"The Rite of Spring" of the Polish Composers’ Union – six festivals and several premieres!

Each year, the organization gathering Polish composers and musicologists offers festivals of world premieres across the country. The spring edition includes: the 87th "Musica Moderna" Festival in Łódź (April 13–May 7), the 55th International Festival of Contemporary Music "Poznań Musical Spring" (April 24–29), the 38th Krakow International Festival of Composers (May 9–17), the 35th "Musica Polonica Nova" Festival in Wrocław (May 14–17), the 14th International Festival of Contemporary Music "New Music" in Bydgoszcz (May 16–June 16), and the 40th Warsaw Music Encounters Festival (May 18–26). Let's travel through Poland to hear the most interesting new music at the spring festivals organized by the Polish Composers’ Union!

The program of the 87th "Musica Moderna" Festival (April 13–May 7) will be predominantly focused on works by composers associated with the Academy of Music in Łódź. Furthermore, students of the Łódź Academy of Music and the Academy of Fine Arts – this year's festival partner – will continue their inter-university collaboration.

The festival will be inaugurated with a musical evening celebrating the 70th anniversary of Professor Sławomir Kaczorowski. The following day, another monographic concert will be held, this time dedicated to Michał Kawecki. The ideas and interests of the students of composition studies will be highlighted during the "Young Artists' Concert", an experimental concert with audiovisual and performative elements by the Computer Studio for Electronic Music, as well as at the "Art Correspondences" concert – a presentation of recent works co-created by composition students from the Academy of Music and students from the Academy of Fine Arts' Composition Studio (New Media studies). Composers Hubert Polański, Aleksander Boroś, Franciszek Puk, and Mikołaj Więckowski will present their diploma concerts.

Michał Kawecki, a graduate of the Academy of Music in Łódź and guest of the festival, will host workshops with students on documentary composition, vocal improvisation, and working with electronics. The festival is organized by the Composition Department of the Academy of Music in Łódź and the Łódź branch of the Polish Composers' Union.

Program: https://www.amuz.lodz.pl/index.php/pl/wydarzenia/87-festiwal-musica-moderna

The program of the 55th International Festival of Contemporary Music "Poznań Musical Spring" (April 24–29) features concerts of Polish and international artists, sound walks, meetings with authors, and an exhibition. World premieres will also be presented.

The Warsaw Trio will premiere Two Rhapsodies by Jerzy Fryderyk Wojciechowski and Pagliacci by Rafał Kłoczko, both commissioned by the Festival. The Zielona Góra Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Agata Zając, will premiere Ad lucem by Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz, which was also commissioned by the festival. Kuba Krzewiński’s Hair Phantasy will be premiered by pianist Rei Nakamura and the composer himself at the Zamek Culture Center.

Two concerts will culminate the composition competitions. Julian Paprocki and Wojciech Kaszuba will premiere works by the winners of the 2nd Andrzej Dobrowolski Composition Competition at the Academy of Music in Poznań, while SaxLooped ensemble will premiere works by the winners of the 1st Composition Competition of the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers' Union at the Barak Kultury.

Kyiv Studio of Electroacoustic Music will have a special concert at the Poznań Pawilon. The program will include the world premieres of Anton Stuk's The Chilled Nest and Valeria Vinohradova's Mushli.

The festival is organized by the Poznań branch of the Polish Composers' Union and the Poznań Contemporary Music Foundation. The event is financed by the City of Poznań and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

More information: https://wiosnamuzyczna.pl/

The 38th Krakow International Festival of Composers (May 9–17) will be held under the "Music and the Transformations of the Contemporary World” theme, which will also be the focus of the event’s musicology session.

The special guest of the 38th edition – Dai Fujikura, a Japanese composer based in the UK – will deliver a lecture on his works and lead a master class for composition students. His pieces will be performed at three concerts. The opening concert will feature Monika Szpyrka's latest composition, In-Caring, commissioned by the festival as part of the "Collections – Composition Commissions" program of the National Institute of Music and Dance.

The festival will gather distinguished Polish artists, as well as international guests: Quasars Ensemble (Slovakia), Michele Marco Rossi (cellist from Italy), and the duo Monica Benvenuti and Francesco Giomi (Italy). The event is organized by the Kraków branch of the Polish Composers' Union and is co-financed by the Kraków City Hall, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the National Institute of Music and Dance. The Society of Authors ZAiKS is a partner of the festival.

