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The Conference of New Music Festivals was held at the University of Warsaw Library (56/66 Dobra Street) on September 16th, 2017.

Celebrating the 60th jubilee edition of the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music Mieczysław Kominek, President of the Polish Composers’ Union, Jerzy Kornowicz, Director of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music and Prof. Zbigniew Skowron, Director of the Institute of Musicology of the University of Warsaw were pleased to invite you to the Conference of New Music Festivals, which took place
at the Bogumił Linde Hall on Saturday, between 11 a.m and 4 p.m.

During the conference representatives of European contemporary music festivals presented their projects and signed the “Warsaw Proclamation” – a collective statement of new music festivals, representing their standpoint on the changing world.

Participants of the conference: Cecilia Balestra (director, "Milano Musica" – Associazione per la musica contemporanea), Juriy Bulka (coordinator, "Contrasts" – International Contemporary Music Festival, Lviv), Henk Heuvelmans (director, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Utrecht), Anna Huuskonen (producer, Musica Nova, Helsinki), Barbora Skálová (manager, Ostrava Center for New Music, Ostrava Days, NODO Festival), Jerzy Kornowicz (director, "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music), Martin Q Larsson (managing director Nordic Music Days 2017, London), Remigijus Merkelys (artistic and executive director, International Contemporary Music Festival GAIDA, Wilno), Oleksandr Perepelytsia and Karmella Tsepkolenko (directors, "Two Days and Two Nights of New Music" – International Festival of Modern Art), Krzysztof Pietraszewski (curator, Sacrum Profanum Festival), Miroslav Pudlák (dyrektor Contempuls – Prague Contemporary Music Festival), Krešimir Seletković (artistic director, Music Biennale Zagreb), Oľga Smetanová (ISCM Secretary General, ISCM World New Music Days 2017, Vancouver), and Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa (general and programme director, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Festival of World Premieres, Katowice).

Admission was free. Simultaneous Polish / English translation was available during the presentations and discussions. After the conference a reception took place at the University of Warsaw Library.

Organisers: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC, Institute of Musicology of the University of Warsaw, Warsaw University Library, Institute of Music and Dance.

Cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

SEE: Facebook Event.

The representatives of new music festivals assembled in Warsaw during the 60th jubilee edition of the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music, in the year of the centenary of the avant-garde in Poland inaugurated by the President of the Republic of Poland, bearing in mind the avant-garde mission of Karol Szymanowski in the 1920s and 30s and that of the Experimental Studio of Polish Radio and the Polish School of Composition in the 1950s and 60s, as well as in recognition of the uncompromising stance of the composers active today, declared they commitment to the development of the international movement of new music festivals, while preserving independence in pursuing their artistic and educational missions.

They will cooperate with a view to:
• intensifying the presence of new music in art, culture and social life;
• increasing sensitivity to social-cultural contexts and to the contemporary human needs;
• attracting new audiences to new music through cultural and artistic education, with special focus on the younger generations;
• respecting cultural diversity and supporting the artistic exploration of that diversity;
• facilitating the free flow of ideas and enhancing inter- and intracultural communication;
• reinforcing the awareness of the significance of cultural memory and tradition in the process of building modernity;
• harmoniously combining the universal with the European and national cultural perspectives.

Warsaw, 16th September 2017

Signed Document: The Warsaw Proclamation

The 59th "Warsaw Autumn" was held between 16th and 24th September 2016 and focused among others on the theme of contemporary opera. This fact encouraged us to produce for the first time in the history of the Chronicle series the Multimedia Chronicle which includes 5 audio CDs and 2 DVDs with selection of four operas presented at the Festival.

Since great Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino was the featured composer of this year’s Festival, two discs – one CD and one DVD – were devoted especially to his works.
Similarly to the previous issues, one CD within the series (CD No. 5) was dedicated to very young composers. It contains six compositions presented during two concerts organised by the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers’ Union as fringe events of the Festival.

The Chronicle was released for promotional purposes only. Everybody interested in obtaining the “Chronicle” are welcome to contact the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC (contact person: Izabela Zymer, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). It should be stressed, however, that since the number of copies is limited and we have noted increasing interest of the public, a preference will be given to music institutions, libraries, schools and information centres around the world.

Multimedia Chronicle of the 59th "Warsaw Autumn"
International Festival of Contemporary Music

DVD 1 (polmic 124)

Salvatore Sciarrino

Luci mie traditrici (1996-1998) Opera in two acts to a libretto by Salvatore Sciarrino after Il tradimento per l’onore by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini

CD 1 (polmic 125)

Salvatore Sciarrino

1) Infinito nero (1998) Ecstasy in one act for voice and eight instruments to a libretto by Salvatore Sciarrino after the writings of Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi; 2) Introduzione all’oscuro (1981) for twelve instruments; 3) Shadow of Sound (2005) for orchestra

CD 2 (polmic 126)

1) Philippe Hurel Tour à tour II – La rose des vents (2015) for orchestra and electronics; 2) Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil Rain Forest. Concerto for two flutes and orchestra (2013); 3-5) Zofia Dowgiałło Composition with Motion Background (2010, rev. 2015) for orchestra

CD 3 (polmic 127)

