Festival of Premieres/ AUKSO / Wołek / Kosecka / Knittel / Domagała / A Suite of Quotations - NOSPR

What is an individual against an oppressive majority? Is it possible to find shelter in an uninhabitable place? When we look at life today, do we perceive it as a gift? Contemporary music reflects many of our current fears and concerns. In the concert, signals, quotations, developments and new contexts will be intertwined with the spiritual aspect of music.

In his Bellows Breath Concerto, Krzysztof Wołek utilises the broad understanding of the significance of breath. The composer uses this symbol of life and emotion, but also vehicle for sound, both as a formal element and as a metaphor of the fight for individuals’ rights in the context of systemic limitations. A mood replete with distress is also the dominant one in the composition by Martyna Kosecka, inspired by hostilities in Western Asia. The eponymous Erēmos means a wild and deserted place, in which life becomes impossible. The music shows consecutive phases of threat and becomes a signal of a call for help. Krzysztof Knittel, in turn, will present a unique suite of quotations created with the re-use method, in which old pieces meet the contemporary sound of the string orchestra. And whence the mysterious title? In Hawaiian, ka makana o ke ola means “the gift of life”. Musical pictures of life will be complemented by Jacek Domagała’s Prelude and Chorale  – a two-movement piece leading the listener from a dense texture to a spiritual quietude. 

[Julia Broniowska]