Bona Sforza

A production of Teatro Petruzzelli and the Kraków Opera

“Bona Sforza” is a new contemporary classical opera in two acts dedicated to Queen Bona of Aragon, the result of an international collaboration between Kraków and Bari. The joint work on the performance aims to portray the great historical figure, her life, the cultural and political context of the time and to build a real cooperation between the cities: Bari-Kraków.

The classical opera will show three different faces and stages of the life of the Polish-Italian Queen, sung by three soloists in three language versions: Polish, Italian and Latin.

At the very beginning, the audience will get to know Bona as a young woman full of hope, exploring the world of culture and art and preparing for the role of queen. Born into one of Italy’s most illustrious families, the daughter of the Dukes of Milan and Bari, Bona grew up in a world of great politics, family rivalries between principalities and court intrigues. The next face of Bona shows her as a mature woman, the wife of Sigismund I the Old, Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania, who gained a very powerful position – interfering in political affairs, deciding on the staffing of offices and, above all, amassing her own wealth. Despite such immense power and fortune, Bona encounters a very different culture, she is lost and insecure, deeply affected by cultural differences. At the very end, the audience witnesses the end of her life – a despised, damaged and betrayed woman returning to Bari, where she was probably poisoned. Bona’s tragic end undoubtedly shows what a complex and controversial figure she was. She had her supporters and her enemies, some of whom appreciated her wisdom, ingenuity and insight, while others accused her of insolence, lust for power and despotism. The duality of this character and the attempt to portray Bona as a woman who had to deal with the difficult reality of the time, who had her worries and struggles, as well as her plans and dreams, which she unfortunately had to sacrifice in the name of higher goals, became a fascinating and challenging task.