The 32nd edition of the “Warsaw Music Encounters” Festival will take place from May 12-19, 2018. Founded in 1986 by composer Władysław Słowiński, the Festival is organized by the Warsaw Branch of the Polish Composers’ Union and co-organized by Polish Radio Program 2. Since 2017 the Festival’s director is Jarosław Siwiński – composer, pianist, coordinator of music and educational events.
Under the subheading “Early Music – New Music”, the Festival presents important early and new music compositions and promotes the most recent works by contemporary composers as well as jazz creators, many of which written specially for this Festival, which also contributes to its unique character.
The program of 32nd Warsaw Music Encounters will consist of the following concerts and events:
- MAY 12 – “In the mirror of the Silesian Baroque”: lutenist Jerzy Żak performs with flute, viola da gamba and violin. On the program is music by a Silesian composer connected with King Augustus II “the Strong” and by Marek Pasieczny, a contemporary composer and guitarist, whose Vox Sonitus for baroque quartet – flute, violin, lute and cello/viola da gamba (2018)** will have its world premiere.
- MAY 13 – “Choirs of Orthodox Serbia”: the Serb Choir “Branko” and choirs of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music present Orthodox Christian and folk music by the Serb composer Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac, among the others.
- MAY 14 – “Work in a Collective”: the Hashtag Ensemble present works composed by young Polish composers, including world premieres by Mikołaj Majkusiak – Crossover Concerto (2017), Wojciech Błażejczyk – #NetworkMusic for voice, instrumental ensemble and electronics (2017), and Paweł Malinowski – Robotron (2018).
- MAY 15 – “Three Centuries of Europe”: outstanding Czech vocal ensemble ‘Schola Gregoriana Pragensis,’ directed by David Eben, sings music by Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz as well as some anonymous compositions, recently discovered and not performed in the last 400 years.
- MAY 16 – “Polish Composers and Paris (1918-1939)”: a conference dedicated to the first generation of Polish composers educated in independent Poland during the 1920s.
- MAY 16 – “An Appendix to the Avant-Garde”: New Music Orchestra (OMN) performs with soloist Katarzyna Duda – violin, conducted by Szymon Bywalec. The program is related to the topic of the conference – the beginnings of the Polish music avant-garde as well as very interesting later and less known examples of the Polish avant-garde. This music journey in time includes two works composed in 2018 for OMN: the world premiere of Sinfonietta by Edward Sielicki and the second hearing of 2nd Violin Concerto by Tomasz Opałka.
- MAY 17 – “Reading the Ancients”: a concert of three excellent musicians, Leszek Lorent – percussion, Maciej Nerkowski – baritone and Dariusz Przybylski – organ. Program includes the legendary Kassandra by Xenakis and some recent Polish works also based on the works of ancient Greek poets like the world premiere of Przybylski’s Pieśni do słów Katullusa for baritone, multipercussion and Hammond organ (2018)** and Tadeusz Wielecki’s Ćwiczenia z Antygony for percussion, baritone and Hammond organ (2018)**.
- MAY 18 – “Jazz for the Independent One”: the Kuba Stankiewicz Trio with Jacek Kotlarski – vocals and Maciej Sikała – saxophone present improvisations based on Polish legionary songs and songs by Jan Kochanowski, arranged by Stankiewicz. This concert is organized as a part of the “Niepodległa” celebration of the Centenary of Poland Regaining Independence.
- MAY 19 –“A Journey to the Centre of the Earth”: a chamber opera and multimedia music journey based on Jules Verne’s novel, A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, created by members of The Mud Cavaliers ensemble: Jerzy Kornowicz – piano, Ryszard Latecki – trumpet and small instruments, Mieczysław Litwiński – altówka, ethnic instruments and vocal; Krzysztof Knittel – electronic media; Tadeusz Sudnik – electronic media; Tadeusz Wielecki – double bass; Krzysztof Owczarek – analog visual animation; Adam Kruk – image projection; and Andrzej Kijanowski – sound projection. This collective composition makes use of the most recent technologies of sound-and-image processing, including visualization of brain waves of one of the performers.
** These premieres are co-financed by Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the program “Composing Commissions,” implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance
May 12-19, 2018
‘Warsaw Music Encounters’ Festival
Various venues around Warsaw
Admission: FREE
Info: www.wsm.art.pl
[Sources: wsm.art.pl, hashtag-ensemble.org]