Marcel Chyrzyński – general and artistic director of the Festival(Photo by Marta Filipczyk / PWM Edition)
The Krakow International Festival of Composers (formerly known as Days of Music by Krakow Composers and 2014-2019 International Festival of Krakow Composers) has been part the cultural life of Krakow since 1989. The main purpose of the Festival is the promotion and presentation of contemporary professional work of Krakow composers (classics and professors, but also the outstanding middle generation, and the youngest composers and students of composition) created in relation to world music. This concept is realized via organization of concerts and meetings with composers. What is more, special lectures are organized during the Festival (conducted, among others, by music theorists of the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow, musicologists of the Jagiellonian University and invited guests from Poland and abroad).
In 1989, the festival was brought to life by Jerzy Kaszycki, Juliusz Łuciuk, Maciej Negrey and Kazimierz Pyzik. Since 1994 (for 20 years) the artistic director of the festival and the author of the program concept was musicologist Jerzy Stankiewicz. Since 2014 the general and artistic director is composer Marcel Chyrzyński.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
The theme of the 38th Krakow International Festival of Composers is “Music in the Face of the Transformations of the Contemporary World.” Since the times of primitive societies, music has influenced and responded to other aspects of life. Many composers have created and continue to create music influenced by, e.g., social and political events, scientific and technological achievements, as well as changes in customs and broadly understood ecology. By filtering all these stimuli through their own sensibility, creators engage in a dialogue with the world through their music.
This year’s festival musicology session will be devoted precisely to this topic. Presentations will be given by music theorists affiliated with the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow: Małgorzata Janicka-Słysz, Mateusz Bień, Marcin Strzelecki, and Dominika Micał.
The festival’s special guest will be the renowned Japanese composer Dai Fujikura, who lives in the United Kingdom. In February of this year, his fourth opera titled The Great Wave premiered; it was commissioned by Scottish Opera and tells the story of the life of Katsushika Hokusai. Fujikura will give a lecture titled “Close Collaboration with Soloists” and lead masterclasses with Composition students at the Academy of Music in Krakow. His works will be performed by, among others, the Quasars Ensemble from Slovakia and Michele Marco Rossi, a cellist from Italy.
As part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Józef Rychlik’s birth, a meeting with the composer will take place, combined with the promotion of Agnieszka Draus’s book titled Józef Rychlik and His Music. The meeting with the composer and the book’s author will be moderated by Magdalena Chrenkoff, editor-in-chief of Penderecki Academy Press.
The program of the concert by duoAccosphere and the LLLeggiero Woodwind Trio will include, among other works, a composition by the young composer Alina Dzięcioł, who received this year’s Main Prize at the 9th Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition for Young Composers. Prior to the concert, there will be an official reading of the jury’s minutes and the presentation of diplomas to the prize-winners.
For lovers of electroacoustic music, the AMKP Studio of Electroacoustic Music will traditionally present the “Electronic Cocktail.”
The festival will conclude with a performance by an outstanding duo from Italy: Monica Benvenuti (voice) and Francesco Giomi (electronics). This will be a special concert dedicated to the work of the eminent Italian composer Sylvano Bussotti on the 95th anniversary of his birth and the 5th anniversary of his death.
During the 9 festival concerts, works by composers from Poland, Brazil, France, Greece, Latvia, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Italy, the USA, as well as China, South Korea, and Japan will be presented. The audience will hear 21 world premieres and 18 Polish premieres.
I wish you a truly unforgettable experience!
Marcel Chyrzyński
General and Artistic Director