Babińska, Natalia

Theatre director, composer, music theorist, scriptwriter, and teacher, she graduated from the violin class of the Karol Szymanowski High School of Music in Warsaw and the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, Department of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory (2001, with honours). She is also a graduate of the Drama Directing Department of the Theatre Academy in Warsaw (2006, with honours). Moreover, she holds a teaching diploma from the Music University in Warsaw (2013) and postgraduate studies in culture management in the EU from the Polish Academy of Sciences (2013). 

She has directed 30 theatre, music, student, opera, and experimental plays, including Nights of Scheherazade (based on One Thousand and One Nights tales, Theatre Academy in Warsaw, 2004), Jakub Boryczka’s Cell Love (Jan Kochanowski Theatre in Radom, 2006), Weronika Ratusińska-Zamuszko’s Rosary, a mysterium dedicated to John Paul II (Evangelical Reformed Church in Warsaw, 2007), Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day – Billie Holiday (Teatr Rozrywki in Chorzów, 2008), Farinella & Chopin International Project. Wordless Scenes to Chopin’s Music (Collegium Nobilium Theatre in Warsaw, 2009), Pergolesi’s La serva padrona (Grand Theatre in Poznań, 2010), Moniuszko’s “Vilnius” Halka (Grand Theatre – National Opera in Warsaw, 2010), Johann Simon Mayr’s Demetrio (Grand Theatre in Poznań, 2012), Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Grand Theatre in Poznań, 2012), Moniuszko’s Halka (Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, 2013), Słowacki’s drama Balladyna (Polski Theatre in Bielsko-Biała, 2013), Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Grand Theatre in Łódź, 2014), Imre Kálmán’s Countess Maritza (Castle Opera in Szczecin, 2014), Verdi’s Rigoletto(Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, 2014), Jerzy Kornowicz’s The Least Probable Story (Castle Opera in Szczecin, 2015), and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (Castle Opera in Szczecin, 2016). 

She has authored music to four theatre plays, TV theatre, and TV series. She has also written ten scripts for the theatre, children’s theatre, and film. As a teacher, she has worked with the Theatre Academy and Music University in Warsaw, the music academies in Poznań, Białystok, and Łódź, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She is a lover of ancient music, with a ten-year practice of playing the del and Baroque violin in various ensembles. 

For her artistic work, she has received numerous awards, including the Golden Mask for best staging (The Barber of Seville, 2014) and the Jan Kiepura Theatre Music Award for the best staging and director (The Turn of the Screw, 2017).