‘Neoarte’ New Music Spectrum is a festival presenting the most interesting trends in contemporary music by combining artists from different cultures and arts. Intriguing and unusual events offer a chance to experience music that stimulates new areas of our senses and enriches our perspective on the world. This year’s Festival—held from October 3-5, 2014 in Gdańsk—explores the connections between Poland, the Ukraine and the US.

A gala concert introducing the Festival was held at Warsaw’s Royal Castle on September 26 during the 56th International ‘Warsaw Autumn’ Festival. The concert included four world premieres of works written this year, including Bio-chorales for wind quintet by Karol Nepelski (Pol), I Have Lost My Euridice for string quartet, double bass, woodwind quartet, French horn and piano by Oleksii Shmuraka (Ukr), Talos for string quartet by Bohdan Sehin (Ukr), and Koncert na jedenastu [Concerto for 11] for string quartet, double bass, woodwind quartet, French horn and piano by Sławomir Kupczak (Pol). They were performed by NeoQuartet and Ensemble Nostri Temporis, with double bassist Jarosław Stokowski and conductor Grzegorz Wierus. This concert was accompanied by a cycle of lectures on the topic, “Poland—Ukraine—Europe: the Heritage and the Future,” jointly sponsored by His Excellency the Ambassador of the Ukraine in Poland, Markijan Malski, and His Excellency the Ambassador of Poland to the Ukraine, Henryk Litwin.

Neoarte is three days of concerts and workshops, during which will be held five world premieres of works the greatest composers of the younger generation of Poland, the Ukraine and the USA; the premiere performance of a project inspired by minimal music—Kuba Kapsa Ensemble; the first presentation of the new audio-visual project by Piotr Gotkowski and Rafał Pelc—“77525;” the Contemporary Classic Jam Session; workshops for composers; and activities for children. The patron of the festival is eminent Polish composer and specialist in electronic music Cezary Duchnowski, who along with world-class singer and composer Agata Zubel, will present the final concert as duo Elettro Voce.

The festival is organized by NeoQuartet and the NeoArte Association.

[Sources: polmic.pl, neoarte.pl]