Forest Opera

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The Forest Opera (Polish Opera Leśna, German Die Waldoper) is the large, open-air amphitheatre located in Sopot, Poland, amidst surrounding moraine forests, probably quite unique in the whole world. Its characteristic are: good acoustics, the huge (50 meters wide) stage, the orchestra pit capable to contain up to 130 musicians, the house with over 4400 seats, both the house and the stage are now (since 1964) covered with the hanging plastic roof as the protection against elements.

In spite of its name, amphitheatre is used currently mostly as the place for Sopot International Song Festival and for other light shows, only sporadically presenting real operatic performances. But in history, mainly between World War I and World War II it was famous for festivals of mostly Wagnerian operas and music dramas which was held there each year, with many famous opera singers, conductors and musicians willing to perform, events being prized and described by many as the Bayreuth of the North, in fact successfully rivaling Bayreuth Festival itself.

After World War II the Baltic State Opera performed there few performances each year between 1961 and 1977, and only very sporadically outside this range.

Each year The Sopot Festival takes place at the Forest Opera. Since 1964, it has been a song contest organised by the Ministry of Culture and Art in cooperation with the Polish Artistic Agency ‘PAGART’. It’s almost impossible to find artists from that time who haven’t performed here. It was the most prestigious music event in the Eastern Europe, transmitted to the eastern block countries via Polish television. In the year 1994 Polish Television Public Company became the producer of the festival. It has been estimated that the festival is watched by millions of viewers worldwide, being always broadcast live.