The REVIEW OF STAGE SONGS is Poland's oldest and most significant acting festival that is combined with a competition for exceptional performance of stage, poetic and cabaret songs. Additional events during the festival include recitals by actors from around the country and abroad, as well as interesting and ambitious musical and cabaret productions.
This year's anniversary edition of the festival will be titled "ARTYSCI EUROPY" / "ARTISTS OF EUROPE". Extraordinary in character, it will also have a unique program. Special events will include a nighttime concert titled ANIOLY EUROPY / ANGELS OF EUROPE, to be held on Wroclaw's Old Town Square. The event will feature representatives of the Polish acting and music worlds, who at midnight on April 30th / May 1st will celebrate Poland's accession to the European Union. The concert will feature some of Poland's top performers, including Agnieszka Fatyga, Anna Maria Jopek, Edyta Jungowska, Kayah, Justyna Steczkowska, Krystyna Tkacz, Malgorzata Walewska, Elzbieta Wojnowska, Michal Bajor, Ryszard Rynkowski, Stanislaw Soyka and Jacek Wojcicki, who will be accompanied by the academic choirs of various Wroclaw-based schools and the Orchestra of the Wroclaw Opera. ANIOLY EUROPY / ANGELS OF EUROPE will also include appearances by vocalists from a number of other EU countries. France will be represented by vocalist and actor Nery, who combines classical French chansons with elements of punk rock and rap. Representing Ireland will be Mary Coughlan, a performer of poetic songs that combine Irish folk music with jazz and the blues. Enrique Morente, a flamenco composer and singer will arrive for the occasion from Spain, while Greece will be represented by Maria Faranatouri, who will sing the poems of some of Greece's most famous poets. German stage artist Tim Fischer will perform Berlin cabaret hits of the 1920s and 30s, while the Tiger Lilies of Great Britain will present a program of songs about some of the most important civilizational problems that apply to the world today. Representing the Czech Republic and Slovenia, respectively, will be Jaromir Nohavica and Brina. The festival will also include a series of solo recitals by stars of the Polish stage, among them Wojciech Mlynarski, Edyta Geppert with the Krakow-based Kroke Ensemble, Michal Bajor and Grzegorz Turnau. During a gala evening audiences will have an opportunity to hear the songs of Seweryn Krajewski as performed by a number of artists in new arrangements (directed by Magda Umer). Those who attend the festival will also be able to attend the premiere performance of a recital consisting of twenty-two of Shakespeare's sonnets set to the music of jazz composer and pianist Wlodzimierz Pawlik. This special event will star Elzbieta Wojnowska, whose recital in 1976 inaugurated the first-ever PRZEGLAD PIOSENKI AKTORSKIEJ / REVIEW OF STAGE SONGS in Wroclaw. Fringe events consisting of the recitals of some of Poland's most interesting youngest stage artists will fill the first four evenings this year's edition of the review.
This year's REVIEW OF STAGE SONGS will conclude with a performance titled GALERIA / GALLERY (May 3, 2004, 4:00 and 9:00 p.m. at the Teatr Muzyczny / Musical Theatre), composed of the songs and poems of Jacek Kaczmarski (1957-2004), a poet and singer who was a bard of the democratic opposition during the 1970s and the "Solidarity" years. Kaczmarski, who passed away on April 10th of this year, was the author of such songs and stage productions as MURY / WALLS, RAJ / PARADISE, MUZEUM / MUSEUM, KRZYK / CRIES, LITANIA / LITANY and PRZEJSCIE POLAKOW PRZEZ MORZE CZERWONE / THE POLES' CROSSING OF THE RED SEA. The singer and songwriter continued working on this production through the last hours of his life. Kaczmarski was closely linked to the Wroclaw festival during his lifetime. He appeared in concert many times during the event and served as a competition juror on multiple occasions. Kaczmarski, together with Przemyslaw Gintrowski, he was also a winner of the festival in 1981. The duo was honored for its legendary production MUZEUM / MUSEUM. This year's finale concert will be titled GALERIA / GALLERY and will consist of songs constituting poetic commentary to famous painted masterpieces. GALLERY will feature performers Kinga Preis, Katarzyna Groniec, Konrad Imiela, Jacek Bonczyk, Mariusz Lubomski, Miroslaw Baka and Sambor Dudzinski. Directed by Wojciech Koscielniak, the production will feature scenery designed by Grzegorz Policinski.
Additional information: Centrum Sztuki "Impart"
ul. Mazowiecka 7a, Wroclaw
tel. (+48 71) 344 39 45, 344 69 66, 348 18 21
www.ompart.art.pl