2020 WarszeMuzik Festival

It is already the fourth edition of a series of micro-concerts known as WarszeMuzik Festival. From 1 till 29 August, seven concerts and two urban walks will be held in the former Northern Quarter district of Warsaw, in the courtyards of the surviving pre-war tenement houses and in the Umschlagplatz Monument area.
- 1-29 August 2020 (Saturdays, Sundays), free admission
Music of Franz Schubert, Mieczysław Wajnberg and Szymon Laks will fill up these spaces, as well as compositions by eminent Israeli composer Yair Klartag. The festival finale will take place at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. All concerts are open to the public.
On Saturday evenings, music will resound in the courtyards of pre-war tenements—at 20 Chłodna Street (Under the Clock tenement house), at 66 Żelazna Street (Mieczysław Wajnberg’s home), and at 41 Chłodna Street. The opening concert will take place on 1 August at 6 PM and will feature Hashtag Strings under the baton of Lilianna Krych, performing the music of Mieczysław Wajnberg, Aleksander Tansman, Józef Koffler and Yair Klartag.
On Sundays, WarszeMuzik concerts will be held in the area of Umschlagplatz Monument on Stawki Street. Four concerts, during which a grand piano will be accompanied by, consecutively: cello, violin, viola and flute, will feature duets: Jan Kalinowski and Marek Szlezer, Maria Sławek and Mischa Kozłowski, Aleksandra Demowska-Madejska and Wojciech Pyrć as well as WarszeMuzik curators—Ania Karpowicz and Marek Bracha.
2020 WarszeMuzik finale will take place at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews on Saturday, 29 August. Program of the concert titled Murano: A Dream Island includes pieces by Salomone Rossi, Annie Gosfield and Paweł Szymański. The audience will also have a chance to listen to the first performance of a piece „No: e non vorrei” by the festival’s resident Yair Klartag. In this composition, commissioned by Hashtag Ensemble, the artist raises the question of “memory at work,” referring to the history of his own grandfather who used to be a member of the choir at the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie. It will be a fascinating journey in time, and into the origins of one’s identity.
Aside from concerts, participants of the 4th edition of WarszeMuzik will also have an opportunity to join one of the two historical walks. The first one, titled In the Footsteps of Wajnberg, will take place on 8 August at 3PM and will take us to the places where pre-war artists and people related to culture lived and worked. During the second walk, to be held on 29 August at 5PM, setting off from the Krasiński Garden Gate, we will stroll across the former Northern Quarter which is where the very heart of pre-war Jewish life was beating—back in the time when Warsaw was the home of the largest Jewish diaspora in Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic rules pertaining to artistic events organized outdoors will be in force in the course of the entire WarszeMuzik Festival.
2020 WarszeMuzik Festiwal is organized by the Sfera Harmonii Foundation. The project is co-financed by the City of Warsaw. Festival partners are: PZU Foundation, ZAiKS Association of Artists, StoArt Association of Artists and Performers, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and Wola District of Warsaw Culture Centre.
The first performance of Yair Klartag’s piece has been co-founded from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, part of the Promotion of Culture Fund, obtained from subsidies established in the games covered by state monopoly, in concordance with the article no. 80, part 1 of the Act of 19 November 2009 on hazard games, part of the “Composers’ commissions” program realized by the Music and Dance Institute.
Program of 2020 WarszeMuzik Festival
- 1 August (Saturday), 6PM, 41 Chłodna Street
Kamila Wąsik-Janiak – violin
Aleksandra Demowska-Madejska – viola
Agnieszka Guz – violin
Marta Piórkowska – violin
Anna Loska – viola
Dominik Płociński – cello
Mateusz Loska – bass
Lilianna Krych – conductorProgram:
Yair Klartag – Half Tiger, Half Poet
Mieczysław Wajnberg – Sonata for Two Violins
Józef Koffler – Strings Trio
Aleksander Tansman – Concerto for Viola
Mieczysław Wajnberg – Concertino for Violin - 2 August (Sunday), 6PM, Umschlagplatz Monument, Stawki Street
Jan Kalinowski – cello
Marek Szlezer – grand pianoMaurycy Moszkowski – Berceuse op.29 nr 3
Aleksander Tansman – Sonata no. 2 for cello and grand piano
Jan Radzynski – Mazurka
Ludomir Różycki – Sonata for cello and grand piano op.10 - 8 August (Saturday), 4PM, 20 Chłodna Street
Ania Karpowicz – flute
Marek Bracha – grand pianoFranz Schubert – Sonata Arppeggione
Mieczysław Wajnberg – 12 Miniatures
Władysław Szpilman – Mazurka - 9 August (Sunday), 6PM, Umschlagplatz Monument, Stawki Street
Maria Sławek – violin
Mischa Kozłowski – grand pianoArtur Gelbrun – Nigun&Dance
Jan Radzynski – Mazurka
Szymon Laks – Suite polonaise
Mieczysław Weinberg – 3 pieces
J.S. Bach – Largo from 4th Sonata in C-minor BWV - 15 August (Saturday), 6PM online event at Facebooku WarszeMuzik >>
- 16 August (Sunday), 6PM, Umschlagplatz Monument, Stawki Street
Aleksandra Demowska-Madejska – viola
Wojciech Pyrć – grand pianoAleksander Weprik – Kaddish op.6
Ignacy Friedman – Romance op.32
Jerzy Fitelberg – Serenade
Mieczysław Wajnberg – Sonata op.28
Karol Rathaus – Rapsodia Notturna op.66 - 22 August (Saturday), 6PM, 66 Żelazna St.
Ania Karpowicz – flute
Marek Bracha – grand pianoAleksander Tansman – Sonatina for flute and grand piano
Mieczysław Wajnberg – 5 piece
Tadeusz Kassern – Sonatina for flute and grand piano
Mieczysław Wajnberg – Lullaby - 23 August (Sunday), 6PM, Umschlagplatz Monument, Stawki Stawki
Ania Karpowicz – flute
Marek Bracha – grand pianoAleksander Tansman – Sonatina for flute and grand piano
Tadeusz Kassern – Sonatina for flute and grand piano
Erwin Schulhoff – Sonata for flute and grand piano
Mieczysław Wajnberg – Lullaby - 29 August (Saturday), 6PM, POLIN Museum
Hashtag Ensemble
Lilianna Krych – conductorSalomone Rossi – selection of pieces
Annie Gosfield – Phantom Shakedown
Paweł Szymański – Recalling a Serenade
Yair Klartag – No: vorrei e non
For more detailed information on the festival and its program, please go to www.warszemuzik.org >>