This year's edition of the Sinfonietta Cracovia flagship event is dedicated to the memory of Professor Krzysztof Penderecki – one of the founders of the orchestra, its great mentor and friend. The concert programme of the Sinfonietta Festival, which will run from 25 August to 3 September 2020, will also include works by Ludwig van Beethoven as 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.

The festival will be inaugurated on 25 August with an open-air concert of Sinfonietta Cracovia led by Maciej Tworek, a long-time collaborator of Professor Penderecki. On 26 August, the audience will have a chance to take part in the next edition of the "Chamber Clubbing" in the beautiful interiors and gardens of the National Museum in Kraków. The programme of performances by the Dafo Quartet, Cordes Classiques, Sinfo Quartet and 2B3 Ensemble will include compositions by the patrons of this year's Sinfonietta Festival – Ludwig van Beethoven and Krzysztof Penderecki. "Clubbing" will end with an open-air screening of the film Penderecki: Paths Through The Labyrinth (directed by Anna Neuhaus), preceded by a solo performance by Maciej Lulek, concertmaster of Sinfonietta Cracovia.

On 31 August, the orchestra will perform in The Kraków Cloth Hall under the baton of its director, Jurek Dybał. The guest of the Sinfonietta will be the legendary French clarinetist and close friend of the Professor – Michel Lethiec. The concert programme will include compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki and Antonín Dvořák. The evening will also feature the world premiere of one of the two winning works of the 6th International Composition Competition "Sinfonietta per Sinfonietta: Hommage à Krzysztof Penderecki" – a composition by Andrea Mattevi for strings and percussion.

The festival will end on 3 September with a spectacular final concert conducted by the first guest conductor of Sinfonietta Cracovia, the world-renowned American conductor John Axelrod. In the historic interiors of the Cloth Hall we will hear compositions by Piotr Czajkowski and Krzysztof Penderecki. This evening, Sinfonietta Cracovia will also premiere a piece by Robin Lilja – the second winner of this year's edition of the Composition Competition organized by the orchestra.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme is available at: www.sinfonietta.pl