Catalogue

What is that special world in which Adam Bałdych can meet Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett? He is a violin virtuoso navigating his way between jazz and contemporary music. She is a singer, harpist, pianist, and musicologist, founder of Ensemble Peregrina early music ensemble associated with the famous Schola Cantorum Basiliensis early music academy. The world in which they have met is called Kras52. Rather than being a planet in a faraway galaxy, it is a Krasiński Library manuscript and one of the main sources of Polish medieval polyphony.

‘I made up my mind to go gaga for a few weeks and write some verse loosely based on the bios of my family members,’ explains Michał Rusinek, otherwise a serious and reputable literary scholar, translator, and writer. ‘My ancestors were apparently rather ordinary. Still, I am convinced that even a very ordinary family can be viewed from an unusual perspective.

Born 75 years ago, Wnuk-Nazarowa obtained her master’s degree from Krzysztof Penderecki’s class in 1974. Her professional life has been a long series of challenges and successes, and she is well-known for her achievements in the fields of education, management, and politics. She was, among others, the head of Cracow Philharmonic, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) in Katowice, and (in 1997–1999) – Minister of Culture.

‘The heart – a void, a gaping wound. / A wound on the left-hand side of the world.’ It is with his heart that Aleksander Nowak seems to have read Radek Rak’s Nike-awarded novel A Tale of a Serpent’s Heart or a Second Word about Jakób Szela. His opera thus abounds in emotions perfectly comprehensible to a sensitive audience – emotions that are nearly obvious, though the author shuns literalness.

The eponymous piece, written for its current performer Jakob Kullberg, derives its title from the composer’s belief that creating a work of art calls for friction on both the conceptual and purely personal level. The other two concertos on VARIOUS FORMS OF FRICTION, released in PORTRAITS series, are Motions, Stases for piano and large ensemble (with Małgorzata Walentynowicz as soloist) and Open/Close for bass clarinet and large ensemble (soloist: Michele Marelli). The soloists perform here with Ensemble OMN under Szymon Bywalec.

One of Poland’s most compelling jazz pianists, Kuba Stankiewicz has shared the stage with, among others, Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Artie Shaw, and Art Farmer. For many years he has explored the impact of pre-WWII film music on jazz, which has resulted in splendid releases of music by Victor Young, Bronisław Kaper, Henryk Wars, as well as their teacher Roman Statkowski. Stankiewicz’s variations on themes from Różycki’s works are the next stage of his journey in search for the sources of jazz.

From his debut album Outside Sources (2004), Canadian bassist-composer Michael Bates felt that even contemporary open jazz constrains him. Michael Bates’ arrangements OF Lutosławski’s works were premiered in a dazzling manner by the joint forces of Acrobat and Lutosławski Quartet during the New York edition of Jazztopad festival in June 2022. Several months later in Wrocław, the musicians met up again in order to record the music and thus preserve their fantastic adventure for the future generations.

Bloody crime, family tragedy, the force of destiny… The timeless works of ancient playwrights continue to move audiences also today as well as inspiring present-day artists. Aeschylus’ "Oresteia" has thus become the basis for Agata Zubel’s dramopera to a libretto by Maja Kleczewska.