100th Anniversary Festival of the Polish Composers’ Union: Concert of the Katowice Branch

Works by composers from the Katowice Branch of the Polish Composers’ Union will be presented on November 13, 2025, at 7:00 PM as part of the 100th Anniversary Festival of the Polish Composers’ Union. The concert will feature the New Music Orchestra (Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej) – the oldest Polish ensemble specializing in contemporary music performance. Under the direction of its artistic director Szymon Bywalec, the ensemble will give the world premiere of Aleksander Lasoń’s Chamber Music No. 7 “O, przyspieszenie światła” (O, the Speeding of Light) at the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio in Warsaw. The concert will be broadcast by Program 2 of Polish Radio. Admission is free!

Alongside his four symphonies and eight string quartets, Lasoń’s best-known cycle of works remains those bearing the title Chamber Music. Chamber Music No. 7 was composed to mark the 100th anniversary of the Polish Composers’ Union, and its title was inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem “O Sun of Real Peace”. The piece was created as part of the “Composers’ Commissions” program carried out by the National Institute of Music and Dance and published by Polish Music Publishers (PWM Edition).

Among the most recognized composers of the middle generation from Katowice is Aleksander Nowak. His work Niebo w Niedabylu (The Sky in Niedabyl) for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra (2015) was commissioned by Bartłomiej Duś and the New Music Orchestra – and will be performed in Warsaw by the same artists.

The program will also include Eugeniusz Knapik’s Tak jak na brzegu morza (As at the Seashore) for instrumental ensemble and tape, and Krzysztof Gawlas’s Hō-ō for chamber orchestra and electroacoustic layer, with sound projection by the composers Krzysztof Gawlas and Stanisław Bromboszcz.

Additionally, the concert will feature Bolesław Szabelski’s Aphorisms 9 and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Muzyczka IV.

Full festival program: https://100latzkp.org.pl/wydarzenia.php

The event is co-organized by the National Institute of Music and Dance, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the City of Warsaw.

Co-organizer: Program 2 of Polish Radio

Partners: ZAiKS Authors’ Association, Warsaw Philharmonic, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Polish Music Publishers (PWM Edition)

Media patrons: Program 2 of Polish Radio, Presto Publishing, Waw4Free, wolnasobota.pl, “NaM!” naszemiasto.pl

Editorial cooperation: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC

Program:

• Bolesław Szabelski – Aphorisms 9 (1962)
• Henryk Mikołaj Górecki – Muzyczka IV (1970)
• Aleksander Lasoń – O, przyspieszenie światła – Chamber Music No. 7 (2025, world premiere)
• Aleksander Nowak – Niebo w Niedabylu (The Sky in Niedabyl) (2015)
• Krzysztof Gawlas – Hō-ō (2014)
• Eugeniusz Knapik – Tak jak na brzegu morza (As at the Seashore) (1977)