More information: http://festiwal.zkp.krakow.pl/

The 35th anniversary edition of "Musica Polonica Nova" Festival (May 14–17) will take place at the National Forum of Music under the theme "Senses". A central focus will be the synthesis of arts—a contemporary way of thinking about integrating music with other forms of creativity. Intermedia, installations, theatre, performative, and audiovisual activities will create a shared space where the boundaries between disciplines become blurred, and the audience experiences the work as a complex, multi-sensory reality.

This year's composer-in-residence is Wojciech Błażejczyk. The festival will open with a performance of his Słońce, do dzieła!, directed by Katarzyna Kalwat at the Polski Theatre in the Underground. The New Music Orchestra, conducted by Szymon Bywalec, will premiere Wrzenie by Jerzy Kornowicz, SoundLAB Music by Marta Śniady, and Music (Im)perfect – a quasi-piano concerto by Adam Porębski (all of which were created as part of the "Commissions" program administered by the National Institute of Music and Dance), as well as Inner Battles. For OMN Ensemble by Grzegorz Wierzba. The NFM Wrocław Philharmonic will premiere Jagoda Szmytka's Symphony of the Senses, also composed as part of the "Commissions" program.

The concert entitled "#704215" (color code: sephia) will be held on May 17 and is a collaboration between the Wrocław and Poznań branches of the Polish Composers' Union. This year, the Sepia Ensemble will premiere miniatures by nine artists, accompanied by composers themselves. Poznań will be represented by works written by Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz (Sub contrario), Jerzy Wojciechowski (W tumanie), Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska (Checklist), and Szymon Jóźwiak (Inter Somnos), while Wrocław by Katarzyna Dziewiątkowska (Ciment-sable-eau), Adrian Foltyn (Insensigence), Grzegorz Pieńek (Infrared Noon), Magdalena Gorwa (Twoje 5 minut), and Stanisław Krupowicz (Happy Winds to the Rose No. 4).

The festival is organized by the National Forum of Music and the Wrocław branch of the Polish Composers' Union.

More information: https://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl/festiwale/musica-polonica-nova

The 14th International Festival of Contemporary Music "New Music" in Bydgoszcz (May 16–June 16), aligned with the city’s role as a UNESCO City of Music, will present a wide range of the latest Polish and international music. In total, 13 concerts have been programmed that will feature music by composers from Poland, Germany, Australia, and Spain. Artists will premiere works by Artur Banaszkiewicz, Piotr Beciński, Sławomir Czarnecki, Piotr A. Komorowski, Marcin Kopczyński, Zbigniew Kozub, Michał Lipski, Bohdan Riemer, and Paulina Zujewska.

The program includes performances of such artists as "Ludzie z Vełny" ensemble, Duo del Gesu, the Intemperata Orchestra and soprano Dorota Nowak, the German ensemble Ensemble via nova, the "Kujawy" and "ArtOn" string quartets, the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Chamber Orchestra, and the Bydgoszcz Accordion Orchestra.

The festival is organized by the Kuyavian-Pomeranian branch of the Polish Composers' Union in Bydgoszcz, the Municipal Cultural Center in Bydgoszcz, the Faculty of Musical Education of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, and the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz.

More information: https://www.nowamuzyka.bydgoszcz.pl/

The 40th Warsaw Music Encounters (May 18–26) will feature the premieres of works by Julia Marczuk, Tomasz Radziwonowicz, Jarosław Siwiński, Mateusz Śmigasiewicz, Marek Toporowski, and many others.

The audience will listen to the performances of Camerata Vistula (the 40th anniversary of the ensemble's foundation), Łukasz Długosz, Marek Toporowski, Ensemble Via Nova, Julian Paprocki, Mateusz Stankiewicz, the Kwartludium ensemble, Jadwiga Kotnowska, Mariusz Mocarski, Mateusz Smoczyński, and Sinfonia Viva, conducted by Tomasz Radziwonowicz.

The concert and early music workshop for children titled "Instruments with Soul" will be hosted by Anna Śliwa and Lilianna Stawarz. Additionally, the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music will host an extraordinary meeting of the Music Theory Lab, featuring lectures and presentations by the university’s teachers and students, as well as a panel discussion celebrating the festival's anniversary. 

The event is organized by the Warsaw branch of the Polish Composers' Union and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage,and the Capital City of Warsaw.

Partners: Society of Authors ZAiKS, Polish Radio

More information: https://wsm.art.pl/

The Polish Music Information Center (POLMIC) is the media patron of the festivals.

The visual identity for this year's edition of the "Poznań Musical Spring" used in this article was designed by Weronika Andrzejewska.