: Mateusz Janus, Kacper Szpot.
Viola: Dominika Garncarz, Double bass: Marcin Bajon
Harpsichord: Adam Piotr Rorat, theorbo: Klaudyna Żołnierek
Solo recorder: SUSAN JOSEPH
Concert master/conductor/cello: SZCZEPAN DEMBINSKI
Director: ELENI TRIADA IOANNIDOU
Costumes: ANNA UTKO
Partner:
Fundacja Twoje Dziedzictwo
Herrenhaus Gosswitz, Reichenbach O/L
biographies
SERPINA
Ubertos servant
Elvire Beekhuizen
Soprano
Dutch lyric coloratura soprano Elvire Beekhuizen graduated from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2012. She was a prizewinner in the Queen Christina Competition, a semi-finalist in the Belvedere Competition and a finalist in the Graun Brothers Competition. Since then she has been increasingly sought after in the opera and oratorio scene for the unparalleled agility and flexibility of her voice and her unique stage personality. Her operatic experience includes some of the most challenging roles such as Morgana in Handel's Alcina, Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Amaranta in Haydn's La Fedelta Premiata, Erasto in Lotti's Giove in Argo, Emmeline and Philidel in Purcell's King Arthur. and Princess Fantasia in Offenbach's "Le Voyage dans La Lune".
Elvire is regularly invited to perform with baroque ensembles and opera companies in Europe such as Apollo Ensemble, Dutch National Opera, Opera2day, BarokOpera Amsterdam, Lausitzer Barockensemble and Ribattuta Musica. With the Apollo Ensemble she has recorded several well-known repertoire pieces, such as the St. John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion and the Messiah, but also less well-known pieces such as the other version of the Brockes Passion, with music by Handel and Telemann among others. She has worked with some of the best conductors and stage directors such as José Darío Innella, David Rabinovich, Andreas Küppers, Nynke van den Bergh, Vaughan Haul, Frédérique Chauvet and Sybrand van der Werf.
Elvire has a great curiosity about the people around her and she is enthusiastic about artistic and personal development in general. She is involved in the international Handel Opera Academy as a vocal coach and stage coach.
UBERTO
An old bachelor
Mikołaj Bońkowski
Basso cantante
Mikołaj Bońkowski is a graduate of the Vocal Department of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław in the class of prof. Bogdan Makal and Hochschule fur Musik in Dresden in the class of prof. Edward Randall. He made his stage debut in 2017 in the role of Bartolo in the academic production of "The Marriage of Figaro" at the Wrocław Opera. During his studies, he gained valuable experience in performances directed by Roberto Skolmowski, creating the roles of Charly in Karol Szymanowski's "Lottery for Husbands" and the title role in "Don Giovanni" by W.A. Mozart, and at the annual Moniuszko Festivals in Kudowa-Zdrój he played the leading characters in the performances "Karmaniol", "Ideał" and "New Don Quixote" by Moniuszko, which was also staged on the stage of the Warsaw Chamber Opera. In 2021, he performed the title parts in the operas "Das Wichtelchen" by Max Marschalk (Ars Augusta - Museum G. Hauptmann House in Jelenia Góra) and "Oniros" by Alberto Arroyo (HfM Dresden). In 2021, he played the character of the Mandarin in G. Puccini's Turandot at one of the largest opera festivals in Europe - Oper im Steinbruch in Austria, and in 2022 he performed the double role of the Archon and the Elder in the opera "Greek Passion" by B. Martinů at the Theater Osnabrück and Tsar Ivan in "Candide" by L. Bernstein at the Lausitz Festival. His achievements include many concert, oratorio and cantata performances, e.g. solo parts in "Messiah" by G.F. Handel, "Weihnachtsoratorium" by J.S. Bach, "Descensus Christi" by R. Augustine, "Magnificat" by M.J. Żebrowski. He has collaborated with many great conductors, including G. Guerrero, P. McCreesh, S. Cambreling, M. Yates, and A. Franków-Żelazny. Active member of Europa Chor Akademie in Görlitz. From May 2018 is he an actor/singer of the "Song of the Goat Theatre", with whom he performed at the Israel Festival in Jerusalem, FITS Festival in Sibiu, Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk, Warsaw Theater Meetings, Enter Festival with Leszek Możdżer and important scenes in the world, among others Great Theater of China in Shanghai, Zellerbach Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, and Shakespeare's Globe in London.
