This year’s Ensemble Festival will take place from August 31 to September 8 2024 at the Nowy Dom Sztuki (New Art House) in Radziejowice Palace. We will enjoy classical music concerts featuring outstanding instrumentalists, including Jakub Jakowicz, Marcin Markowicz, Jakob Kullberg, and Mackenzie Melemed, as well as an acting performance directed by the remarkable actor and teacher Cezary Kosiński. Admission to all festival events is free.
The Ensemble Festival has a unique format. It consists of a workshop segment aimed at selected students from the best art schools in Poland and abroad, and a open segment where the results of this intensive creative work are presented for the audience. This year, we will have six classical concerts and an acting showcase. Admission to these events is free. The audience will be able to immerse themselves in music and art alongside distinguished artists and feel like an important and integral part of the festival community.
The faculty for the 21st Ensemble Festival includes: Mackenzie Melemed (piano), Jakub Jakowicz (violin), Szymon Krzeszowiec (violin), Marcin Markowicz (violin), Artur Rozmysłowicz (viola), Jakob Kullberg (cello), Maciej Młodawski (cello), Sebastian Aleksandrowicz (oboe), and Tomasz Januchta (double bass). The Acting Workshops will be led by Cezary Kosiński and Oskar Hamerski. These accomplished artists will be joined by 19 students from the top art schools in Poland and abroad. The musical program of the 21st Ensemble Festival directly addresses the feminine aspect in the history of music. In Radziejowice, we will try to answer the question of what unique contributions women have made to musical culture over the centuries.
The program will highlight extraordinary figures and their well-known, yet sometimes underperformed, works. The audience and festival participants will hear pieces by the famous Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century German nun, composer, poet, visionary, and scholar. Romanticism will be represented by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (String Quartet in E-flat Major) and Louise Farrenc (Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op. 30), whose work was highly respected by her contemporaries, with Robert Schumann speaking positively about her. Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979), described by Stephen Banfield as the most distinguished British composer of the interwar generation, composed 95 works – her Piano Trio will be presented at the Festival. The works of Sofia Gubaidulina (*1931) will also be featured – she is considered part of the “new religious music” movement along with Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Arvo Pärt, and John Tavener. Another highlight of the festival will be the renowned contemporary composer Hanna Kulenty. The pieces will be performed in the broad context of 18th, 19th, and 20th-century works (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Dubois, Britten, Brahms, Hummel, Weinberg).
For 18 years, the Ensemble Festival was held at Książ Castle in Wałbrzych. In 2022, it moved to the beautiful surroundings of the Dom Pracy Twórczej in Radziejowice. The castle, palace, Modrzewiowy Manor, Nowy Dom Sztuki, and many other locations within the Radziejowice complex provide an ideal setting for all festival events.
The opening concert, traditionally performed exclusively by festival faculty, is scheduled for Saturday, August 31, at 7:00 PM at the Nowy Dom Sztuki in Radziejowice Palace. Other events will follow on September 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. Admission to all events of the 21st Ensemble Festival is free.
Organizer: Ensemble Foundation.
Co-organizer: Dom Pracy Twórczej – Pałac w Radziejowicach.
The Festival is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the “Music” program, implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance, and from funds of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Government.
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.
Program: www.ensemblefestival.org
