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Old pieces of classical music in new versions

The first symphonic tour of the Polish National Wind Orchestra starts in October. The Orchestra will play pieces of classical music in innovative arrangements for aerophones. We will hear, among others, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Pittsburgh Overture, almost completely unknown in Poland.

“Play the music I know in such a way so that I can feel I hear it for the first time!” – this dream of many music lovers may come true in October 2021. This is thanks to a unique and only wind philharmonic orchestra in Poland – the Polish National Wind Orchestra based in Lubin, established on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko – the father of the Polish National Opera.

New creation
Such a date really matters. – The mission of the Polish National Wind Orchestra is to discover valuable works by famous composers who, among other things, created pieces of music intended to be played by a symphonic wind orchestra. “A great example is an artist belonging to the group of the most outstanding and highly regarded personalities of contemporary music, maestro Krzysztof Penderecki,” explains Mariusz Dziubek, conductor and director of the Polish National Wind Orchestra. And he adds that the orchestra that he directs is a completely new musical creation on the Polish scene. “By transcribing the most famous symphonic works for aerophones, i.e. wind instruments, we offer music lovers new timbre and sound, never heard before. In simple words: we are creating a new history – there is no doubt about it.”

How will great works such as Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, Johann Strauss’s (son) Overture from the operetta “Die Fledermaus“, Gustav Holst’s Mars from the Planets or Krzysztof Penderecki’s  Pittsburgh Overture, almost completely unknown in Poland sound with arrangements for a symphonic wind ensemble consisting of nearly 70 musicians, idiophones and membranophones? To find out, you have to choose one of the seven concerts of the autumn/winter symphonic tour of the Polish National Wind Orchestra – a  première event being a presentation of the first Polish wind philharmonic orchestra!

Half a century of waiting for performance of a work by… a Polish Maestro

This story is difficult to understand, especially when it concerns a work written by our Countryman Krzysztof Penderecki – a composer, conductor and teacher, who the Poles are proud of. Belonging to a small group of the most outstanding contemporary personalities in the field of music and broadly defined culture and art in the world, synonymous with the Polish musical avant-garde, known for his musical variety and richness, he has on his track record over 160 compositions diversified in terms of techniques of composing music, instruments, size and forms. One of them is the Pittsburgh Overture for wind orchestra, harmonium, piano and percussion, commissioned by Robert Austin Boudreau and performed for the first time by the American Wind Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Boudreau on 30 June 1967. So far, it has been performed in Poland… only once! And that happened 45 years after the première! It was performed in 2012 during the 55th “Warsaw Autumn” International Festival of Contemporary Music by musicians of the Warsaw Philharmonic.

“It is a paradox that a work composed by a world-famous Polish composer is unknown in our country”, says Mariusz Dziubek. “However, considering the degree of difficulty of this work, the level of emanation of the dynamics of changing sounds, microtonal deviations or profiling of timbre and articulation, as well as the extended and varied set of aerophones, with bass oboe, d’amore, alto flute, bass flute or contrabass clarinet, this work is intended for a symphonic wind orchestra.” Therefore, 54 years after its world première and 9 years after its Polish première, the time has come to present this fully sonorous piece of music to music lovers and permanently include it in the repertoire of the Polish National Wind Orchestra, thus expanding the canon of the most valuable items of Polish music literature.

The Polish National Wind Orchestra will be accompanied by two outstanding soloists.

Sławomir Cichor (trumpet) cooperates with  the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź and Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź. He was highly appraised during the International Trumpet Conference ITG (in 2013 and in 2021). He belongs to the “Yamaha performing artists”.

Paweł Gusnar – a saxophonist, chamber musician, teacher, professor of the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź. He is a versatile artist, very good at playing classical, jazz and pop music. He has been awarded the “Fryderyk” Music Award four times, he has also been nominated for the prestigious title of Coryphaeus of Polish Music and International Classical Music Awards 2020.

The concerts will be hosted by a journalist Anna Karna, co-author, scriptwriter and co-host of the KulturalniPL programme on TVP Polonia.

We invite you to participate in this important event!

Eight cities, eights dates  

Our tour starts on 04 October 2021 in Lubin in the Cultural Centre “Muza” at 6:00 p.m. Later, the Orchestra will also perform in the following concert halls:

• Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź – 05 October 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
• the Polish Baltic Philharmonic of Fryderyk Chopin in Gdańsk – 06 October 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
• Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music in Wrocław – 09 October 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
• Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin – 29 November 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
• Henryk Wieniawski Philharmonic in Lublin – 28 January 2022, at 7:00 p.m.
• Artur Malawski Subcarpathian Philharmonic in Rzeszów – 29 January 2022, at 7:00 p.m.
• Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Kraków – 27 February 2022, at 7:00 p.m.

You may buy a ticket on the website www.ebilet.pl or from a box office of each Philharmonic (You cannot purchase a ticket from the box office of the Philharmonic in Szczecin in person). It is worth setting aside time on your calendar to take part in these events.  

They cannot be missed!