Event date
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Podsumowanie
This first edition of the FESTIWAL HAENDLOWSKI / HANDEL FESTIVAL in Torun will consist of sixteen concerts that will present the works of George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) against a broad panorama of German, English, Italian and French music of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Content
This first edition of the FESTIWAL HAENDLOWSKI / HANDEL FESTIVAL in Torun will consist of sixteen concerts that will present the works of George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) against a broad panorama of German, English, Italian and French music of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the Great Room of Dwor Artusa (Artus' Court), the Burghers' Room of the Old Town Hall and at the Jesuit Church, audiences will have an opportunity to hear performances by the Arte dei Suonatori Ensemble, which will act as the festival orchestra, as well as by the TORUNSKA ORKIESTRA KAMERALNA / TORUN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA and the Astrolabium Chamber Choir. These will appear in tandem with Swedish singer Maria Keohane, Japanese violinist Ryo Terakado, French organist, harpsichordist and conductor Martin Gester, French flutist and conductor Alexis Kossenko, Danish organist and harpsichordist Allan Rasmussen, English cellist Tom Pitt, German lutenist Andreas Arend and Polish singer Marek Rzepka.
Why is Torun hosting a Handel festival?
"Wandering the streets of Torun's Old Town, one would be hard pressed to find the domes of Baroque churches, Baroque turret tops or Baroque palaces," write the event's organizers. "Torun is Gothic, monumental and completely un-Baroque - not unlike Halle (where George Friedrich Handel was born), London (where he spent most of his life) and many other European cities where his music is regularly performed and enjoys great popularity. The Baroque did not destroy the Gothic; the Baroque modified it and combined with it rather harmoniously. In some instances it added no more than detail that smoothed the raw lines of medieval times, in others it completely changed the character of interiors, filling them with monumental altars, tasteful sculptures and suggestive paintings. In these spaces that were simultaneously new and old, music was a natural presence and easily made a place for itself, though it did not always prove successful at managing the cavernous acoustics of Gothic cathedrals. With increasing frequency, it ventured into theatres and was hosted in private homes, where it was performed not only by professionals but also by ever growing numbers of amateurs. Thus we arrive at a truth that is jus as important to Baroque music as it is to all music: the place of music is wherever people want to listen to it and are thus willing to create the conditions required for its performance. If, in addition to that, there is beautiful architecture and interiors that provide excellent acoustics and a unique atmosphere, then nothing more is needed. It may not be common knowledge that Torun has one more important argument in hand. Since 1991 the city has been the home of 'CANOR' magazine, the only Polish and one of the world's few periodicals devoted to early music. It was many years ago, at the offices of this publication - offices that are simultaneously home to the Fundacja Muzyki Dawnej (Early Music Foundation) - that its staff devised the idea of creating a festival devoted to Baroque music. At the time, Bach was favored over Handel as its patron, yet a visit to the festival of Handel's music in Torun's sister city of Göttingen made us realize how little we know about this composer. We simultaneously concluded that it would be marvelous to discover his entire, unusually rich oeuvre, while at the same time revealing its historical and cultural/aesthetic contexts. The life of George Friedrich Handel is a ready-made screenplay, while his music is the perfect soundtrack. Of course, Handel was foremost a great musician, but he had another gift that makes his life and activities exceedingly fascinating. Namely, he proved capable of finding himself in the center of events, the most important among them and often the most spectacular. This was true in artistic terms, as well as for events of a political or economic nature. This seemed to occur always, be it in Hamburg, where he arrived as an original and highly independent youth, Florence or Rome, where he wasted not a moment, surprising the Italians with his talent and creative zeal, or finally in London, where he became a true one-person musical institution. Everything in his life occurred as if some invisible thread was leading the composer to the places he should be, where he met the right people and found the right inspirations. We are left, of course, with Handel's compositions, to which we can listen, reveling and admiring the talent that allowed him to so surprisingly and effectively synthesize all that is best and most beautiful in Baroque music."
Additional information: Fundacja Muzyki Dawnej "Canor"
ul. Konopnickiej 31/6, Poznan
tel. (+48 61) 842 33 53
Torunska Orkiestra Kameralna
Dwor Artusa, Torun
tel. (+48 56) 622 88 05
www.haendeltorun.pl