The Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz is the only Polish philharmonic to be involved in scholarly pursuits in addition to artistic activities. As part of the former, it organizes the international congresses "MUSICA ANTIQUA EUROPAE ORIENTALIS", a project launched in the 1960s through an agreement between the management of the Bydgoszcz philharmonic and the Institute of Musicology at the University of Warsaw.
The first congress took place in 1966 and was attended by scholars from several continents. Since then Bydgoszcz has grown into a major meeting forum for historians, musicologists, Byzantine scholars, theoreticians of music and musicians from the East and the West. From the very start the event, held every three years, has been attended by scholars from Russia, Ukraine and other republics of what was then the Soviet Union. The first Congress prompted the organization of the first East European conference on medieval and baroque music in Kiev in 1969. This was followed by the publishing of papers and more extensive research into early music. The "MAEO" Congresses remain an interesting venue for scholarly meetings on music performed in various (Eastern and Western) rites of the Christian religion, its increasingly focused debates aligned with a series of follow-up concerts to illustrate and verify the findings.
Particularly successful were the last two Congresses: the one held in 2000 and devoted to the 2000 years of Christian tradition in music, featuring concerts of Coptic, Lebanese, Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican music, and the one held in 2003, focusing on the issues of sacrum in the cultures of Occidental and Oriental worlds and discussing the chants of Islam and their language of expression.
The 2006, anniversary Congress, held on 11-29th September, addressed the meeting points of various traditions in religious music - "Religious music in the meeting-roads of various traditions".
Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska
Polish Music Information Center
Polish Composers' Union
August 2006
ul. Andrzeja Szwalbego 6
85-080 Bydgoszcz
Phone: (+48 52) 321 04 67, 321 07 56
www.filharmonia.bydgoszcz.pl
Email: musica@musica.pl