Mikołaj's previous cooperation with Ars Augusta eV:
- Wichtel in Max Marschalk's monoact "Das Wichtelchen" in the Gerhart Hauptmann House Museum in Jelenia Góra (2020)
- Recital in the Museum Carl-und-Gerhart-Hauptmann Haus in Szklarska Poręba accompanied by Mateusz Słowikowski (2021)
VESPONE
his servant
Bogdan Nowak
mime
Born on May 7th, 1958 in Bunzlau/Bolesławiec, his hometown must have seemed cramped and dusty before long. Immediately after leaving school he was drawn to Warsaw to join the cinema and theater makers. This is 1978, the same year the polish militia murdered his father. But this Warsaw, this whole crooked Poland back then, is getting narrower and narrower and against all the old-fashioned ways, "those up" seems to have only water cannons and gunfire against those "down there". Bogdan Nowak went to France in 1981: two years later he entered the renowned Paris school "École Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris" with the mime Marcel Marceau. After years of training, from 1985 he worked as an assistant in Marcel Marceau's company, also on numerous trips abroad all over the world, and together with him he organized courses for the art of pantomime. After all, Bogdan Nowak caused a sensation with his own tour program "Spirale". And at some point the tide had turned at home in Poland. So he comes back in 2000 to an emerging city Bolesławiec that has wanted to be redesigned. Now he wants to keep up himself and make part of this change. He finds old and new friends, a vacant villa and first of all founds a hotel, which is still an attractive place to spend the night in a good and cultural way. In the basement of the villa he also runs a cultural pub and restaurant "Paris Pub" (Piwnica Paryska). But in order not to have to experience any more "dust" in the future, it is important to keep the source for the permanent flow of ideas bubbling.
In 2006, Bogdan Nowak came up with what is probably the most remarkable idea since his return: out of love for clay, the basic material for ceramics, enthusiasts could have their bodies damply coated and sprayed with clay and the whole thing to create parades and performances. So they, the "Glinoludy", the clay people, have been there every August since 2007 as a "Gliniada" parade at the Ceramics Festival in Bolesławiec and at celebrations throughout Europe. Since 2014 they have had their own rousing anthem: "Wszyscy jeseśmy z tej samej gliny" - We are all made of the same clay. (Polish "glina" stands for clay).
One idea and its realization, which always includes the financing, should also be mentioned: the Martin Opitz memorial. Bogdan Nowak initiated it as a tribute to the great German poet and secretary of the Polish king (Nowak's Hotel Ambassada is also located on the side of today's Martin Opitz Street), who also comes from Bolesławiec. So today Bogdan Nowak is something like Opitz back then, an ambassador of Silesian culture. And the journey continues...
(Source: Silesia today "Between Poetry and Ceramics" special print about Bunzlau)
Das LAUSITZER
BAROCKENSEMBLE
Ensemble
The Lausitzer Barockensemble was founded in 2017 in Görlitz-Zgorzelec with musicians from both sides of the Neisse, young artists who share a love of early music and who like to make music together. They deal with the musical history of the region and above all want to bring unknown or forgotten works of the Polish, German or Bohemian Renaissance and Baroque to life, as well as to promote awareness of the European idea and international understanding. Their first performance was dedicated to Georg Philipp Telemann, one of the most important composers of Central German Baroque: the ensemble performed, among other things, as part of the Telemann anniversary in Sorau in June 2017 and in the baroque palaces of Rammenau and Hainewalde in Upper Lusatia.
In 2018, a small trio formation of the ensemble performed Polish and German baroque music compositions in the former evangelical church in Ruszów. The trio also played several chamber concerts at the club's headquarters in Görlitz and also recorded the CD "Telemann-Crossing borders". With five musicians (2 violins, viola, basso continuo), the ensemble has performed several times: in the Baroque Rammenau Palace, in Hainewalde Palace and the Horka Fortified Church, in the Gosswitz mansion, in the OP-ENHEIM Foundation in Breslau with Baroque music by Jewish composers or during the "Entrance of the Oranges" in the Dresden Zwinger and the opening of the Saxon Castle Land in 2019 (Palais in the large garden, Dresden).
The ensemble's concerts in the Bürgersaal Zittau and in the crypt of St. Peter's Church in Görlitz were also very successful. In 2019 the ensemble performed as part of the KUS festival (project INTERREG Poland-Saxony). The premiere in modern times of Antonio Lotti's opera "Giove in Argo" as part of the celebrations for the 300 years since the Planet Festival in September 2019 in the Kurtheater in Bad Salzbrunn and in the Palais in Großer Garten in Dresden was a great success. The project was funded by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony and the Görlitz department store. The opera was repeated in 2020 at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater in Görlitz and the Municipal State and University Library in Dresden, with funding from the Mitteldeutsche Barockmusik eV
The baroque ensemble met in September 2021 at the OP ENHEIM Foundation and recorded the first sound recording of the opera Issipile (Wroclaw, 1724) by the Venetian court composer of the Wroclaw Opera Antonio Bioni and integrated it into a film production of the Theater am Schloss in Szczecin. The project was funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture. The first performance in modern times of this only existing opera by Bioni can still be seen on the Club channel on YouTubewatch, like all other concerts of the ensemble.
