The 28th H.M. Górecki Festival of Polish Composers will take place in Bielsko-Biała from October 9 to 11, 2025. This year’s composer will be Fryderyk Chopin.
The first star of the opening concert of this year’s Festival (October 9) is Leonora Armellini, winner of the Fifth Prize at the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2021. She will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor with the Cavatina Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by world-renowned Polish conductor Ewa Strusińska.
The evening’s program will also include Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion by Grażyna Bacewicz and Three Dances for Orchestra, Op. 34 by the Festival’s patron, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki.
On the second day of the Festival, we will hear Chopin… in jazz, interpreted by the famous Andrzej Jagodziński, accompanied by his trio: Czesław Bartkowski (drums) and Adam Cegielski (double bass). The trio has recorded several albums of jazz arrangements of Chopin’s music. One of these albums was voted Album of the Year 1994 by readers of Jazz Forum magazine, and received the Fryderyk ’94 award from the Polish Music Industry as well as the Melomani ’94 award from the Łódź-based Music Lovers Association.
The final concert will feature pianist, soloist and chamber musician Aleksandra Świgut, performing for the first time in Bielsko-Biała. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and teaches at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. According to critics, she is one of the most distinctive personalities on the classical music scene today.
Also making its debut at the Festival in Bielsko will be the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, conducted by Michał Klauza.
As part of the accompanying events, the following are planned: an educational concert by the Bielsko Music Society (October 9), a school concert by the Stanisław Moniuszko State Music School Complex in Bielsko-Biała (October 10), and a pre-premiere screening of the film Chopin, Chopin at Helios Cinema (October 9).
The Festival is organized by the Maria Koterbska Bielsko Cultural Centre. Co-organizers of the Festival include: Ars Cameralis, Cavatina Hall, the Bielsko Music Society, the Stanisław Moniuszko State Music School Complex in Bielsko-Biała, and the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw.
Partners of the Festival are: the Silesian Voivodeship, Polish Music Publishers (PWM Edition), Ruch Muzyczny magazine, and Helios Cinema.
The Festival is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund, as part of the “Music” programme, carried out by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC
Detailed programme: https://www.bck.bielsko.pl/