1) Brigitta Muntendorf Key of Presence (2014-2015) for two pianos, live electronics and tape; 2) Wojciech Błażejczyk Trash Music (2014) for voice, instrumental ensemble and objectophones; 3) Marcin Bortnowski Expectancy (2016)

for cello and chamber orchestra

CD 4 (polmic 128)

1-5) Steven Kazuo Takasugi Sideshow (2009-2015) for amplified octet and electronic playback in five movements to words by Karl Kraus; 6) Piotr Peszat The Message (2016) for two pianos, sampler, audio playback and video

CD 5 (polmic 129) Fringe events – young composers’ carte blanche

1) Artur Słotwiński Anhedonia (2016) for string quartet; 2) Anna Porzyc String Quartet No. 2 (2013-2014); 3) Martyna Kosecka Kaléō (2015) for string quartet; 4) Teoniki Rożynek T.R.I.P. (2014) electronic music; 5) Alina Kubik In a Blink (2016) electronic music; 6) Ryszard Lubieniecki Beaute Parfaite. After Antonello da Caserta (noise version, 2015) electronic music

DVD 2 (polmic 130)

1) Aaron S Collective (Sławomir Wojciechowski, Paweł Krzaczkowski, Krzysztof Cybulski, Norman Leto) Aaron S (2015-2016); 2) Marta Śniady Meme Opera (2016) for voice, instrumental ensemble and visualisations; 3) Jarosław Siwiński Silent Fish (2016) Microopera for children

A concert on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of regaining independence by Poland will take place at the Belarusian State Philharmonic in Minsk on 18 March 2018 . The Classic-Avangard ensemble, directed by Wladimir Bajdow, will perform works by Polish and Belarusian composers.

The organizers of the concert are the Polish Composers' Union, the Polish Music Information Center POLMIC, the Polish Institute in Minsk and the Belarusian State Philharmonic. The project is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the Multiannual Program INDEPENDENT 2017-2021, as part of the grant program of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute "Cultural bridges".

"With this concert, we want to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Poland's regaining independence in 1918. After 123 years of partitions, when Poland existed only in the hearts of Poles, the Republic returned to the map of Europe and the world as an independent country. In the program of the concert, we have works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a great pianist and an outstanding composer, but also a politician. Thanks to him, the cause of Poland's independence gained the support of the United States of America, and he himself was – albeit briefly – the first prime minister of the Polish government after regaining independence. The program also includes works by Karol Szymanowski, the most outstanding composer of independent Poland, reborn in 1918. At this time, Polish avant-guard was born, and Szymanowski was its father in the field of music. Zygmunt Krauze, a contemporary composer with an exceptionally expressive individual feature, also refers to the interwar avant-garde. He reaches for the pattern of "unism", the theory formulated by Władysław Strzemiński, one of the most important painters and theoreticians of that new Polish avant-garde, who regained independence. The works of these and other Polish composers are complemented by works of composers associated with Belarus. I am curious about Polish themes in their compositions, for example Dzmitry Łybin will present a piece entitled Journey from Cracow to Vienna" – noted Mieczysław Kominek, Managing Director of the Polish Composers' Union.

The management of the Belarusian State Philharmonic emphasizes: "This concert will be a musical gift for the neighboring Republic of Poland on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of independence and will once again confirm the long and close friendly relations between our republics."

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Additional information – on the website of the Belarusian State Philharmonic.

More about events related to Polish culture around the world at: www.culture.pl 

"With Polish music in neighbouring countries on the 100th anniversary of Independence" is the title of the project which Polish Composers' Union and Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC pursue in 2018 as part of the "Cultural Bridges" programme.

The project includes the organization of three concerts of Polish music with partners from neighboring countries: Belarus, Slovakia and Hungary. The core of the repertoire of the concerts, which main goal is to promote Polish music in the context of the 100th anniversary of regaining Independence, are the works of Ignacy Jan Paderewski – one of the "fathers" of independence, Karol Szymanowski – who gave the reborn Polish music European fame, and Zygmunt Krauze – contemporary composer who refers to the idea of ​​Władysław Strzemiński's Unism. In addition, works by Mieczysław Karłowicz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Hanna Kulenty, Wojciech Kilar, Justyna Kowalska-Lasoń and Maciej Bałenkowski will be performed abroad. The programme will also include works by local composers referring to Poland and selected by foreign partners.

The performance of all concerts will be entrusted to local musicians and bands, including Classic-Avantgarde Ensemble under the direction of Vladimir Bajdov, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra of Bogdan Warchal under the direction of Ewald Danel and the Solti String Orchestra conducted by Mátyás Antál. This will create an opportunity to familiarize foreign performers with Polish music, which has a chance to remain permanently in their repertoire. Each concert will be preceded by a lecture prepared by a local expert, supported by the necessary source information provided by the organizers.

Venues and dates of the concerts: Belarusian State Philharmonic, Minsk (18/03/2018), Slovak Radio Building, Bratislava (27/09/2018), Óbudai Társaskör, Budapest (05/11/2018).

The project is financed from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the Multi-annual Program INDEPENDENT 2017-2021, as part of the subsidy program of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute "Cultural Bridges".

More about events related to Polish culture worldwide: www.culture.pl