culture manager

Since July 2012, she has served as General and Artistic Director of the Stanisław Moniuszko Grand Theatre in Poznań. From 2016 to 2022, she was a member of the Board of Opera Europa. Thanks to her involvement in the association, she enabled, among other achievements, the participation of the Poznań opera house in the OperaVision project and fostered cooperation with major European institutions such as La Monnaie / De Munt in Brussels, Welsh National Opera, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Die Oper: Bühnen Halle, Grange Park Opera, and the Grand Theatre – Polish National Opera in Warsaw.

A committed advocate of Stanisław Moniuszko’s legacy, she regards the promotion of the Theatre’s patron and the affirmation of the universal value of his oeuvre in Poland and abroad as one of the essential missions of the institution. The recognition of this direction—steadily pursued over many years—is borne out by the International Opera Awards, the most prestigious distinctions in the operatic world. The Poznań Grand Theatre has twice received the so-called “opera Oscars” in the category Rediscovered Work for stagings of Moniuszko’s operas: the first award in 2021 for Paria, directed by Graham Vick and conducted by Maestro Gabriel Chmura; the second in 2023 for Jawnuta, staged by Ilaria Lanzino and conducted by Rafał Kłoczko. Among the key undertakings promoting Moniuszko’s oeuvre are concert performances of his operas at the Berlin Philharmonie: the German and Polish audiences were first captivated by Halka during the Moniuszko Year 2019, later by Paria (2023) and The Haunted Manor (2024). These concerts were not only acclaimed by music-lovers, but also highly praised by the German press and recognized critics.

At the initiative of Director Renata Borowska-Juszczyńska, the Poznań opera launched the nationwide celebrations of the Moniuszko Year with a conference devoted to the composer’s legacy (The Work of Stanisław Moniuszko as a Cultural Challenge, 14–15 December 2014). Her effective promotion of Moniuszko’s music is distinguished by the search for new contexts and the creation of events that showcase his works in unconventional ways—for example the project Halka/Haiti. 18°48'05"N 72°23'01"W featuring Caribbean musicians (2015; the video recording was presented in the Polish Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia), the project Sign Moniuszko (Zamigaj Moniuszkę) addressed to Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences (2021), or Leszek Możdżer’s composition MONIUSZKO ALT_SHIFT_1 ESCAPE, inspired by the fantastic overture Fairytale (Bajka, 2022).

One of her latest initiatives is the Moniuszko Festival, held at the Grand Theatre in Poznań since 2023. Together with its Artistic Director Szymon Mechliński and the Festival Council—comprising leading figures of Europe’s musical life: John Allison (Chair), Maestro Jacek Kaspszyk, director Ilaria Lanzino, and Olena Skrok (Casting Manager of the Poznań Opera)—Director Borowska-Juszczyńska focuses not only on Moniuszko’s legacy but also on the heirs to his musical thought, among them Zygmunt Noskowski and Karol Szymanowski. Their output is connected by an intangible network of mutual relationships and a wealth of artistic invention. Presenting the diversity of musical expression in Polish composition is one of the Festival’s central aims.

With financial support from the Greater Poland Regional Government and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Director Borowska-Juszczyńska oversaw the timely completion of a comprehensive overhaul of stage mechanics, lighting, electroacoustics, and safety systems. Lasting over two years, this modernisation was the largest in the Theatre’s history and unprecedented in scale among cultural institutions. As a result, the Poznań Grand Theatre became the world’s first opera house equipped with the immersive spatial sound system L’Acoustic L-Isa 360 Hyperreal, complemented by the Ambiance acoustic enhancement system.

Director Borowska-Juszczyńska regularly serves on the juries of prestigious competitions, including: the 10th European Opera-Directing Prize (2018), the Guido Cantelli International Conducting Award Competition in Turin (2022), the AsLiCo Competition for Young Opera Singers (2022), the FEDORA Digital Prize (2023), the International Opera Awards 2024, and the RING AWARD 25.

In June 2024, she was one of twelve official European representatives at the Opera Conference & World Opera Forum in Los Angeles, where she joined sixty delegates from six continents invited to speak. The forum addressed, among other subjects, the future of opera, organisational and artistic strategies responding to social, technological, and cultural change, and the development of engaged and informed audiences. Earlier, in 2018, she represented Poland at the World Opera Forum in Madrid.

In November 2024, she took part in the autumn conference of Opera Europa, held at the Teatro Regio Torino, where nearly three hundred delegates from across the continent debated key issues concerning the future of opera and the role of opera houses in contemporary society.

In March 2025, she served as a tutor at the Opera Management Course, organised by Opera Europa in Sabadell, Spain, for participants from around the world. The course aims to demonstrate how to manage an opera house through shared knowledge, constructive dialogue, and international exchange of experience. Borowska-Juszczyńska has collaborated with the Opera Management Course since 2017. In 2025, Renata Borowska-Juszczyńska completed an MBA (Master of Business Administration in Arts Innovation) at Woolf University. The postgraduate programme, devoted to the management of cultural institutions, innovation, and development strategies in the field of the arts, is conducted under the auspices of the prestigious Global Leaders Institute.

She is the initiator of socially engaged and educational programmes (MovINg Opera, Next Stage – Opera Matters, Opera Helps U, Fortissimo) that promote sustainable, inclusive approaches accounting for technological development and ensuring accessibility to groups often excluded from artistic creation and participation. She also supports young creators and contemporary opera through initiatives such as the Opera Theatre Laboratory, United States of Opera, and new commissions.

A founder and long-serving President of the Board of the Nuova Foundation, she organised major artistic projects including the Spring Festival and Poznań Live, and also served as Vice-President of the MALTA Festival Foundation.

From 1997 to 2003, she worked with the Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society in Poznań, co-creating the Polish Artistic Presentation at Expo 2000 in Hanover and promoting the Wieniawski Competitions at MIDEM Classic in Cannes. From 2002 to 2003, she held the position of Director of the Society’s Board Office. Her earlier professional experience includes work for Telewizja Polska S.A., cooperation with the Festival of Four Cultures Dialogue in Łódź, and co-organisation of the first New Classic Form Europe Festival in Łódź.

In 2016, she received the Silver Medal “Labor Omnia Vincit”, followed in 2017 by the “Alumno Bene Merenti” distinction awarded by Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.