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The 18^th Festival of Improvised Music ‘Ad Libitum’ will take place in Warsaw on September 19 - October 24, 2023 thanks to the support of partner organizations (STOART, ZAiKS), as well as thanks to unique gestures of solidarity of friendly non-governmental organizations and social cultural institutions: Hashtag Lab , Jasna 10, and above all ‘Warsaw Autumn’.

This year's program will present a dialogue based on improvisation between contemporary and early music, between the past and the future, new technologies and historical performance. They will be presented by creators of instruments modeled on old ones or reconstructed according to old treaties (Ryszard Lubieniecki), and artists combining early music with futuristic inventions (Maja Miro). An important topic is the autonomy of objects - instruments that become improvisation actors, participating, among others, in concerts of Eirik Brandal's robotic sound sculptures.

Stars: Steve Beresford, one of the most active and versatile musicians on the British improvisation and experimental scene, and double bass player John Edwards, who appeared already at the Ad Libitum festival, and with them - for the first time in Poland - violinist Mandhira de Saram, who co-founded the Ligeti Quartet, and for several years has been devoting herself to the art of improvisation.

Detailed programme: https://ad-libitum.pl/ 

Another concert from the ‘Music Seasons’ series, organized by the Polish Composers' Union - Warsaw Branch and the Józef Elsner Foundation will take place on the 16^th of September 5 p.m. in the large chamber hall of the ZPSM No. 1 in Warsaw ‘Nowa Miodowa’. Free entrance!

Performance by harpsichordist Katarzyna Wesołowska will take place, who will premiere Artur Cieślak's Capriccio. Her interpretation will also include other harpsichord works: Out of silence by Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska, Klawitiuda by Bartosz Kowalski, Action Cembalo by Marcin Łukaszewski, Seven Gates to Wildness by Miłosz Bembinow and Sonata per clavicembalo by Sławomir Czarnecki.

A painting performance by Marek Iwiński is also planned.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the ‘Music’ programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

The Creativity Forum is another initiative of the Creative Poland Association, of which the Polish Composers' Union is a member. In connection with the Association's organization of the first edition of the Creativity Forum, we invite you to complete the survey, which is available online until the 18^th of September, 2023.

The survey is anonymous and completing it will take no more than a dozen or so minutes.

The answers will help you obtain reliable and up-to-date knowledge about the financing difficulties encountered by creators and entrepreneurs from the creative sectors. The Creativity Forum aims to help address these issues across multiple sectors. The survey results are necessary for the Forum to be constructive and fruitful.

The results will be announced on the 24^th of Octobe at the Kultura Cinema in Warsaw. The event will also be broadcast.

The survey will be available at: https://www.webankieta.pl/ankieta/1004477/finansowanie-przemyslow-kreatywnych.html 

Registration: https://www.kreatywnapolska.pl/spotkajmy-sie-na-forum-kreatywnosci/ 

The symphonic concert inaugurating the 2023/2024 artistic season at the Łódź Philharmonic will be dedicated to the 85^th birthday of Zygmunt Krauze and the 50^th anniversary of death of Paweł Klecki. On the 15^th of September at 19.00 the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paweł Przytocki will perform works by these artists, and Zygmunt Krauze himself will also perform as a soloist.

On the occasion of his 85^th birthday, the world-famous Polish composer and pianist will perform his Piano Concerto No. 2 - a work from 1996, dedicated to the memory of the outstanding Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.

An important point of the programme will also be the performance of Sinfonietta Op. 7 by Paweł Klecki, from Łódź, initially a musician of the Łódź Symphony Orchestra, who made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonic in the 1930s under the supervision of Wilhelm Furtwängler. The score and orchestral parts of the Sinfonietta were prepared by Andrzej Wendland as part of his original project ‘Undiscovered pages of Polish music. Paweł Klecki in memoriam.’

How the city's musical life was transformed: Andrzej Kosendiak, the director of the National Forum of Music, talks about the educational mission and the artists who will be guests in the new season.

The beginning of a new artistic season at the National Forum of Music is approaching. At the opening of the NFM, the Wrocław Philharmonic will perform the European premiere of the Triple Concerto by Stanisław Skrowaczewski - a famous conductor and an important figure for Wrocław. However, the Philharmonic begins the season without an artistic director.

We have invited many different conductors to cooperate with the Philharmonic in the upcoming season, and it will be a time of searching for a new director. During its inaugural concert, the orchestra will be conducted by Pinchas Steinberg, who has performed at the Vienna State Opera. It will also be managed by, among others, Joel Sandelson, Pascal Rophé and Ainārs Rubiķis. The NFM Orchestra Leopoldinum has already chosen its management. Its artistic director will be the outstanding violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky - an artist recognized all over the world, and extremely interested in promoting our ensemble. Leopoldinum will perform with cellists Mischa Maisky and Daniel Müller-Schott, as well as violinist Alena Baeva. At the New Year's Gala, the orchestra will perform together with the Janoska Ensemble. Also in January, together with the musicians of L.U.C. & Rebel Babel Orchestra, will perform music from the film Chłopi.

Interview by Barnaba Matusz