By Tomasz Fechner
On May 19-21 the II International Tczew Guitar Festival was held in the Center of Culture and Arts in Tczew. This year’s edition of the festival featured a competition for soloists and ensembles in three age groups, allowing for the participation of not only students of universities but also children who have just started their journey with music.
Despite the fact that it was only the second edition of the festival, 48 soloists and 19 ensembles came to participate. The jury members: Jan Paterek (The Head of the Jury), Emilia Majewska, Bartosz Paprot, Tomasz Fechner, Maciej Staszewski, Zbigniew Dubiella and Monika Dżuła-Radkiewicz picked the following 1st prize winners in each division:
Group I (ages 8-14)
- Solo: Olaf Dziak and Maja Magiera (ex aequo)
- Ensemble: Maja Jodłowska & Maja Rynkiewicz
Group II (ages 15-21)
- Solo: Beata Atłas and Marianna Kowal (ex aequo)
- Ensemble: Felice Guitar Quartet (also the winners of Grand Prix for the highest score)
Group III (undergraduate students)
- Solo: Tomasz Radziszewski
- Ensemble: Damian Wyżykowski, Kuba Niewczas, Natalia Udke
In addition to the competition, the audience in the Center of Culture and Arts had a unique chance to listen to concerts performed by young emerging artists and people with already established concert careers. On the first day of the festival, the stage belonged to Jagoda Świdzińska –Grand Prix winner of the 2016 Competition—and Tomasz Fechner—a doctoral student and teaching assistant from the USC Thornton School of Music. It was an unusual occasion to listen to two solo guitar recitals on the stage.
The second concert of the festival was performed by Monika Dżuła-Radkiewicz, a guitar teacher from the Gdańsk Academy of Music, who shared the stage with young Polish artist Katarzyna Smolarek, who is a current student of Marco Tamayo in Salzburg.
For the final concert of the festival the organizers have prepared something special, a performance of Koncert Gdański by Krzysztof Olczak for three guitars and the chamber orchestra. Soloists Tomasz Fechner, Bartosz Paprot and Maciej Staszewski performed this unique piece with the “Progress” Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Szymon Morus (pictured above).
The festival was held under the auspices of the president of the city of Tczew – Mirosław Pobłodzki, and sponsored by Fundacja Domu Kultury, Centrum Kultury i Sztuki w Tczewie and Interton Music Shop.
[Source: press release, ckis.tczew.pl]