 A lawyer by education, a manager of Polish opera theatres by profession. For more than 30 years, he ran a number of opera houses in succession: in Wroc³aw, £ód¼, Warsaw (1991-94), and Poznań. He has created many outstanding and seldom staged productions of the classical repertoire (“Fidelio", "Norma", "Mephistopheles", "Macbeth", "Ernani", "La Juive", "Die Walküre", "Parsifal", "Andrea Chénier") as well as works by contemporary composers (including Penderecki, Landowski, Britten, Szostakiewicz, Orff, Theodorakis).
He has directed more than 300 opera and ballet premieres, and these performances were presented on many occasions at international festivals, including those in Xanten, Carcassone, Messina, Moscow, Hanover, Malaga, Thessalonica.
Being one of the founders of the Polish Dance Theatre, he attaches great importance to ballet art in the repertoire he chooses, and promotes young choreographers. He organized the international £ód¼ Ballet Meetings and the L±dek Ballet Summer. For several years now, he has been the director of the Moniuszko Festival in Kudowa, the Ave Maria Festival in Czelad¼, and the Hoffmann Festival in Poznań. He is a judge at Polish and international vocal competitions, and also writes as a journalist. He has been an active promoter of issues important to the operatic community through his activity in the Opera Friends Society in Poznań and the Association of Musical Youth in Warsaw. At present he is active in the Council for Culture affiliated to the Polish President, and in the Theatre Managers' Association.
He has been a long-time initiator of Opera Workshops, which he runs at the theatres under his management. These workshops draw crowds of music lovers wanting to learn more about opera and ballet art through personal contacts with the director and his artists.
As the director of the Teatr Wielki in Poznań, he promoted the idea of taking opera and ballet to other cities in the region and around the country. The permanent repertoire of the Poznań theatre under his management included as many as 35 operas and 11 ballet productions.
As of 6 May 2005, S³awomir Pietras is the general director of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera (until January 31, 2006).
(Photo: Juliusz Multarzyński)
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