49th International Festival of Organ, Choral, and Chamber Music in Gdańsk

The concerts of the 49th International Festival of Organ, Choral, and Chamber Music will be held every Friday of July and August, at 8.15 pm, at St. Mary’s Basilica, in the very heart of Gdańsk. This year's edition will showcase a stellar line-up of world-renowned artists.

The festival will run from July 3 to August 28. An additional, special concert will be held on August 15 at 8.30 pm to mark the Feast of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Alongside organ recitals performed by artists such as Andrew Dewar (France), Tina Christiansen (Denmark), and James D. Hicks (USA), the audience can look forward to performances by vocal ensembles, including the Simultaneo Vocal Octet, as well as this year's Fryderyk music award winners – Art’n’Voices. A special concert on August 15 will be graced by a performance from the world-renowned Polish Chamber Choir "Schola Cantorum Gedanensis", conducted by Jan Łukaszewski.

The repertoire will span from the Renaissance to contemporary times. Performance diversity will also be an important aspect of the festival - apart from organ recitals, the audience will listen to the violin and viola duo Duo Insieme, the Neuma Quartet string quartet, and vocal music. The program, filled with outstanding, multidimensional events, will culminate in a final concert by Filip Presseisen, who is well-known for presenting film screenings with live, improvised organ music. That evening, the sound of the magnificent organ will be accompanied by the resonant tones of the Resonance BRASS quintet.

The program will naturally include Polish music. During the opening concert, organist and composer Maciej Zakrzewski will perform his own piece Timeless. On July 17, the Neuma Quartet and organist Patryk Dopke will present, among other works, Andrzej Panufnik’s Old Polish Suite, Mieczysław Surzyński’s Improvisations on the Hymn Holy God, Op. 38, and Szymon Laks’ String Quartet No. 3 on Polish Folk Themes. On July 31, the Art’n’Voices Vocal Ensemble and organist Sebastian Kuczyński will perform pieces by Augustyn Bloch, Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk, Marek Raczyński, and Michał Ziółkowski. The repertoire of American organist James D. Hicks will feature Andrzej Szadejko’s Passacaglia in D con thema Buxtehude; on August 21, he will also give the world premiere of Ancient Dance in Ugale’s minster coyard by Renāte Stivriņa, a composer based in Poland. During the final concert, Resonance BRASS will perform works composed by the ensemble's own members, Grzegorz Krause and Marcin Król.

A special treat during the concerts will be a live screen broadcast, which will allow the audience to follow the organist’s performance. This is a rare opportunity to see the organists’ craftsmanship up close and discover just how demanding, yet extraordinary this instrument is.

Organizers: Gdańsk Organ Centre, ART4U Foundation, St. Mary’s Basilica in Gdańsk, Pro Basilica Gedanensis Foundation.

Honorary Patrons: Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, Metropolitan of Gdańsk; Beata Rutkiewicz, Voivode of Pomerania.

Co-financed by the City of Gdańsk

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Detailed information available at: https://www.festiwalorganowy.pl/ 

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