In the upcoming season 2022-2023, The Cleveland Opera returns to performing opera live with the new production of Echo in the Woods (Echo w lesie) by the Polish composer Józef Elsner, the teacher of Fryderyk Chopin.

This hilarious comedy will be staged, costumed, performed with an instrumental ensemble, and presented to the audience FREE of charge, in a relaxed atmosphere of the lovely Cultural Gardens of Cleveland. The performance will last up to one hour while the beautiful surrounding can make up the rest of your afternoon and evening.

The performance will start at 6 pm on Sunday, September 11, 2022 at Cleveland Cultural Gardens Centennial Peace Plaza on 1051 Martin Luther King Blvd. Cleveland OH 44108. The Cleveland Opera is grateful to its sponsors: World on Stage at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, in collaboration with the Polish Cultural Garden.

The music and action will transport you to the classical era, with a touch of contemporary spirit in the visuals. With the brilliantly sparkling music of Józef Elsner, opera singers – Dorota Sobieska as Doryna and Andrzej Stec as Lubin – will create a fairyland full of silly humor, while the production is built on the musicianship of a chamber instrumental ensemble.

The world-renowned Maestro Grzegorz Nowak will come from Poland especially to conduct the performance, with:

Konrad Kowal  – violin, concertmaster

Wanda Sobieska – violin/viola

Dorota Sobieska- violin for overture

Philip Formes – clarinet

Julian Sobieski – double bass

Jacek Sobieski – piano/keyboard

Prior to the performance, let us warmly invite you to The Cleveland Opera Homecoming Party on Friday, September 9, 2022 at 6:00 pm, 2022 at Polish-American Cultural Center on 6501 Lansing Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44105 that will introduce you to the life and works of Józef Elsner (1769–1854), as well as to the opera Echo in the Woods 1808. Elsner was a very prolific composer, highly regarded during his days: the transitional time from the Classical era to Romanticism. Maestro Nowak will be the master of ceremonies and our lecturer. Musical highlights and refreshments will brighten up the evening. Also FREE!

In the story, Lubin, the forester, is in the woods one evening when he hears an intriguing voice. Not realizing who it is, he sings back to the unknown beauty. When she responds by flirting, he begins to woo her in earnest. Night has fallen, and it is dark, so the two cannot see each other. He assumes a disguised personality, as does, unbeknown to him, the object of his pursuit. They pledge their happiness as a couple when the moon rises and reveals the mysterious stranger as none other than his own wife, Doryna! The two, at first shocked and upset, realize the irony of their adventure and reconcile in true happiness.

About the Composer: Józef Elsner (1769–1854) may be best known as the teacher of Fryderyk Chopin. But Elsner was a very prolific composer, highly regarded during his days: the transitional time from the Classical era to Romanticism. He composed a great number of masses, offertories, oratorios and cantatas, ballets, operas, other works for the stage, concertos, symphonies, chamber works, and smaller orchestral and instrumental pieces (mainly dances). His oeuvre holds exceptional treasure. One such gem is his comedy Echo w lesie (Echo in the Woods) 1808.