The Musikfestspiele Saar is one of Europe’s leading music festivals, held every 2 years in Saarbrucken, Germany. The 2015 edition of this Festival, which has been taking place since February and ends on July 22, is dedicated to the “rarities and stars” of Polish music.
On June 27 and 29, Krzysztof Penderecki’s opera Ubu Rex was presented. According to the composer himself, this production by Baltic Opera Gdańsk “is the craziest and most successful staging of my opera!” and it was experienced for the first time in Germany. On July 4, Penderecki conducted a performance of his own oratorio, the Seven Gates of Jerusalem, by the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) from Katowice and the Kraków Radio Choir.
The Festival has also programmed the “Polish Ravel”—Karol Szymanowski—including his Symphonies 2, 3 and 4, the Violin Concerto, the Concert Overture and the Stabat mater, as well as the”Polish Bartók”—Witold Lutoslawski— including his Concerto for Orchestra (conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski), and such signature works as his Symphonic Variations, Mała Suita and Lacrimosa.
The Festival program also features works by such master composers as Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Henryk Wieniawski, Krzysztof Komeda, Stanisław Moniuszko and Mieczysław Weinberg, as well as performers including Leszek Możdżer, Ewa Kupiec, Rafał Blechacz, Krystian Zimerman, Władysław Sendecki, Adam Bałdych
[Sources : thenews.pl, musikfestspielesaar.de]