“Sonikalia” is a unique festival on the cultural map of Poland, dedicated to contemporary and experimental music for children. The 2025 edition will take place from October 2 to 5 in Olsztyn, under the guiding theme “Score” (“Partytura”). The program includes workshops, concerts, installations, and performances, all sharing one key element: active participation of children—from creating their own graphic scores and sound experiments to collective music-making with professional artists.
All events are free of charge, but the number of places is limited.
Thanks to this approach, new music—bold, imaginative, and unconventional—is not presented as something distant or inaccessible, but becomes a sensory-rich, close-up experience. Each year, the festival gathers hundreds of participants: children, educators, parents, artists, and cultural educators. “Sonikalia” is also an important voice in the discussion about arts education in Poland, showing that contemporary music can be a natural language for play and discovering the world.
This year’s program features:
- A performative sound installation with music by Jarosław Kordaczuk
- Concerts featuring works by Barbara Drazkov for prepared piano
- A piano concert by Emilia Sitarz titled “Nanodźwięki” (“Nano-Sounds”), based on children’s own graphic scores
- A percussion duo concert “Bitwa na bity” (“Beat Battle”) by Miłosz Pękala and Hubert Zemler
- Two musical theatre performances:
- “Gwiezdnik” – a poetic opera for young audiences with music by Jarosław Kordaczuk, performed by artists of the Warmia and Masuria Philharmonic – a magical fairy tale about life, memory, and the passage of time
- “Dżdżownica w kosmosie” (“Earthworm in Space”) – a show for the youngest, also with music by Kordaczuk, about curiosity, dreams, and the courage to reach beyond the ordinary
The festival is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund. It is also co-funded by the Municipality of Olsztyn and the Self-Government of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.
Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC
More details: https://sonikalia.pl/edycja-2025/program/
