A concert to celebrate the centenary of the recognition of Polish independence by Portugal took place on 9 November 2019 in the O'culto da Ajuda concert hall in Lisbon. The event was organised by the Polish Composers' Union in cooperation with the centre for creation, development and promotion of contemporary music Miso Music Portugal in the framework of the project "With Polish Music from the Baltic to the Atlantic". Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble performed under the direction of Pedro Neves.
The introduction was given by the directors of cooperating institutions – Mieczysław Kominek and Miguel Azguime. The evening began with the performance of Midsummer (1979) for clarinet, piano, cello and electronics by Włodzimierz Kotoński – exactly 40 years after the premiere of the piece on 9 November 1979 at the Sudeutscher Rundfunk concert studio in Stuttgart. The Polish premiere of the work, which is a part of the cycle dedicated to the four seasons, took place a year later during the "Warsaw Autumn" festival. Despite the passage of time, the composition of the father of Polish electronic music was an interesting proposition for contemporary audience. Then we listened to the work -onym (2011) by Wojtek Blecharz, which is a sonification of a sentence referring to the artist's identity, and PRIMORDIUM: Encephalon (2010) by Karol Nepelski – the second in a planned cycle of several works devoted to the quest for various form of primordiality and origins in music. The composer, who was present at the concert, got a long round of applause from the Portuguese audience.
The second part of the concert began with the world premiere of the work commissioned by Sond'Ar-Electric Electric Ensemble – Open Enclosure for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and electronics by the Portuguese composer João Madureira. The eight-part composition by the artist struggling with a chronic illness was a tribute to composers who inspires him on the creative path. This group included Miguel Azguime, as well as members of the ensemble that premiered the work. The evening ended with a commentary on contemporary consumption culture – Grocery Store Music # 5 (2018) by Piotr Peszat, premiered last year by the Hashtag Ensemble during the conference "Independent Polish Music". The audience, performers and composers had the opportunity to discuss the works during the formal reception after the concert.
The project "With Polish music from the Baltic to the Atlantic" was realized by the Polish Composers’ Union as part of the "Promotion of Polish culture abroad" programme. The concert was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.
Recording of the concert is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W3FZbEB2DE