Małgorzata Szczęśniak

Polish set and costume designer Małgorzata Szczęśniak graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków with a doctorate in psychology, subsequently studying at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Since 1992 she has designed the sets and costumes for all of Krzysztof Warlikowski’s theatre and opera productions, including at the Paris Opéra, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Berlin State Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Ruhrtriennale and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. She has been a member of Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr since it was founded by Warlikowski in 2008. She made her Salzburg Festival debut with her set and costume designs for Henze’s The Bassarids in 2018, returning for Elektra in 2020 and 2021.
Małgorzata Szczęśniak’s work has also been seen at numerous exhibitions, including the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in 1990, the Exhibition of Young Set Designers in Katowice in 1994, the exhibition The Reality of Transformation / The Transformation of Reality at the Prague Quadrennial and the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw in 2007 and at the Maison du Spectacle ‘La Bellone’ in Brussels in 2008. In 2011 she was a special guest at the Prague Quadrennial, and in 2013 the Nowy Teatr hosted an exhibition of her work, Appearing and Disappearing Without a Trace.
Małgorzata Szczęśniak was awarded a Knight’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order by the Polish president in 2015. She is regularly invited to give guest lectures and masterclasses on design and in June 2018 designed the Centre Pompidou’s exhibition on the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the Paris Opéra. She was named ‘Designer of the Year’ at the 2021 International Opera Awards.