The 68th International Festival of Contemporary Music ” Warszawska Jesień” [Warsaw Autumn] will be held September 19-28, 2025. As Warsaw Autumn Director Jerzy Kornowicz emphasizes, this year’s theme of “Glimmer” symbolizes “…a new stage, an opening, and an opportunity—both from a social and individual perspective. It refers to the hope we would like to have for the future in these times when everything seems to be on shaky ground.”
This year’s program is divided into six strands: the Main Strand, Warsaw Autumn Club, Little Warsaw Autumn, Warsaw Autumn – Contexts, the inter-festival strand combined into a cycle (HerSounds with the Sonics & Scenics festivals and HER Docs Film Festival, as well as “Labowa Jesień” with Hashtag Lab), and accompanying events. In the Main Strand and Warsaw Autumn Club alone, sixty works will be presented—including fifty-eight premieres, including world premieres and first performances in Poland, as well as fourteen compositions commissioned by the Festival. Concert programs will highlight fifty-six composers from twenty-three countries. There will also be artist meetings, workshops for young composers, and broadcasts on the Festival’s Internet Radio.
A Selection of World Premieres
At the heart of this edition will be the premiere that opens the Festival on September 19—The Best City in the World. An Opera about Warsaw by Cezary Duchnowski, commissioned by the Capital City of Warsaw to mark the anniversary of the post-war liberation of the destroyed capital from German occupation (more about how the opera has been two years in the making here). The premiere is a co-production of the Grand Theatre–Polish National Opera and Sinfonia Varsovia, and will feature Polish sopranos Joanna Freszel and Agata Zubel.
Other important world premieres taking place during this year’s Festival include Pascha Crucifixions by Piotr Tabakiernik, Lament for Ur. Assemblages from a Nonexistent City by Ewa Trębacz, and Field 9. Evanescence by Wojtek Blecharz—the performance of the latter two pieces on September 27 will feature former PMC employee Daniel Kamiński as percussion soloist (pictured at right as a student) with ensemble proMODERN. Blecharz’s new work is a co-commission of Warsaw Autumn and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and the commissions for the works by Tabakiernik and Trębacz are co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund within the “Compositional Commissions” program implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance. Also, Marta Śniady’s How Can I Help You? for amplified ensemble and video, to be performed by the London Sinfonietta, is a co-commission of Warsaw Autumn, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the deciBels Festival, and Lidia Zielińska’s Cryptobiosis, to be performed by the period instrument ensemble Nordic Affect, is also a Warsaw Autumn and Adam Mickiewicz Institute commission.
These ten autumn days will bring over seventy events of great variety in form: operas, concerts, performances, intermedia actions, soundscapes, radio plays, music theatre, exhibitions, music walks, films, installations, meetings, and discussions. For a full listing of all concerts and events, visit warszawska-jesien.art.pl.
A Festival of Partnerships
During the 68th edition, the Warsaw Autumn Festival will host the Norwegian Ultima Festival, which has completed thirty-five editions of its own. The Festival is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund—a state special-purpose fund—within the “Music” program implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance, as well as by the Capital City of Warsaw. The Festival is co-funded by the European Union’s “Creative Europe” program, and is a member of the Ulysses Network—a European cultural network supported by the EU’s “Creative Europe” program. Key partner of the Festival is the ZAiKS Authors’ Association.