The 55th International Festival of Contemporary Music "Poznań Music Spring"

The anniversary 55th "Poznań Music Spring" International Festival of Contemporary Music, organized by the Poznań branch of the Polish Composers’ Union, will take place from April 24 to 29, 2026. The program includes concerts featuring Polish and international artists, sound walks, meetings with authors, and an exhibition.

This year, the festival will open with a concert by the Chamber String Orchestra of the Poznań Academy of Music, conducted by Andrej Vesel (Croatia), with flutists Agata Kielar-Długosz and Łukasz Długosz as soloists. They will perform works by Monika Kędziora, Panayiotis Kokoras, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

The Warsaw Trio will premiere Two Rhapsodies, Op. 24 by Jerzy Fryderyk Wojciechowski and Pagliacci by Rafał Kłoczko, both of which were commissioned by the Festival. The Zielona Góra Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Agata Zając, will present the world premiere of Ad lucem by Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz, a work also commissioned by the Festival.

The world premiere of Kuba Krzewiński's Hair Phantasy will be performed by the composer himself alongside pianist Rei Nakamura at the Zamek Culture Centre. Two of the festival’s concerts will serve as the final events of composition competitions. At the Academy of Music, Julian Paprocki and Wojciech Kaszuba will premiere works by the winners of the 2nd Andrzej Dobrowolski Composition Competition. Meanwhile, at Barak Kultury, the SaxLooped ensemble will present the premiere performances of works by the laureates of the 1st Composition Competition of the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers' Union.

A highlight of the festival will be a concert by the Kyiv Electroacoustic Music Studio at the Pawilon in Poznań. The program features the world premieres of The Chilled Nest by Anton Stuk and Mushli by Valeriia Vinohradova.

The panel discussion titled "Quantum Listening", organized by the Literary Curatorship of the Institute of Polish Philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University, will feature Prof. Lidia Zielińska, Prof. Tomasz Misiak, and Marta Michalska, PhD.

During sound walks led by ornithologist Agata Ożarowska, participants will have the opportunity to listen to the birds fauna of Lake Rusałka; the event will feature a performative contribution by the Poznań Laptop Orchestra – Lambda Ensemble.

The festival will conclude with a concert by the Austrian group Platypus Ensemble titled "Birds". The program at Aula Nova will include compositions by Anna Arkushyna, Dai Fujikura, and Peter Ablinger, among others.

Maria Strzelczyk’s upcycling exhibition "STEPbySTEP", featuring works created from used musical instruments' parts, will be available at Barak Kultury throughout the festival.

The Director of the Festival is Michał Janocha, PhD.

The event is co-financed by the City of Poznań and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund ("Music" program), implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information: https://wiosnamuzyczna.pl/