The Aurea Porta Friends of the Arts Foundation invites you to a unique musical event inspired by the works of Witold Gombrowicz, prepared in collaboration with a quartet of renowned improvisers. Wojciech Myrczek, Paweł Tomaszewski, Mateusz Smoczyński and Andrzej Święs will perform on 12 December 2025 at 6:30 PM at the Witold Gombrowicz Museum in Wsola. Admission is free!
The programme of the musical evening, directed by Łukasz Czuj, is built around eight vocal-instrumental pieces, each dedicated to a different character from Gombrowicz’s novels and plays. In his prose – and especially in his stage works – the author of Ferdydurke uses a distinctive, highly expressive phrasing full of musical allusions. It is precisely these allusions that have inspired the composers, Paweł Tomaszewski and Mateusz Smoczyński, who created works combining elements of the avant-garde, improvisation and the tradition of contemporary jazz. The artists will also perform music by Bogusław Schaeffer.
The guiding theme of the event is the idea of the mask and form – the “faces” (gęby) we present to the world, as Gombrowicz wrote. Together they create a colourful gallery of personalities and attitudes, including those relating to Polish identity – an inseparable theme in Gombrowicz’s oeuvre, in which he constantly engaged in dialogue with national tradition.
The entire event will be tied together by a narration composed of excerpts from Witold Gombrowicz’s Diary, accompanied by visual projections referring to the character of each section, as well as contextual information about the featured characters.
The project is financed by the Mazovian Voivodeship Government as part of the “Cultural Development Strategy for the Mazovian Voivodeship for 2023–2027.”
Co-organiser: Witold Gombrowicz Museum in Wsola.
Partner: Legalna Kultura.
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC
Additional information: https://www.muzeumgombrowicza.pl/pl/aktualnosci/czytaj/486/gombrowicz-na-jazzowo
