The Laboratory of Contemporary Music Festival, which is a member of an international organization based in Amsterdam and known as the European Conference of Promoters of New Music, is an event providing a panoramic view of the music of the last decades of the 20th and early 21st centuries, especially of chamber music.
The Festival, which is organized by the Laboratory of Contemporary Music Association in collaboration with the Mazowieckie Centre of Culture and Art, had its first edition in 1985. That and the following four were held in the period palace interiors of Stara Wies near Wegrow, Liw and Siedlce. The following four editions (1993-6) took place in Bialystok (the Pilharmonic, Auditorium of the Academy of Medicine, St Roch's Church, Concert Hall of the Branch of the Frederick Chopin Academy of Music).Altogether, the first nine Festival editions saw some two hundred fifty works by one hundred thirty composers (including approximately one hundred and sixty by seventy Polish composers) performed at over fifty concerts. There were thirty-five world premieres of works by Polish composers and sixty Polish premieres of works by foreign composers.
After a seven-year break, the Festival was resumed in Warsaw, its tenth edition held in 2003. The latest, thirteenth edition, lasted from 30 November to 3 December 2006.
Both young and recognized composers have taken part in previous editions of the Festival, among them
Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki,
Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Szalonek, Zbigniew Bargielski, Marcin Blazewicz, Marek Choloniewski, Andrzej Dutkiewicz, Andrzej Dziadek, Ryszard Gabrys, Benedykt Konowalski,
Jerzy Kornowicz,
Andrzej Krzanowski,
Aleksander Lason, Pawel Lukaszewski, Maciej Malecki, Piotr Moss, Bronislaw Kazimierz Przybylski,
Marta Ptaszynska,
Bogusław Schaeffer, Marek Stachowski, Boleslaw Szabelski,
Tadeusz Szeligowski czy Romuald Twardowski.
Additionally, the Festival has regularly confronted the achievements of Polish composers with those of classics of 20th century music like Luciano Berio, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Paul Hindemith, Charles Ives, Gyorgy Ligeti, Karl Stockhausen, Anton Webern, Iannis Xenakis, and others.
Over time the Laboratory of Contemporary Music has also become a forum for the presentation of works by living foreign composers. Featured composers have included Klaus Ager (Austria), Wolfgang Bottenberg (Canada), Manuel Enriquez (Mexico), James Giroudon (France), Pierre Henry (France), Barbara Jazwinski (USA), Sung-Jae Lee (South Korea), Bent Lorentzen (Denmark), Pavel Miheleie (Slovenia), Ivo Petric (Slovenia), Primoz Ramovš (Slovenia), Morton Subotnick (USA), Toshiya Sukegawa (Japan), Yoshihisa Taïra (France), Horacio Vaggione (Argentina), Jesus Villa Rojo (Spain), and Scott A. Wyatt (USA).
Excellent standards of performance are a major strength of the Festival, and these have been ensured by such solo performers as Andrzej Dutkiewicz, Szabolsc Esztényi, József Örmény (Ukraina), Jadwiga Gadulanka, Krzysztof Bakowski, Tomasz Strahl, Grzegorz Olkiewicz, Mariusz Pedziałek, Mirosław Pokrzywinski, David A. Pituch (USA), John Sampen (USA), Zdzisław Piernik, Rodney Oakes (USA), Stanisław Skoczynski, Zbigniew Kozlik, Andrzej Chorosinski, Stanislaw Moryto as well as the ensembles Kwartet Slaski / Silesian Quartet, Concerto Avenna (artistic director Andrzej Mysinski), Camerata Vistula (artistic director Andrzej Wrobel) and the Warszawski Kwartet Saksofonowy / Warsaw Saxophone Quartet, as well as the choirs: of the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw (artistic director Fr. Kazimierz Szymonik) and
Schola Cantorum Gedanensis under Jan Lukaszewski.
The Laboratory of Contemporary Music also features debates about the condition of contemporary music. Past participants in discussions have included Marian Borkowski, Michal Bristiger, Tadeusz Daszkiewicz, Mieczyslława Demska-Trebacz, Marek Dyzewski, Magdalena Dziadek, Tadeusz Kobierzycki, Witold Szalonek, Marta Szoka i Jan Milosz Zarzycki, and others.
Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska Polish Music Information Center Polish Composers' Union November 2006 | |
ul. Klaudyny 6 m 83
01-684 Warszawa
Phone: (+48) (0) 501 33 99 02
WWW: www.laboratorium.org.pl
Email: lukaszewski@chopin.edu.pl