During the third weekend of April, Katowice will become ground zero for new music. From April 17-19, 2015, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) will host the Festival of Premieres of Polish Modern Music in their new venue. This is the sixth edition of the festival and almost 30 pieces by Polish composers of various generations will be presented in a series of several exciting concerts.

Besides NOSPR, such ensembles as AUKSO Orchestra of the City of Tychy, the Katowice Vocal Ensemble, Camerata Silesia, Silesian String Quartet, Kwartludium, and Orchestra for New Music will be heard in performance with soloists, including Marco Blaauw, Dario Calderone, Maciej Frąckiewicz, Joanna Freszel, Marcin Koziak, Piotr Sałajczyk, and Tomasz Strahl.

This biennial Festival has been held in Katowice since 2005 and the idea for it came from director Joanna Wnuk-Nazar, who stated already ten years ago that, “The Festival of World Premieres aims to present to music lovers—those attending concerts in Katowice and those listening to Polish Radio’s Program II—the widest possible spectrum of the latest works by our contemporary composers.” By design, this Festival presents only those works that weren’t performed anywhere before or didn’t have a Polish premiere thus far.

This year’s concert programs are as follows, with World Premieres marked in bold (all other pieces are Polish Premieres):

April 17, 2015 | 5 p.m.
Anna Szostak, Szymon Bywalec – conductors, Camerata Silesia, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Lidija Jovanović – mezzo

  • Justyna Kowalska-Lasoń –  która wszystko tworzy, wszystko ochrania…for mixed choir, soloists, chamber orchestra and live electronics (live) *
  • Piotr Mossgo where never before for choir and instrumental ensemble
  • Sławomir Wojciechowski – …play them back…for ensemble and electronics *
  • Sławomir Kupczak – white over red for mixed choir
  • Jacek Domagała – Elegia for voice, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello and bells

April 17, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.
Alexander Humala – conductor, NOSPR, Marco Blaauw – trumpet, Maciej Frąckiewicz – accordion

  • Hanna Kulenty – Trumpet Concerto No. 2 *
  • PRASQUAL – Muqarnyas for accordion and double orchestra in 6 spaced out groups *
  • Maciej Jabłoński – Symphony No. 6 Oneirophrenia for symphony orchestra with layered electro-acoustics and multimedia

April 18, 2015 | 12 p.m.

Kwartludium, Dorota Szczepańska – soprano, Mirosław Feldgebel – piano, Szymon Krzeszowiec – violin, Piotr Sałajczyk – piano, Maciej Frąckiewicz – accordion, Magdalena Bojanowicz – cello

  • Grzegorz Duchnowski W malinowym chruśniaku for soprano and piano
  • Artur Zagajewski Mechanofaktura
  • Marcin Błażewicz – Visions– sonata for violin and piano
  • Zaid JabriBeati Pacifici for soprano and piano
  • Jan DuszyńskiSfexfor accordion and cello *

April 18, 2015 | 5 p.m.

Silesian Quartet, Bartosz Pacan – clarinet, Marek Andrysek – accordion

  • Joanna SzymalaQuintet for clarinet and string quartet
  • Rafał AugustynString Quartet No. 3 Monadologia *
  • Zbigniew Bagiński String Quartet No. 5
  • Marcin Bortnowski – ku dźwiękom nocy, string quartet and accordion *

April 18, 2015 | 7:30 p.m.

José Maria Florêncio – conductor, NOSPR, Marcin Koziak – piano

  • Roman Czura – Piano Concerto Kraftfelder
  • Zofia Dowgiałło – Kompozycja z ruchomym tłem
  • Zbigniew Bargielski Hierofania 2
  • Cezary Duchnowski – Symfonia zbiorów for group of instruments and electronics*

April 19, 2015 | 12 p.m.

Szymon Bywalec – conductor, NOSPR, Joanna Freszel – soprano, Dario Calderone – bass

  • Emil Bernard Wojtacki – Zefiro tornafor soprano and orchestra
  • Zbigniew Słowik The Motor Poem (Quo vadis homine) for orchestra
  • Andrzej Kwieciński – erschallen*

April 19, 2015 | 6 p.m.

Marek Moś – conductor, AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, Tomasz Strahl – cello, Piotr Sałajczyk – piano

  • Mikołaj Górecki Elegia for cello and string orchestra
  • Krzysztof MeyerMuzyka światła i półcienia [Music of the light and the penumbra]
  • Marek Grucka Retaeh for piano, strings and percussion
  • Stanisław Bromboszcz Air for instrumental ensemble and electronic media 

* The world premieres of the above works by Justyna Kowalska-Lasoń, Sławomir Wojciechowski, Hanna Kulenty, PRASQUALA, Maciej Jabłoński, Jan Duszyński, Rafał Augustyn, Marcin Bortnowski, Cezary Duchnowski and Andrzej Kwieciński were co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Republic of Poland (MKiDN) within the program “Collections” [Kolekcje] – spotlighting “Commissioned Compositions” [Zamówienia kompozytorskie] as implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance (IMiT).

April 17-19, 2015| various times
6th Festival of Premieres of Polish Modern Music
NOSPR Concert Hall and Chamber Hall
plac Wojciecha Kilara 1
40-202 Katowice, Poland
Tickets & Info: www.nospr.org.pl

[Sources: hannakulenty.com, nospr.org.pl]