Billed as “Miejsca wspólne” [Gathering places], this virtual festival of Polish contemporary music has been launched by its organizers with a press release on July 1. The main idea for this project was to create a virtual equivalent of a music festival that one can participate in without leaving one’s home. The organizers sought to create a gathering place (loftily referred to by its Latin description, loci communes), where the audience would get together to experience concerts arranged along certain universal themes. All concerts will be available for viewing and listening at miejscawspolnefestiwal.pl.
This festival will present nine virtual concerts based on recordings of contemporary music already present and available on the internet. Each concert will also feature program essays written about the music by the respective composers, enabling the virtual audience to understand and experience music on a deeper and more meaningful level.
The first concert, “Miłość, namiętność, tęsknota…” [Love, passion, longing…] was premiered on July 11. Concert no. 2, “Śmierć, sacrum, tajemnica…” [Death, sacrum, mystery…] will be broadcast on July 18. Concert no. 3 on July 25 is entitled “Natura, przestrzeń, powietrze…” [Nature, space, air…], and concert no. 4 on August 8 has a theme of “Rytuał, energia, rytm, ruch…” [Ritual, energy, rhythm, motion…]. The remaining concerts are themed as follows: “Sen” [Dream] on August 15, “Labirynt” [Labyrinth] on August 22, “Baśń” [Fairytale] on September 5, “Przeszłość” [Past] on September 12, and the final concert on 19 September appropriately titled, “Przyszłość, cyberkultura, postinternet” [Future, cyber culture, post-internet].
The program is mainly funded from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage “Culture Online” initiative and supported by Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej (POLMIC), Glissando magazine and Presto portal, among others.
More information on the Festival can be found at www.polmic.pl and miejscawspolnefestiwal.pl.
[Sources: polmic.pl and miejscawspolnefestiwal.pl]