Description

3 PADEREWSKIS: An Opera in One Act

Music by Jenni Brandon

Libretto by Oliver Mayer

 

Length: 60 Minutes

Roles
ANTONINA: Soprano
IGNACE: Mezzo-soprano
JAN: Tenor
PADEREWSKI: Baritone
SATB Chorus

Instrumentation: Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello

 

Jenni Brandon (composer/conductor) and Oliver Mayer (librettist), are available to work with your ensemble to bring the next performance of
3 PADEREWSKIS to your stage.
For booking information, Contact Jenni.

Look at the Vocal/Piano Score

Synopsis:

At his grave, we meet three versions of Paderewski (one of them female): Ignace the virtuoso pianist/composer, Jan the politician/founder of the Polish nation, and Paderewski the éminence grise/Paso Robles winemaker. Coming together and pulling apart, sifting through a lifetime of memories far too large for any one person, they summon the ghost of Antonina, their beloved long-dead first wife. In so doing, they summon the spirit of Poland itself. A compassionate opera about a man who changed the world not only through his music but through pure passion for life, whose memory instructs our own moment of political and moral crisis.

This work has been commissioned by The Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural program POLSKA100 accompanying Poland’s Centenary of regaining independence. Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual program NIEPODLEGŁA 2017-2022.

Awards:

Winner of The American Prize: Celebrating American Excellence in the Arts. Composition, 2018-2019, in opera/theater/film/dance division

Winner of the Paderewski Cycle: In celebration of the centenary of Poland’s Independence, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute organized a competition for a treatment of a musical play based on the life of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist and composer, politician and spokesman for Polish independence.

Performances:

Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center: Wednesday, November 20^th, 2019, 7:30pm. This presentation is commissioned by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and presented in collaboration with the Kosciuszko Foundation. Co-financing is provided by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland ad part of the multi-annual program NIEPODŁEGA 2017-2022.

Aula Nova Akademii Muzycznej in Poznan, Poland. Part of the Paderewski Festival – October 16-19, 2019 organized by Teatr Muzyczny w Poznaniu

Paderewski Lecture Recital Series presented by the University of Southern California Polish Music Center – Saturday, October 12^th, 2019, 8pm. Newman Recital Hall, USC, Los Angeles

Performances (40 minute version):

USC Kaufman School of Dance – December 1^st, 2018

Paderewski Festival – Paso Robles, California – November 2018

Press:

Meet Jenni Brandon, Whose Opera Is Having Its World Premiere at the Kennedy Center The “Three Paderewskis” composer on women composers—and whether her creation is actually a musical.
By Jane Recker

Examples from 3 PADEREWSKIS