The creators of “The Magic Mountain” received awards from the monthly “Teatr” during yesterday’s ceremony at Klub Komediowy [go to the photo-gallery of the award ceremony]. The Konrad Swinarski Award for best director of the 2014/15 theatre season went to Andrzej Chyra. Paweł Mykietyn received a Special Mention for his music for “The Magic Mountain” and other theatre plays.
We also wish to congratulate the laureates of the Aleksander Zewlerowicz Award: Halina Rasiakówna and Juliusz Chrząstowski.
“Teatr” is the oldest Polish magazine devoted to modern theatre. The jury has recognised the work of Andrzej Chyra by the staging of “The Magic Mountain”, an opera with the music of Paweł Mykietyn, Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk’s libretto and Mirosław Bałka’s stage design. The opera was commissioned by Malta and it premiered during the festival’s 25th edition. The opera will be staged on 15 November during the 17th National Directing Art Festival “Interpretations” in Katowice in the master plays section.
The awards for the 2014/15 theatre season were presented by the following jury: Jacek Cieślak, Łukasz Drewniak, Jacek Kopciński (chairman), Jolanta Kowalska, Wojciech Majcherek and Kalina Zalewska. The Aleksander Zelwerowicz awards for best acting creations in the 2014/15 season were received by: Halina Rasiakówna for her Maja Auersberger in “Woodcutters/Holzfällen” by Thomas Bernhard directed by Krystian Lupa in Teatr Polski in Wrocław, as well as Juliusz Chrząstowski for his Orcia in “Un-Divine Comedy. I WILL TELL GOD EVERYTHING!” by Paweł Demirski directed by Monika Strzępka in Narodowy Stary Teatr in Cracow.
Since 1976 the Konrad Swinarski award has been given to the greatest figures of Polish theatre such as Andrzej Wajda, Jerzy Grotowski, Krystian Lupa, Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Grzegorz Jarzyna and Krzysztof Warlikowski. This year, the other nominees apart from Andrzej Chyra included Ewelina Marciniak for “The Portrait of a Lady” based on a novel by Henry James and Monika Strzępka for “Un-Divine Comedy. I WILL TELL GOD EVERYTHING!”.
Andrzej Chyra graduated from the acting and directing department at PWST in Warsaw. His debut as a director was the play “Z dziejów alkoholizmu w Polsce” [“History of alcoholism in Poland”] in 1994. He is known to the wider public from his roles in films such as “Dług” [“The Debt”], “Komornik”[ “The Bailiff”], “W imię” [“In the name of”] or “Zmruż oczy” [“Squint your eyes”]. In 2012 he staged the critically acclaimed “Gracze” [“Players”] by Dymitr Szostakowicz and Krzysztof Meyer in Opera Bałtycka in Gdańsk.
The “Teatr” magazine Special Mention was granted in previous years to figures such as Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, Andrzej Łapicki, Danuta Szaflarska and Jerzy Jarocki. Paweł Mykietyn is the first composer to have received this distinction. He composed music for Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa, Polish Radio, and Warsaw Autumn festival. He is the author of the music to many of Krzysztof Warlikowski’s plays. Since 2008 he has been the musical director of Nowy Teatr in Warsaw. As a theatre music composer he cooperated repeatedly with directors such as Piotr Cieślak, Paweł Łysak and Grzegorz Jarzyna.
“The Magic Mountain” is a co-production of Malta Festival Poznań, Krakowskie Biuro Festiwalowe, Polish Radio II.