The 22nd edition of the Gdańsk Carillon Festival will take place between 31 July and 29 August 2020. Special concerts from the towers of St. Catherine Church and the Main Town Hall will be held every Friday and Saturday. This year, all concerts will be broadcast live on the Internet.
Gdańsk is the only city in Poland that has working instruments consisting of bells weighing from several kilograms to several tons. Performing carillon pieces from the tower of the Main Town Hall is an almost 460-year-old tradition of Gdańsk. Carillon sounds accompanied the most important city events. During this year's Festival, old and new pieces performed on carillons by talented artists will be heard on Fridays at 8.30 p.m. from the tower of the St. Catherine Church and on Saturdays at 12.05 p.m. from the tower of the Main Town Hall. All concerts will be broadcast online. You will be able to listen to Friday concerts live, and watch the performers on the screen in the Carmelites' garden at the St. Catherine Church.
The 22nd edition of the Festival held a reference to the four elements – the programme is divided into four mini-series: Aqua, Aer, Terra and Ignis. Saturday concerts from the tower of the Main Town Hall will be performed solo, while Friday concerts will feature carillons accompanied by other instruments, including trumpets, French horns and flutes. Among the performers will be Monika Kaźmierczak, the city carillonist and the organizer of the Festival, carillonists Anna Kasprzycka, Magdalena Cynk-Mikołajewska, Wojciech Lauer, trumpeters Emil Miszk and Paweł Hulisz, French horn player Michał Szczerba and flautist Katarzyna Czubek.
During the prologue to the Festival entitled "Gdańsk yesterday and today", trumpeter and composer Emil Miszk (Winner of the Fryderyk 2019 in the "Debut of the Year – Jazz" category) and Monika Kazmierczak will perform compositions by Emil Miszk and Geert D'hollander. The artists will also premiere Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz's Daylight for trumpet and carillon.
Full programme and online broadcasts will be available at: www.carillongdansk.pl and https://www.facebook.com/carillony/