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The International Festival of Contemporary Music "Poznań Music Spring", organized by Polish Composers' Union and More Than One Production Agency, will be held for the 47th time betweem 16-22 March 2018.

This extraordinary event, initiated by the eminent composer Tadeusz Szeligowski, will again gather excellent musicians who will perform during 15 concerts. The festival is addressed not only to listeners who are not associated with the music community on a daily basis, but also to musicians who want to hear the latest works in great performance.

The festival will be inaugurated by a concert of the Pomeranian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jakub Chrenowicz. The programme will include: Chain II. Dialogue for violin and orchestra by Witold Lutosławski, Three pieces in old style by Krzysztof Penderecki and Three pieces in old style by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. In addition, the orchestra will premiere Morze traw by Janusz Stalmierski.

During the Festival there will be several premieres of works by Polish artists. On March 18, Wieniawski Quartet will premiere Strumień czasu – Trwanie by Agnieszka Zdrojek-Suchodolska and Weast / Zawchód by Jerzy Zieleniak. On March 19, Soprancello Duo will present for the first time Psalm 131 for soprano and cello by Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz and Brevis by Jakub Polaczyka, and Sinfonietta Pomerania will premiere Concerto for piano and small orchestra by Zbigniew Kozub and Ex imo mari for chamber orchestra by Monika Kędziora, commissionned within the programme „Collections“ – the priority „Composition Commissions“ implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance. On March 20, Manko Zapała Duo will premiere No meaning detected for violin and electronics by Rafał Zapała. On the same day, we will hear a new work by Tomasz Skweres – Meledictio for a recorder, alto flute, harp and harpsichord in the interpretation of Ensemble Airborne Extended (Austria). Sonoristic trio for clarinet, cello, piano and electronics by Piotr Pawlik will be premiere on March 21 by Meta Ensemble. On March 22, Wojciech Ziemowit Zych Flarea for flute and harp will be performed for the first time by Fl: Ar-Art duo, while Barbara Borowicz and Bartosz Sałdan will premiere Reflexion for clarinet and percussion by Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska.

Media Patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Detailed programme available at: www.wiosnamuzyczna.pl/

A premiere of the sound spectacle for youth group, orchestra and live electronics I do not like (Dźwiękowisko III) by Lidia Zielińska will take place 16 March 2018 at at 7.00 p.n. at the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic.

The evening will start with the composition of Lidia Zielińska entitled Kieleckie pory roku  – premiered in Radom in 2015 and commissioned by the Radom Chamber Orchestra under the name Radomskie pory roku. Due to the nature of the improvised part, the performance in Kielce received a title Kieleckie pory roku. It is a paratheatrical work in which junior high school students, two flutists, a string orchestra and electroacoustic media take part.

The second work of Lidia Zielińska, I do not like it (Dźwiękowisko III), was created as part of the Program of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Composition Commissions", implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance. The theme of the work refers to the interests of a group of people standing at the threshold of adulthood. It is an attempt to perceive and understand several important issues at this age, including: anxiety and aggression, causes of hate speech, herd instinct, the ability to refuse, privacy, value of joint actions, awareness of consequences, responsibility, self-improvement. The composition is conceived as a sound performance with a musical narrative, but the sounds come almost exclusively from the human voice. The essence of the work is a workshop work with high school youth, showing them the richness of vocal sounds and the possibility of creating suggestive stories from them. During the workshops, pupils of the 4th High School and Junior High School No. 23 in Kielce will experiment with the possibilities of microphones, select the appropriate electronic processing, build various sound textures in analogy to their experiences from everyday life, get to know the richness of nuance of any sound expression, including those used in everyday communication and related to personal culture. At the same time, the aim of the workshops and rehearsals of the youth with the orchestra is to learn the art of mutual listening, cooperation and flexibility, the discipline of synchronizing and the implementation of other similar educational goals.

The Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Jacek Rogala will ensure the continuity of the musical narrative. In the second part of the evening, the audience will listen to Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, which constitutes the canvas of Kieleckie pory roku.

Additional information at: http://filharmonia.kielce.com.pl

On 16 March 2018 at 7.00 p.m. Lodz Philharmonic Orchestra will perform under the baton of Su-Han Yang, the winner of the first prize at the 10th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Conducting Competition. The works Witold Lutosławski, Andrzej Panufnik and Maurice Ravel will fill the programme.

