"The image as a source of musical inspiration" is the theme of this year’s edition of the International Festival of Krakow Composers, which will take place on May 11- 19, 2019.

The 31st edition of the festival will present e.g. compositions inspired by Japanese woodcuts, paintings by European and American artists, film and optical phenomena. During the concerts, the output of composers from Poland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Mexico, South Korea and Japan will be presented. We will listen to 20 world premieres and 13 Polish premieres. The special guests of the festival are Hanna Kulenty and Italian composer Ada Gentile. In connection with the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Poland and South Korea, the composers of the middle and young generations from Korea will be also guests of the Festival, namely: Chang-Min Park, Jeo See and Lydia Deokin Ko.

The festival will feature many outstanding musicians. Recognised Korean singer, permanently resident of Germany, Yeree Suh will perform Klage by Toshio Hosokawa, bass-baritone Robert Keller from Switzerland will perform the new world premiere of Persian Songs by Konstanty Regamey, Simone Beneventi, the Italian drummer, will present for the first time a composition by Krakow composer, Karol Nepelski, and flutist Jadwiga Kotnowska will perform the Polish premiere of Run by Hanna Kulenty. Moreover, the festival will feature great ensembles and orchestras, such as: Dafô Quartet, Silesian Trio, Sinfonietta Cracovia, the Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Krakow and the Orchestra of the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Krakow.

Among the accompaning events there will be an academic session entitled “Music and image”, featuring lectures by theorists from the Academy of Music in Krakow and Academy of Music in Lodz. Also, the important element of the programme of the 31st International Festival of Krakow Composers is the 2nd International Krzysztof Penderecki Competition for Young Composers, established on the occasion of the composer's 85th birthday. The idea of the competition is to promote music of composers of the young generation from the whole world. This year, the winner of the First Prize is Olgierd Juzala-Departi (b. 1994) for the work Whispers [Szepty] for string quartet.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: www.zkp.krakow.pl