Requiem dla ikony (Requiem for an icon) opens with a striking—and devastating—image: a doubled Jackie Kennedy, reciting a trivial monologue about baking meringue, hurling dishes to the floor. In that instant, the audience recognizes: this is not just any icon, but a woman suffocated by her own pop-cultural role.
Librettist Krystian Lada dismantles the dichotomies that define our protagonist: “perfectly separating yolks from whites—family from reason, feeling from representation, knowing from posing.” We’re jolted by scenes of enforced posture and smile—“chin up, smile!”—which echo Zbigniew Libera’s critique of how girls are taught to perform femininity. smile—“chin up, smile!”—which echo Zbigniew Libera’s critique of how girls are taught to perform femininity
Onstage, Marta Ojrzyńska’s Doppelgänger-Jackie pushes against her too-large suit—a visual metaphor for societal pressure. She is trapped, visibly pained by each forced gesture, yearning for freedom or perhaps discovering what freedom might require. Meanwhile, Patrycja Krzeszowska‑Kubit, the official Jackie, embodies the composed veneer of First Ladyhood. The contrast is ineffable: one perfectly posed icon, the other broken by that perfection.
The opera‑cantata’s structure draws on requiem mass form, propelled by Głowicka’s bold musical palette: classical operatic declamation fractured by modern choral commentary, electronic minimalism steeped in lament, and immersive soundscapes that mimic neurotic fragmentation. They underscore the heroine’s internal fissures.
Libretto and score converge around the intrusion of Ron Galella, who becomes the instrument of societal gaze—photographer, witness, manipulator. He embodies external violence upon Jackie’s identity, “often conflicting, in ways that violate her personality“. His presence is represented by giant projector that ruptures the stage, setting the two Jackies at odds: one always perfect, the other deeply fractured.
2015.
Marcin Borczuch
Krystian Lada
70 min.
20/05/2015
Orchestra of the Polish National Opera House,
Patrycja Krzeszowska-Kubit – Jackie
Maciej Staburzyński – Kennedy
Bassem Akiki – conductor
Jacqueline Sobiszewski – light, video, scenography
soprano, baritone, actress, choir, 3 boys, chamber ensemble (fl, ob, cl/bcl, pno, perc., synth, vln, vla, cello, double bass and electronics
Commissioned by Polish National Opera
Reviews:
“Głowicka, (…) feels well opera form and knows how to lead the soloists through a labyrinth of harmonies, live instruments and electronics.”
DOROTA Kozińska 06.01.2015, Tygodnik Powszechny
“In “Requiem for and Icon” heroine’s tale is built on an internal dilemma. Głowicka, undoubtedly one of the most outstanding personalities of the young generation of Polish composers deftly, freshly and creatively uses all sorts of” iconic “conventions of classical music.
It’s still alive operatic singing, though gradually sounding more and more unnatural and strange; this commenting choirs and tones of lament, and particularly close to the composer repetition of American minimalism and electronic sounds. Contrasting neurotic figures – and long, mutating soundscapes. The eclectic landscape of the music that draws you in and intrigues is also in close relationship with the text “
ADAM SUPRYNOWICZ, DWUTYGODNIK.COM
Complex, yet accessible – Interview with Ewa Szczecińska at “Ruch Muzyczny”. “Supposedly I have a GIFT to compose a melody. Why should I not use it? I like beautiful melodies a lot and I think the audience does not admit it too, but sometimes they DON’T admit it. ” photo: Merlijn Doomernik
Katarina Głowicka, author of “Requiem for an icon,” the story of Jackie Kennedy and the first paparazzo feels well opera form and knows how to lead the soloists through a labyrinth of harmonies, live instruments and electronics.”DOROTA Kozińska 06.01.2015, Tygodnik Powszechny Dorota Kozinska’s review at Tygodnik Powszechny
The opera opened with an unforgettable image: a split Jackie Kennedy smashing dish after dish while reciting a surreal monologue about baking meringue — a chilling metaphor for a woman sculpted by pop culture into an icon, but silenced in her own story. In his review, Adam Suprynowicz calls the piece a much-needed experiment for Polish opera. The libretto by Krystian Lada explores Jackie’s internal fracture, torn between public expectations and a vanishing self. Two Jackies appear on stage: the polished First Lady, played with vocal brilliance by Patrycja Krzeszowska-Kubit, and the repressed, rebellious double — Marta Ojrzyńska in a raw,
