Festival

FESTIVAL CONCEPT

This year marks the 10th anniversary of our presence on the musical and cultural scene. During this time, we have made a name for ourselves in world music, drawn inspiration from folklore, and realized ourselves in our own arrangements of 20th-century classical music. We have also turned our ears to the newest music, undertaking collaborations with the most interesting Polish composers of the younger generation. Summing up this decade gave rise to the idea of a concert series where we could also present other contemporary chamber ensembles alongside each other. Lengthy discussions and months of work by many people have finally had their effect: it is our pleasure to invite you to the first edition of the Kwadrofonik Festival!

The idea of the Festival is a desire to look at the contemporary music scene from the performers’ perspective. Excellent technical craft and fidelity to the composer is one side of this, and the idea of turning a concert into an unforgettable show is the other. Many ensembles today are looking for an original formula, going in the direction of theater and concept, utilizing multimedia and performance art, collaborating not only with composers, but also with directors and video artists. Indeed, this is how the ensembles we have invited work: Ensemble Garage (Germany) and Asamisimasa (Norway). The second group will be performing in Poland for the first time.

Ensemble Garage will present a concert experiment entitled SOUND AND IMAGE, which poses questions concerning the perception of music: which aspects of it are real, and which are imaginary? Asamisimasa's program entitled POPULAR CONTEXTS, on the other hand, will show how banal sounds from everyday life become the building blocks of a refined composition. Kwadrofonik will open the Festival with A CONCERT OF SONGS featuring vocalist Barbara Kinga Majewska – a musical show whose dramaturgical concept was created by director Yulka Wilam. Also performing at the festival will be the Lutosławski Piano Duo and the Pękala/Kordylasińska/Pekala percussion duo. The first of these will present a program entitled FOR TWO PIANOS TUNED A QUARTER-TONE APART – an hommage to minimal music with elements of microtonality, while the second will transport listeners to the frontiers of sound with a program entitled AFTERSOUNDS.

We will see how theatricality, musical performativity and diverse concepts developed by performers create new ways of listening. Also conducive to this will be unusual concert venues – the studios of Polish Radio, the event's co-organizer. Besides the familiar Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio (S1), we will be hearing music in studios S2 and S3, rarely open to the public; S3, S7 and S8, in turn, will host events for children. This year's festival program encompasses not only five concerts, but also workshops for the youngest members of our audience and, beyond this, discussions with musicians and journalists.

Team

• Festival originator, host and organizer > Kwadrofonik Association
• Kwadrofonik: Emilia Sitarz, Bartek Wąsik, Magdalena Kordylasińska, Miłosz Pękala
• Festival concept and program > Monika Pasiecznik
• Festival managers > Katarzyna Renes, Agnieszka Bolecka
• Sound engineer > Robert Migas
• Promotion > Eliza Orzechowska
• Graphic design > Justyna Kosińska / temperowka.pl
• Website development > Michał Pękala / simplercode.com