Inauguration of Gdańsk Music Festival

St Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach will be performed by
Cappella Amsterdam
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Pueri Cantores Olivenses
Daniel Reuss – conductor

BEGINNING: 19.00
ADMISSION: invitations (lose their validity 15 minutes before concert)

Gdańsk Music Festival 2015 is a continuation of a project which was realized for the first time in 2008. The form of the festival is open, however the influence on every edition has its message or an Artist in Residence. In 2009 a composer – Elżbieta Sikora agreed to take this function, in 2010 it was a prominent pianist, laureate of Xth International F. Chopin Competition in Warsaw – Ewa Pobłocka, in 2011 on of the greatest stars of Polish vocalistic – Stefania Toczyska, in 2012 an outstanding violinnist- Konstanty Andrzej Kulka took this function, in 2013 it was one of the most prominent Polish musicians of the lat decades – Włodzimierz Nahorny.

Last yeat Gdańsk Music Festival 2014 took place in a very special time, during Lent, in the month of canonization of Pope John Paul II, to whom the festival was dedicated. This year’s edition includes 330th birth anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel. Monumental St. Matthew Passion performed by Cappelli Amsterdam and a prominent Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century will be the main point of the festival.

Together with this almost 100 people group, there will perform boys choir from Gdańsk  – Pueri CantoresOlivenses. The concert will be conducted by Daniel Reuss, who also agreed to take function of an Artist in Residence. This concert will take place exactly on 5th anniversary of Smoleńsk air disaster and due to the character of the composition and performing it artists will be dedicated to all air disasters victims.

As Gdańsk Music Festival has eclectic character, it will be the only one concert with the use of period instruments. The rest of  the baroque music concerts will prove that the music from the period can as well be performed on contemporary instruments. What is more it can be presented in many different, not necessarily classical arrangements.

Kunst Der Fuge – is the title of the concerts of one of the most prominent European quartets - Royal String Quartet, apart from Bach compositions on the concert we will hear works of an outstanding Polish composer – Paweł Szymański. Das Wohltemperierte Klavier is a Bach recital of Ewa Pobłocka who is thought to be one of the best pianists playing Bach in the world.

A concert of Polish Chamber Philharmonic Sopot under the baton of Wojciech Rajski with soloists: a pianist Ragna Schirmer and organist Roman Perucki will also be a significant event. In a programme we will find i.a. concerts of Bach and Händel, there will also be lyrical evening Poetic Jazzperformed by Polish Philharmonic Sinfonia Baltica. On a concert Carmina Ianicii we will hear a musical poeminspired by 16th century poetry of Klemens Janicki with a music by contemporary composer Robert Kanaan.

The festival will end with a Vocal Gala with soloists from National Opera House of Ukraine in Kiev, which will be the act of solidarity with Ukraine. The concert will be conducted by a prominent conductor and artistic director of this scene – Mirosław Skoryk.

More information: www.gdanskifestiwal.pl
Organizer: Gdańsk Music Festival Foundation