A press conference was held on 4 January 2019 at the Warsaw opera house to discuss the objectives of the Stanisław Moniuszko bicentenary programme. In attendance were Professor Piotr Gliński, Polish deputy PM and minister of culture, Waldemar Dąbrowski, general manager of the Polish National Opera who was appointed the culture minister’s representative in charge of the bicentenary celebrations, Małgorzata Małaszko-Stasiewicz, director of Polish Radio 2, Maxymilian Bylicki, director of the Institute of Music and Dance in Warsaw, Dr Daniel Cichy, director of PWM Edition and members of the Honorary Council.

The attendees emphasised Stanisław Moniuszko’s great contribution to Polish culture, stressing the need for promoting his oeuvre. Professor Gliński underlined that 2019 has been made the Year of Stanisław Moniuszko both by the Polish Sejm and by UNESCO, at the request of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus.

Moniuszko’s artistically exquisite work is all the more worth giving publicity to since he is mainly known as the composer of Halka and The Haunted Manor, while the reminder of his operas, art songs and sacred pieces are largely forgotten.

The concept of the celebrations was worked out by the programme committee in cooperation with the regional coordinators. Bicentenary events will be taking place across Poland. The country’s main opera houses are preparing to put on new productions of the composer’s operas, including the Vilnius version of Halka (Polish National Opera), Paria (Poznań Opera House), The Countess (Baltic Opera, Gdańsk), and Flis(Silesian Opera, Bytom). Halka will also be staged in Vienna (a coproduction of the Polish National Opera and Theater an der Wien).

The bicentenary programme includes educational and academic events, the latter including the International Moniuszko Congress at the Gdańsk Academy of Music. On 5 May whole Poland will be celebrating the composer’s birthday with a variety of festivities.

The Polish ministry of culture has earmarked the sum of PLN 2,996,600 to be granted to 48 beneficiaries as part of the Moniuszko 2019 – Promesa grant programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance (IMiT) to support artistic, academic, educational, documentary and popularising projects in Poland and abroad. In total, 246 grant applications were submitted, 232 of which met the formal requirements. The list of successful applications was published on 2 January 2019.

Moreover, as part of the Muzyczny Ślad (Musical Trace) programme, the ministry will also grant PLN 3,402,970 to support 81 publishing projects, including the publication of musical recordings, sheet music, academic papers and popularising texts on the composer. Here is the list of successful applications.

Polish Radio 2, popularly known as Dwójka, will air a series of programmes connected with the composer. Starting on 7 January 2019, the late morning show Kanon Dwójki (Dwójka's Canon) will play all Moniuszko songs in daily instalments. On 9 January 2019 the station will launch Moniuszko – historia prawdziwa (Moniuszko: the true story) hosted by Piotr Matwiejczuk

PWM Edition will release a series of performance materials, annotated editions of source materials and correspondence, including operas, piano pieces, an anthology of Moniuszko’s most beautiful songs, an anthology of Moniuszko’s songs with texts by foreign poets and the opera Moniuszko à Paris written by Andrzej Kwieciński commissioned by the Polish National Opera.

The Bicentenary Programme will officially open on Saturday, 5 January 2019 at the Teatr Wielki, the Warsaw opera house, with a concert performance of Halka under Fabio Biondi. The concert will be aired live by Polish Radio 2.

Preceding the concert, at 2 p.m., the Central Railway Station in Warsaw will be officially named for Stanisław Moniuszko.

Until 3 March 2019 you may visit the exhibition VIVA MONIUSZKO! at the Teatr Wielki's Opera Gallery. The opera house has also opened the Moniuszko Lounge, a space specifically devoted to Moniuszko and his music tailored to the needs and expectations of today’s audiences. The lounge will be open throughout 2019.

All bicentenary events will be listed at moniuszko200.pl.