A conductor from Taiwan, Su-Han Yang is studying at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. The Symphony Orchestra of the Artur Rubinstein Lodz Philharmonic under his direction will begin the concert with Little Suite of Witold Lutosławski, based on traditional Polish melodies. Next, violinist Jakub Jakowicz, the last student of the outstanding pedagogue Tadeusz Wroński, will perform as a soloist in the Concerto for violin and string orchestra by Andrzej Panufnik.

After the break we will hear the music of Maurice Ravel: the beautiful Pavane pour une Infante défunte, which is high on the list of the saddest compositions made by the BBC, and Boléro, which simplicity was initially unacceptable to the audience. Piotr Matwiejczuk will talk about the history of these works during the pre-concert meeting; start at 6.15 p.m.

Information about tickets at: http://filharmonia.lodz.pl 

During the next concert from the series "Prelude of Talents", on March 16, 2018 at 7.00 p.m. at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin, we will hear Violin Concerto No. 2 op. 61 by Karol Szymanowski in the interpretation of the Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsingi and Symphony No. 7 by Anton Bruckner. 

The score of the Second Violin Concerto (1933) comes from the “national” period in Szymanowski's biography. Since the 1920s the artist had used elements of Polish folklore, e.g. from Podhale and Kurpie. Hence, the enthusiasts of Violin Concerto No. 1, which is full of impressionism, exotics and eroticism, should be informed that the piece number two presents an expression of completely different ideas. There are musical notes from Podhale, but rather than the sound of experiments we hear more tonal phrases. The co-author of the concerto, which was premiered on October 6, 1933 at the Warsaw Philharmonic, is the great violinist Paweł Kochański, a consultant in many of the violin works of the composer. During the upcoming concert, the solo part will be performed by the conductor Rune Bergmann’s fellow countrywoman, Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing, whose fame has extended far beyond Scandinavian circles (Wigmore Hall, Verbier Festival, AlpenKlassik in Germany).

The second part will be filled with Bruckner's Symphony No. 7, which was premiered with great triumph on March 10, 1885 in Munich, under the baton of Hermann Levie. The reviewer of "Berliner Tageblatt" wrote: "Bruckner has seduced us so much that when the last chord of this great work came out, we asked in astonishment: how could he have so long been a mystery to us?" The symphony consists of four monumental parts, and is filled with lyricism and seriousness (the second part of the work is reminiscent of the famous Adagietto of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5).

More information at: filharmonia.szczecin.pl

The 22nd Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival will take place in Warsaw between March 16-30, 2018.

During the 15 days of the festival, 13 symphony concerts, 3 chamber concerts and 2 piano recitals are planned. The invitation of Elżbieta Penderecka, general director of the Festival, has been accepted by music stars such as violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, pianists: Krystian Zimerman, Rudolf Buchbinder, cellist Steven Isserlis, conductors: Christoph Eschenbach, Lawrence Foster, Leonard Slatkin, Cristian Măcelaru, JoAnn Falletta, David Afkham and excellent national and international philharmonic ensembles, including Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie.

The 22nd edition of the Easter Festival in a special way will accentuate the 100th anniversary of regaining independence by Poland, celebrated in 2018. The programme of the concerts will include both the greatest works of Polish music literature interpreted by world-renowned musicians, as well as outstanding Polish young pianists standing at the threshold of international careers: Szymon Nehring, Krzysztof Książek, and Łukasz Krupiński. The festival programme will also mark the great music anniversaries in 2018 – the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, the 85th anniversary of the birth of Krzysztof Penderecki and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, the 125th anniversary of the birth of George Gershwin.

The Easter Festival will be inaugurated by the Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk, who will lead the Symphony No. 3 of the patron of the festival and, together with Krystian Zimerman, will perform the 2nd Symphony "The Edge of Anxiety" by Leonard Bernstein. In the final concert we will hear Stabat Mater by A. Dvořák under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach, with outstanding soloists: Genia Kühmeier (soprano), Michelle Breedt (mezzo-soprano), Steve Davislim (tenor) and Mikhail Petrenko (bass).

The main concerts of the festival will be complemented by regular accompanying events: the Exhibition of Musical Manuscripts at the Jagiellonian Library and the International Scientific Symposium, as well as piano master classes conducted by Dmitry Alexeev.

Detailed programme is available at: http://beethoven.org.pl