Gabriel Kaczmarek The Snow Queen ballet Kierepka Dobkowska Stefaniak Tarasiuk-Andrzejewska Chau

Snow Queen spectacle had its premiere in March 2016 at the Grand Theatre in Poznan. It met with an enthusiastic reaction of the audience having in the following years tremendous popularity among public. The idea lying behind this adaptation is taking over the so-called “middle culture”, a space in the culture that has appeared as a result of the polarization of the audience: those expecting avant-garde art and those expecting mere entertainment, children and adults, regular and refined opera-goers and its occasional visitors. The adaptation of this tale with a universal message is interlarded with elements of ballet counterbalanced with modern dance and acrobatics, and the elements of music drawing on traditional works of past epochs, but also reaching for solutions present in film music, jazz and popular music. Music in Snow Queen is an integral element of spectacle, putting special emphasis on illustrative, emotional and narrative compounds. Due to special attention on young auditory composition have distinctive rhythmical and colour factor, which are two musical elements most understandable and readable for children. Snow Queen music has rich diversity because of its polystylistic character, however thanks to the characteristic leitmotifs and hyperilustrative representation of non-musical content it is surprisingly coherent in creation of the world presented in Andersen novel.