On October 5, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., the concert inaugurating the new artistic season of the Warsaw Philharmonic will premiere the newest work of Eugeniusz Knapik.
Witold Lutosławski’s on-minute Fanfare for Los Angeles Philharmonic (1993), which will open the programme (and the whole Warsaw Philharmonic season celebrating the centenary of Poland regaining independence with the concert series “Written in Free Poland”) is the composer’s last completed work. It was dedicated to the same highly regarded US orchestra that had premiered to great success his Symphony No. 4.
The audience of the inaugural concert will witness the world premiere of Eugeniusz Knapik’s Blessing Gentle Breeze, composed specially for this occasion. The music sets the opening verses of the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth’s monumental autobiographical work. As a member of ‘Generation ‘51’ (with Andrzej Krzanowski and Aleksander Lasoń) and protagonist of the much discussed 1970s’ festival in Stalowa Wola, Knapik led Polish new music from the avant‑garde to New Romanticism. Associated since his studies with Katowice’s Academy of Music, he made his debut at Warsaw Philharmonic (1974).
In the finale we will hear Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor (1900) by Siergiei Rachmaninov, which opened a new period in the composer’s oeuvre. The concerto, emblematic of his style, combines an extraverted type of expression, the beauty of broad melodies in the Russian spirit, dense saturated orchestral writing and a brilliant virtuoso piano part. The work will be performed by Seong-Jin Cho – laureate of the first prize and prize for the best performance of the polonaise at the XVII Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in 2015. The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir will be led by Jacek Kaspszyk.
More information at: http://filharmonia.pl