Gdańsk | "Contrasts. Edward Pałłasz In Memoriam"

A concert entitled "Contrasts. Edward Pałłasz In Memoriam", dedicated to the composer who died in 2019, will be held on 28 March 2020 at 7.00 p.m. at the Artus Court in Gdańsk.

Edward Pałłasz never sought extraordinary popularity. It should be emphasized, however, that he is one of the most important figures of contemporary Polish culture. In the years 1984-1988 and 1997-2003 he was the vice president, and in the years 1988-1993 and 2003-2009 the president of the ZAiKS Association of Authors. He sat on the Repertoire Committee of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (1981–1996). In the years 1979-1997 was in the Main Board of the Polish Composers' Union. He was a member of the Culture Council at the President of the Republic of Poland Lech Wałęsa and the Polish Radio Programme Council, which he chaired in the years 2010–2013. He was the director of Programme 2 of the Polish Radio and the deputy general and artistic director of the Warsaw Chamber Opera. The Polish Chamber Choir has cooperated with the composer for many years, performing world premieres of his works at many concerts and festivals not only in Poland but also abroad.

The use of the word "contrasts" in the name of the concert is not accidental. The baroque works of Jan Sebastian Bach will be juxtaposed with Edward Pałłasz's contemporary works for cappella choir. We will listen to among others Three mourning songs (Jeszcześ, mamuliczko, Psalm snu naszego, Epitafium), Two songs to words by Osip Mandelsztam (Zima, Ja skażu tiebie), as well as the work Et ... dedicated to the Polish Chamber Choir. The text of the composition comes from the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse of Saint John. The composer himself wrote about this work: "Prophetic and apocalyptic visions of an evangelist's text demand the use of extreme musical means. And so I did. There is a division into 12 voices in the entire score, and there are as many as 24 voices in the culminations".

The works will be presented by the Polish Chamber Choir conducted by Jan Łukaszewski; Witosława Frankowska will play the positive organ.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information on tickets at: https://www.polskichorkameralny.pl/