150 compositions performed at the International Festival of Contemporary Music "Warsaw Autumn" and digital copies of 400 photographs from the festival archive are available on www.polmic.pl as part of the "Warsaw Autumn Available!" project.
In the last years, the Polish Music Information Center POLMIC has been implementing a programme of complex archivisation, digitalisation and sharing collections of recordings and photos related to the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music – the most important contemporary music festival in Poland and one of the most important events of this type in Europe and in the world. Photographs and recording documenting the festival over the past 60 years of its existence are a true national heritage, reflecting the history of Polish musical culture in this period, immortalizing its creators and presenting their most important works. The aim of our activities is to protect archival materials from inevitable degradation and to provide access to these materials to a wide audience, through the polmic.pl and muzar.polmic.pl websites, as well as through the monographic portals of selected composers.
In 2019 we digitalised a unique and priceless collection of recodings and photographs. Photographs available in the online gallery are primarily documentation of festival concerts and accompanying events from the years 1977-1980 in the lens of Jan Hausbrandt and Andrzej Glanda – photographers who collaborated with the "Warsaw Autumn" for many years. Fragments of compositions performed at the festival in the years 1956-1962 and made available in a digital version are an encouragement for all interested to visit the Library of the Polish Composers' Union (27 Old Town Market Square, 00-272 Warsaw), where it is possible to listen to the entire works!
The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.
SEE: Photographs from the "Warsaw Autumn" 1977–1980; Recordings from the "Warsaw Autumn" 1956–1962 (available soon!)