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.

What should one start with when writing about Zygmunt Konieczny (b. 1937)? His outstanding achievements in the fields of songwriting and film music? His mastery of linking the music to the lyrics in his small-scale pieces? His timeless song standards that appeal to so many generations (which in popular music is a token of the utmost success)? His ‘Grande valse brillante’? ‘Sweet Peas and Roses’? ‘The Carousel with Madonnas’? Or ‘That Lass’s Eyes’? One could go on indefinitely with this list.

A musical drama written for voices, harpsichord, strings, looper and dragon. The piece is a fascinating collision of the sensitivity of one of the most outstanding Polish composers of contemporary music and an exceptional writer, awarded and, above all, read in Poland and around the world.

A musical drama written for voices, harpsichord, strings, looper and dragon. The piece is a fascinating collision of the sensitivity of one of the most outstanding Polish composers of contemporary music and an exceptional writer, awarded and, above all, read in Poland and around the world.

Drach’s element was the earth. With their next joint project, Aleksander Nowak and Szczepan Twardoch pay homage to water, though the true object of their artistic contemplation is the journey as a longing for change and a quest for meaning in life.

A creative clash of such individualities is always a high-risk venture that might only seem fit for a one-time success. Contrary to expectations, collaboration between one of Poland’s most eminent 21st-century composers and one of the best contemporary writers continues to develop, producing ever more surprising results. The two artists chose the opera as the field for their joint experimentation. They approach this genre in all seriousness but without humility… Which brings us to the title of Nowak and Twardoch’s third work, “Pokora” (‘humility’ in Polish).

Drach’s element was the earth. With their next joint project, Aleksander Nowak and Szczepan Twardoch pay homage to water, though the true object of their artistic contemplation is the journey as a longing for change and a quest for meaning in life.

A creative clash of such individualities is always a high-risk venture that might only seem fit for a one-time success. Contrary to expectations, collaboration between one of Poland’s most eminent 21st-century composers and one of the best contemporary writers continues to develop, producing ever more surprising results. The two artists chose the opera as the field for their joint experimentation. They approach this genre in all seriousness but without humility… Which brings us to the title of Nowak and Twardoch’s third work, “Pokora” (‘humility’ in Polish).