Sarasota, Florida will be honoring the grandeur of Polish history, arts, cinema, and opera starting February 2nd and running through March 10th in the Sarasota Goes Polish Festival.

The festival was organized in part by Mariusz Brymora, culture and public affairs counselor for the Polish Embassy. It will introduce locals to Polish theater, art and cinema.

A series of concerts, exhibits and lectures will be held through the Sarasota Opera, the Sarasota Film Society, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Selby Public Library and the Sarasota Polish-American Club.

The festival’s capstone event and the inspiration for the festival is the Sarasota Opera’s production of Stanislaw Moniuszko’s “Halka,” the national Polish opera.

This American production of Moniuszko’s “Halka” is the first such production in more than 50 years by a professional American opera company (the Chicago Civic Opera was the last to perform it, in the late 1940s).