Director Mariusz TRELIŃSKI’s latest project is an opera by Thomas Adès, adapted from a libretto by Philip Hensher, entitled POWDER HER FACE. The premiere took place at Warsaw National Opera House on 5 May 2015. It will be produced by LA MONNAIE at the HALLES DE SCHAERBEEK from 22 September until 3 October 2015.

>>> Hall de Schaerbeek (Rue Royale-Sainte-Marie 22, 1030 Brussels) – see map
>>> 22, 24, 25, 27, 29 & 30 September, 02 & 03 October
>>> €112 | €69
Surtitles in French / Dutch

Music direction – Alejo Pérez
Direction – Mariusz TRELIŃSKI
Set design – Boris Kudlička
Costumes – Marek Adamski
Lightnings – Felice Ross
Video – Bartek Macias
Dramaturgy – Krystian LADA
Singers – Allison Cook, Peter Coleman-Wright, Leonardo Capalbo, Kerstin Avemo
Orchestra – La Monnaie symphony orchestra

POWDER HER FACE is a Chamber opera in two acts and eight scenes for 4 singers and 15 players. Premiere Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham (Cheltenham Music Festival), 1/07/1995

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On Saturday 19 September, the performances were preceded by an audience with the director as part of the IMMERSION cycle. And just this once, in light of the subject matter, the event will take place in a former hôtel de rendez-vous, the famous Hôtel Le Berger.

>>> Hôtel Le Berger (rue du Berger 24, 1050 Brussels) – see the map
>>> Satursday 19 September 2015 – 20:00
>>> €10 | €7,5 | Free of charge

Here’s what La Monnaie has to say about the event: “Plunge into the artistic universe of Mariusz TRELIŃSKI, at the heart of which lies his fascination for the great female figures who are ever-present in his work, be it opera or cinema. By delving into the intrigue of ‘Powder Her Face’, itself inspired by a sexual scandal in the 1960’s and the female incarnation of Don Juan, this evening will allow the audience to discover what inspires the Polish director, amongst other things.”
Guests: Mariusz TRELIŃSKI, Béatrice DELVAUX (journalist for Le Soir), Laurent DE SUTTER (philosopher, writer, professor at the VUB), Béa ERCOLLINI (director of Elle Belgium), Agnieszka GRAFF (essayist, feminist writer and militant for human rights) and Isabelle TILMANT (psychologist, psychotherapist).
The evening provided those present with the opportunity to reflect on issues in society linked to the female condition, feminism and female infidelity. Along with the discussions, extracts from major films and operas by Mariusz Treliński will be screened. Treliński will also be talking about the things he has read and the people he has encountered that have left a lasting impression on him.

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Born in 1962 in Warsaw, Mariusz TRELIŃSKI studied film at Łódź Film School (PWSFTViT). His first film, Zad wielkiego wieloryba, which was commissioned for television, came out in 1987. His next film was an instant success. Its title was Pożegnanie Jesieni (Farewell to Autumn, the second novel by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, also known as Witkacy, which was published in Poland in 1927). The film was presented at the Venice International Film Festival and received the prize from the Chairman of the Cinematographic Committee for a first film. In Poland, he was presented with the best debut award from the Ministry of Culture, as well as the Andrzej Munk prize. Łagodna, his second film for cinema, this time adapted from a work by Dostoyevsky, won him broad national acclaim.Egoiści, released in 2000, is his latest film to date.
The director of music clips and advertisements, he has also worked for the theatre since 1993, and for the opera since 1995. Four years later, he began working with the set designerBoris Kudlička, a collaboration which continues and the fruits of which can be seen inManon Lescaut. His production of Król Roger in 2000 earned him the Karol Szymanowski prize the same year (the opera was presented in concert in Brussels in September 2011 > see our archives). He reprised this opera, in a new version, in 2006 at Wrocław opera. Profoundly inspired by Giacomo Puccini, Treliński directed Madame Butterfly in Warsaw in 1999. The critical success was such that Plácido Domingo invited him to reprise the production in 2001 at the Washington National Opera (at the Kennedy Center), and then again in 2006: on this occasion, the orchestra was led by the maestro himself. In 2001, Treliński received the Paszport Polityki prize for his operatic productions. He also directed Verdi’s Othello (2001), Eugène Onéguine by Tchaïkovsky (2002, 2011), Mozart’s Don Giovanni (2002, 2003, 2008, 2011), Puccini’s La Bohême (2006, 2007),Boris Godounov by Moussorgski (2008, 2009), Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (2008, 2009), Verdi’s La Traviata (2010), Turandot by Puccini (2011) and The Flying Dutchman by Wagner (2012).
From May 2005 until August 2006, he was the artistic director of the Teatr Wielki, Warsaw’s national opera, a function which he resumed in October 2008.

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