The Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, the 24th edition of which joins the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, will take place in Warsaw from 10 to 22 October 2020. The extraordinary circumstances caused by the pandemic influenced both the date of the festival, which was postponed to the autumn, and its programme.
Excellent Polish ensembles and soloists will perform 10 concerts of works by the patron of the festival and his Romantic successors: Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn and Brahms. The programme will also include Krzysztof Penderecki' music, performed in tribute to the master who died earlier this year.
The National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrzej Boreyko will inaugurate the festival, while the Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Maciej Tworek will perform the last concert. We will also hear the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw led by Michał Klauza, again the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, this time under the baton of Jerzy Maksymiuk, and the Sinfonietta Cracovia under the direction of Jurek Dybał.
On the 171st anniversary of the death of Fryderyk Chopin (17 October), Piotr Paleczny with the accompaniment of the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra conducted by Dawid Runtz, will perform the composer's Piano Concerto in E minor. The chamber concert of the Silesian Quartet, who will perform all string quartets by Krzysztof Penderecki and Beethoven's Great Fugue, promises to be intriguing.
The festival will continue to promote the youngest generation of performers. The event will feature a piano recital by Szymon Nehring and a concert entitled Polish Young Pianists, organised in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Festival.
Full programme is available at: http://beethoven.org.pl/