On March 28 in Polish Radio’s Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio in Warsaw, Paweł Szymański’s 70th birthday was celebrated with a special concert entitled ‘Paweł Szymański @ 70!’. The performers included Hashtag Ensemble, Royal String Quartet, Matangi String Quartet, and soloists: Daniel Oktawian Piotrowski – countertenor, Agnieszka Podłucka, Natalia Reichert – violas, Małgorzata Sarbak – harpsichord, and Simon Ghraichy – piano. The concert will be rebroadcast on Polish Radio Programme 2 on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. CEST.
Paweł Szymański describes his compositional strategy as surconventionalism, i.e. playing with the conventions of music—old and new, violating the rules of the known language, resulting in new works containing elements of the language of tradition. During the anniversary concert we will hear several of his works representing various periods of the composers’ work: Villanelle (1981), Two Etudes for Piano (1986), Five Pieces for String Quartet (1992), Recalling a Serenade (1996), Photography from a Birthday Party (Silesian Quartet in the Shadow of Bartók) (1998), Composing a fugue suddenly interrupted by the ghost of Franz Liszt (2020).
April 4 at 7:30 p.m. CEST
Broadcast of ‘Paweł Szymański @ 70!’ Concert
Listen: www.polskieradio.pl
[Sources: polmic.pl, studianagran.com.pl, polskieradio.pl; Photo: Cezary Piwowarski/PR]