Stage director, designer, playwright, cultural manager, and professor of Dramatic Arts Academy in Warsaw, Michał Znaniecki, will direct this year's opening show, "Carmina Burana".
Michał Znaniecki was born in Warsaw where he read Theatre Studies, subsequently completing his degree in Bologna and Milano as a student of Umberto Ecco, Georgio Strehler and Thierry Salmon.
His directing career began in 1994 with productions in Poland, France, Belgium, Ireland and Italy followed by Spain, Israel, Argentina and Uruguay. His repertoire balances between classical productions (Verdi, Puccini, and Donizetti), rare compositions (Prokofiev, Mussorgskij, Pergolesi, Mayr) and contemporary opera performances (Szymanowski, Dalla Piccola, Prasqual, Nyman, Berio).
He has produced more than 200 new productions of drama, opera and musical in theatres around the world: Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Teatro di San Carlo Naples, The Israeli Opera, Teatro Cólon Buenos Aires, ABAO/OLBE Bilbao, El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía Valencia. His performances took part in numerous festivals: Rossini Opera Festival/Pesaro, Pergolesi Spontini Festival- Iesi, Opera Wexford Festival, Luglio Musicale Trapanese, Masada Opera Festival, etc. He works with the best soloists: Plácido Domingo, Piotr Beczała, José Cura, Mariusz Kwiecień, Lorin Maazel, Nicola Luisotti, Daniel Oren or Maurizio Benini among others.
Creator of several open-air mega-productions: e.g. "Otello" and "L’elisir d’amore" on the water, "Turandot" and "Un ballo in maschera" in the Olympic Stadium of Wroclaw, "Traviata" and "Carmina Burana" with the Israeli Opera at the Masada Desert, Israel.
During his time as the Artistic Director of the Polish National Opera in Warsaw he created international coproduction platform and began cooperating with various European theatres putting together coproductions around Europe. During his contract as General Manager of The Grand Theatre in Poznań he inspired coproduction department to increase the amount of shows produced from 4 to 10 annually staying within the same public budget and grants. He collaborated with 15 theatres from Poland, Italy, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, Argentina, Uruguay.
He also created Opera Studio Program: master classes for students and graduates of vocal studies. Classes conclude with a production at an opera house. The program has international reach and was conducted in collaboration with Italian opera houses in Pisa, Livorno, Lucca and Ravenna.
From 2017 this Opera Studio program is developed with The Warsaw Chamber Opera and Mozart Junior Festival created by Michał Znaniecki (artistic director).
He still colaborates with several opera houses, festivals and governal institutions as a consultant and specialist of social and cultural international on-line projects.
Znaniecki also works as the General Manager of The Festival Opera Tigre in Argentina and The Kaiola Blue artistic residence. The Festival has become the headquarters for the “opera without borders”. The project uses water and nature as a natural stage. It aims to be extended to several countries around the River Paraná – Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina – with emphasis and references to cultural diversity of the region. The Festival offers theatre and opera performances using the natural area of the island and the aquatic environment of the Paraná River. Audiences enjoy small scale performances and concerts as well as open air opera megaproductions. Festival Opera Tiger became part of the group of important festivals in which water is an essential framework.
Since 2016 Michal Znaniecki is the Ambassador of European Capital of Culture creating a network of workshops and performances which connect cities across the globe, mixes languages, experiences and emotions.
As Director and Project Manager of The Jutropera Foundation Znaniecki has built the international program "The Voice of the Excluded" and "The New Voice" which integrates professional artists and celebrities with social groups excluded from mainstream culture.