A Winter Journey

Schubert / Müller / Baczyński

In the multimedia performance “A Winter Journey,” music, light art, and video art merge into a powerful total work of art that brings the timeless power of artistic communication to life. The project combines Franz Schubert’s song cycle “Winter Journey,” based on texts by Wilhelm Müller, with the poetic visions of the Polish poet Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, developing a multi-layered reflection on memory, loss, and human existence.

The starting point is Schubert’s iconic cycle, whose musical dialogue between reality and the inner world describes the existential journey of a lonely wanderer. This perspective is expanded by Baczyński’s poetry, whose imagery, marked by oneirism, oscillates between dream and nightmare. His poems—written in the shadow of World War II—open up an additional historical and emotional dimension, linking individual experience with collective memory.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising (1944–2024), the performance builds an artistic bridge between German and Polish cultural history. Under the patronage of the coordinators for German-Polish cooperation, Dietmar Nietan (Member of the German Bundestag) and Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, the project is intended as a contribution to a deeper cultural dialogue in Europe.

The production follows a dramaturgy of transition: between wakefulness and dream, between memory and forgetting, between life and death. Music, movement, and visual elements engage in a continuous exchange. The singing unfolds Schubert’s psychological depth, while the dance makes physical resonances visible, and video and lighting design translate the characters’ inner spaces into visual landscapes.

The result is a poetic narrative of abandonment and transformation—a journey into the borderlands of human experience, where reality and imagination are inextricably intertwined. The confrontation with the dream as both a refuge and a threat becomes a central motif: even in the darkest nightmare, the possibility of awakening remains—yet even the most beautiful dream ends with a return to reality.

In a present marked by social tensions, “Eine Winterreise” makes an artistic statement about the unifying power of art.The production demonstrates how music, poetry, and the performing arts can transcend cultural boundaries and open up new avenues of understanding.

Program

Franz Schubert: Winterreise, Op. 89

24 songs in two sections

In a multimedia performance featuring light and video art, as well as texts by Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński.

Performers

Łukasz Konieczny – bass

Nikolaus Rexroth – piano

Piotr Opawski – video art

The bass Lukasz Konieczny was born in Łódź, Poland, and studied voice at the Academy of Music in Wrocław. He rounded out his training with master classes led by renowned singers and teachers such as Prof. Christian Elsner, Deborah Polaski, Franz Grundheber, Linda Watson, and David Syrus, as well as acting courses at the International Film School Cologne. 

From 2011 to 2019, he was a member of the permanent ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. 

His repertoire includes roles such as the Mozart roles Bartolo (“Le nozze di Figaro”), Masetto (“Don Giovanni”), Zuniga (Bizet’s “Carmen”), Crespel/Luther (Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann”), Rocco (Beethoven’s “Fidelio”), Baron Douphol (Verdi’s “La traviata”), Sparafucile (Verdi’s “Rigoletto”), Banco (Verdi’s “Macbeth”), Bonzo (Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”), Fafner (Wagner’s “Rheingold” and “Siegfried”), Hunding (Wagner’s “Die Walküre”), Truffaldin (Strauss’s “Ariadne auf Naxos”), and Dr. Behrens in the world premiere of Pawel Mykietyn’s “Der Zauberberg” in Poznań at the Malta Festival and at the Sacrum Profanum Festival in Kraków. Konieczny’s repertoire also includes bass parts in major concert works. 

Guest appearances have taken him, among other roles, to the Handel Festival in Halle as Polifemo in “Acis and Galatea,” to the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg as Rocco, to the Hamburg State Opera as Sparafucile, and to the Munich Opera Festival as Douphol. At the Semperoper in Dresden, Lukasz Konieczny appeared in 2017/18 as Crespel/Luther and Lodovico in Verdi’s “Otello,” and as Re in Verdi’s “Aida” at the Dubai Opera in collaboration with the Warsaw National Opera. In 2019/20, he returned to the Bavarian State Opera as Reinmer von Zweter in Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” and as Sparafucile in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at the Warsaw National Opera. In 2021/22, Lukasz Konieczny appeared once again at the Handel Festival in Halle, among other engagements, as Fabbricio in Handel’s pastiche “Caio Fabbricio.”

In addition, Konieczny has participated in numerous CD recordings, including Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (Fafner, Hunding) together with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Axel Kober, and the little-known oratorio “The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Felix Nowowiejski (in the role of the Father). This recording was nominated for the Polish Fryderyk Award in 2022.

Most recently, Lukasz Konieczny has appeared as Rocco in *Fidelio* at the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk, as Sarastro in *The Magic Flute* at the German Language Festival at the Bad Lauchstädt Theater, as Colline in Puccini’s *La bohème* at the National Opera in Warsaw, and as Fafner in Wagner’s *Siegfried* at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, in “Rheingold” and “Siegfried” during the Wagner Days at Müpa Budapest under the baton of Ádám Fischer and in the premiere of “Rheingold” at the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore; as Betto di Signa in the premiere of “Gianni Schicchi” at the National Theater Weimar; in the staged production of Schubert’s “Winterreise” at the “Into The Open” in Berlin as well as at the Baltic Opera Festival, as the Father in the world premiere of “Die Trauung” by Zygmunt Krauze at the Poznań Opera, and in “Salome” at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.  

Lukasz Konieczny’s current engagements include the role of the Commendatore in the premiere of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” (Salzburg State Theater), as James Vane in the world premiere of Elzbieta Sikora’s opera “Dorian Gray” at the Teatr Wielki in Poznań, as Quichotte in Massenet’s “Don Quichotte” at the Wrocław Opera, as Fafner in “Siegfried” in Singapore, and as Trulove in the premiere of Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” at the Stadttheater in Giessen.

Nikolaus Rexroth, pianist and cultural manager, studied at the Hanns Eisler School of Music, the Berlin University of the Arts, and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He performs regularly in venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin, and the Alte Oper Frankfurt, as well as at festivals across Germany, France, Italy, and Georgia. As a soloist, he has collaborated with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and conductors including Gerd Albrecht, Lothar Zagrosek, Michael Sanderling, and Dmitri Liss. His repertoire also includes major song cycles by Beethoven, Schumann, and Schubert, alongside a wide range of chamber music programs. Today he serves as Deputy Orchestra Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, is a board member of Classical:NEXT, and is the founder of the European festival Into the Open.

The project was developed with support from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation, and the State of Berlin.

Its performance at CULTURAMA FEST is supported by the Polish Institute and The Friedrich Ebert Foundation Bulgaria.