June 9, 2026, 6:00 PM
Galeria Miejska Arsenał, 6 Stary Rynek
free admission
Felicita Vestvali is a little-known today star of nineteenth-century Europe and America. For ten years, beginning with her debut at La Scala in 1853, she performed as an opera singer.
She achieved her greatest fame in the United States, where she was given the nickname “Vestvali the Magnificent”. She had a rarely encountered voice – a contralto – and specialized in so-called en travesti roles, that is, male parts intended to be performed by women.
In 1863, she left the opera stage to try her luck as a dramatic actress. The success exceeded her expectations – she became one of the first American celebrities, and among admirers of her acting talent was also Abraham Lincoln. She began with roles in adaptations of French boulevard comedies, and later specialized in male Shakespearean roles, of which her Hamlet became the most famous.
It is worth adding that she was the first artist openly admitting to Polish roots who managed to make a world career. She was a born rebel, contesting the standards of femininity of the time.
She never married, and as an artist she had to fight men for equal treatment. Although she was considered a beauty, people said she was suspiciously tall and too broad in the shoulders. She shocked with a lifestyle that did not fit the era.
For almost twenty years, she was involved with the German actress Elise Lund. Together they raised Felicity’s illegitimate daughter and performed in the theatre as Romeo and Juliet.
Difference brought mockery upon Vestvali, but there were also those for whom she became a source of inspiration.