Szczepan Dembinski
conductor/concert master
Szczepan Dembinski was born in 1993. At a young age he began historical performance practice of early music and performed with the ensemble Rocal Fuza. In numerous workshops he perfected his skills in rebecu, fiddle and viola da gamba. Together with Rocal Fuza he has won many important awards, including several times at the Schola Cantorum Festival in Kalisz and Bydgoszcz Musical Impressions. He is also a three-time individual prizewinner of the Schola Cantorum. He graduated from the Music Academy "Karol Lipiński" in Wrocław, in Bartosz Kokosza's baroque cello class (2017 - chamber and orchestra profile, 2019 - soloist profile). He also studied with Hilary Metzger and Yaëlle Quincarlet (Pôle Supérieur de Musique de Poitiers – Pôle Aliénor) as part of the Erasmus+ program. He perfected the technique of playing the instrument during master classes with Rachel Podger, Alison McGillivray, Markus Möllenbeck, Ageet Zweistrą and others. He gives concerts as a soloist and chamber musician. He is the founder of Serenissima Res Publica and a member of the following groups: Lausitzer Barockensemble, Ensemble Baroque du Poitou, Oak Brothers, Projekt R&C, Projekt '93 and Green Kore. His artistic work includes several CDs. He is the author of the music for the play "Always Only Night" by Mateusz Barta and a number of chamber music compositions. His busy concert schedule has taken him not only to Poland, but also to Germany, Austria, France, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. He has been concertmaster of the Lausitzer Barockensemble since 2022.
Susan Joseph
recorder
Susan Joseph was born in Leipzig, where she received comprehensive musical training in the subjects clarinet, recorder and piano at the music school "Johann Sebsatian Bach". After graduating from high school, she studied both clarinet/orchestral music with Prof. Wolfgang Mäder and recorder/early music with Prof. Robert Ehrlich at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theater in Leipzig. After the diploma examinations - both with distinction - followed postgraduate studies in clarinet at the Hochschule für Musik "Franz Liszt" in Weimar with Prof. Martin Spangenberg, which she completed in 2005 with the concert exam.
Susan Joseph was a member of the Vogtland Philharmonie Greiz/Reichenbach from 2005 - 2019, initially as deputy principal clarinetist, soon after as principal clarinetist.
Since 2015 she has been living and working in Görlitz as a versatile musician and teacher. With the two instruments clarinet and recorder, she can immerse herself in the most diverse styles of the past 500 years and uses this for numerous projects with changing chamber music ensembles. Among other things, Susan Joseph is a permanent member of the “Lausitz Baroque Ensemble”.
stage director
ELENI TRIADA IOANNIDOU
Producer/Stage director
Born in Breslau and raised in Greece, she completed her singing studies with honors in Volos. The diploma jury included Nicolas Zacharias and Kostas Paschalis, with whom she continued to perfect her voice and interpretation in "Atheneum Konservatorium". In 1998 she won the "Alexandra Triandi" scholarship for talented singers from the "Society of Friends of Music" in Athens, with the help of which she worked in Vienna (University of Music and Performing Arts) and at the famous "Accademia della Scala di Milano “ continued her education in Italy with Leyla Gencer. She was the first prizewinner at the international singing competitions "Giuseppe di Stefano" (Trapani) and "Velluti" (Dolo) and was twice a finalist in the "Voci Verdiane" competition (Busseto). In addition, she completed the biennial course of the European Union "Il Teatro e la Musica", organized by the Academy for Dramatic Art "Silvio d'Amico" in Rome and the Conservatorio di Prato, which dealt with the theatrical dimension of opera.
As a prize winner of the "Giuseppe di Stefano" competition she made her debut in the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" in Maggio Musicale Trapanese and as a prize winner of the "Velluti" the role of Leonora in "Trovatore" and Violetta in "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi.
After her debut in 1999 in Teatro Mancinelli in Orvieto in Puccini's "La Boheme" (role of Mimi) and in Varazze with Ciléa's "Adriana Lecouvreur" and after first small productions with the Milan Chamber Opera as Puccini's "Tosca" and Leonora in Verdi's "Trovatore" , she has appeared in stages such as the Athens State Opera (Contessa in "Nozze di Figaro, 2006), La Scala in Milan (Bianca in "Ugo, Conte di Parigi" by Donizetti 2006 and Fiordiligi in "Cosi fan tutte" in 2008), Teatro Strahler di Milano, Teatro Massimo di Catania, Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo ("Parisina" by Donizetti) etc. and in Germany (Passau) as well as at concerts in Japan, France and Colombia In Munich she appeared with the "Anderem Opernensemble eV" as Euridice in the spectacle "Orpheus - Variations on Love and Death" by Hector Guedes.
She was chosen by Jose Carreras to sing with him at a concert for the Leuchemia Foundation at Megaron Mousikis in Athens.
Since 2015 she has been involved in the production of musical events. She has lived in Görlitz since 2016 and heads the non-profit association "Ars Augusta" to promote art, culture and international understanding. With the association, she is dedicated to researching and presenting the common cultural heritage in the border triangle of Saxony/Bohemia/Silesia. She produced a number of operas and projects and stage-directed two projects for the society: "Wichtelchen" by Max Marschalk and "Schlesischer Apollo" with madrigals by Schütz/Hammerschmidt.
sponsors - PARTNERS
The mobility of the project was funded by the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institut. (Culture moves Europe)
This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.