Meetings, debates, choreographic presentations, film screenings, and most of all concerts that will include selected works by Witold Lutosławski, are part of the attractions to be hosted at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw.
LUTOSPHERES is an interdisciplinary music series that relates to the work and character of Witold Lutosławski. His compositions have become world classics since the late 20th century. The repertoire will consist mainly of his works, arranged according to certain contexts. The three-day event will take place in September and is organised under the slogan Lutosławski – the Man and Poland at the Time of Socialist Realism.
Opening events on Sunday the 15th of September, the first meeting will called Dialogues and Interventions. The theme views Witold Lutosławski as a humanist. Attending the inaugural ceremony will be Lutosławski’s step son Marcin Bogusławski and his wife Gabriel, the journalist and pianist Zofia Owińska, and Lutosławski’s biographer, the composer and professor Charles Bodman Rae.
Maria Stokłosa
The finale of the day will be the presentation of the project Kilka kroków do Lutosławskiego / A Few Steps to Lutosławski. It consists of seven choreographers who prepared interpretive dances to a selection of the composer's works. The group worked with Maria Stokłosa in the town of Burdągu in a workshop that was devoted to the study of the relationship between music and dance according to the context of contemporary choreography. Audiences in in Warsaw will see performances from Przemek Kamiński, Maciej Kuźmiński, Weronika Pelczyńska, Magdalena Przybysz, Michał Ratajski, Paweł Sakowicz and Ula Zerek.
On Monday the 17th of September the organisers invite attendants to screenings of three films: Suita warszawska / Warsaw Suite, Woven Words and Jeden dzień w PRL / One Day in the People’s Republic.
Tadeusz Makarczyński created the screenplay for Warsaw Suite, a poetic documentary made in 1946 with Lutosławski’s music. The film shows the devastated post-war cityscape of Warsaw on the edge of reviving. Woven Words in an original project that consists of orchestral concerts, chamber music and short films that tell about the life and work of Lutosławski. When combined, the series provides an intriguing portrait of the composer. The movie One Day in the People's Republic was made in 2005 by Maciej Drygas. It is based entirely on archival material and presents the reality of the totalitarian system that was in place in Poland in the early 1960s. Focusing on one day, the 27th of September 1962, the narration makes the following observations:
Nothing particularly special happened on that day in the PRL. The weather forecast predicted clear skies. About 1600 people were born and around 600 died. It was a day like every other day.
Also on Monday will be a concert showcasing the male choir OKTAWIAN performing Lutosławski’s Dziesięć pieśni ludowych na tematy żołnierskie / Ten Folk Songs on Soldiers. Monday marks the continuation of the meeting Dialogues and Interventions, this time being devoted to the times when the doctrine of socialist realism reigned. Lutosławski reminisced on those days:
The Deputy Minister of Culture was a man who appreciated the policy for culture in Communist Poland and he said that a composer such as Lutosławski should be thrown under a bus. Of course, I was very proud of this statement.
On Tuesday the 17th of September pianist Piotr Orzechowski, or Pianohooligan, will perform with the High Definition Quartet the piece Bukoliki / Bucolics. The musicians will use the melodic motifs provided by the composer in his pedagolical works of that title as a canvas for their improvisation. Performing in the High Definition Quartet will be: Mateusz Śliwa on tenor saxophone, Piotr Orzechowski on piano, Alan Wykpisz on bass and Patryk Dobosz on percussion. In addition, Pianohooligan will present fragment of music by Krzysztof Penderecki that appear on the pianist's solo album Experiment: Penderecki.
LUTOSPHERES was organised by the Centre for Contemporary Art and the f.o.r.t.e. Foundation. All events will be hosted at the Centre for Contemporary Art.
15/09/2013
- Dialogues and Intervention – Topic: Lutosławski – The man and Poland: The Laboratorium, 18:00, free admission.
- A Few Steps to Lutosławski- Choreographed presentations: The Laboratorium, 20:00, tickets 10 zł
16/09/2013
- Suita warszawska (Warsaw Suite): Kinowa Salon, 17:00, free admission
- Woven words: Kinowa Salon, 17:30, free admission
- Men’s choir OKTAWIAN: Courtyard, 18:30, free admission
- Dialogues and Intervention – Topic: Soc-realism? – Kinowa Salon, 19:00, free admission
- Jeden dzień w PRL (One Day in the People’s Republic): Kinowa Salon, 21:00, free admission
17/09/2013
- Piotr Orzechowski (Pianohooligan) with the High Definition Quartet: The Laboratorium, 20:00, tickets 20 zł
Sources: press materials, author: SW, 10/09/2013
Translation: SMG 11/09/2013