The Polish quartet will play on 24th May at the Beijing Modern Music Festival and on 29th May at the China – ASEAN Music Festival in Nanning. The programme of the concerts includes works of young Chinese composers (Dai Bo, Bai Chao, Qiu Yulan) created especially for the ensemble, alongside works of acknowledged Polish artists: Tadeusz Wielecki, Wojciech Ziemowit Zych, Leszek Kułakowski, as well as the Ukrainian composer Zoltan Almashi.
Between the two concerts, on 26th-27th May, the musicians will visit the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where they will meet with the students of the composition department. During the two-day workshops, they will work on compositions created for them by the students. The workshops, which will conclude with a chamber concert, will be for the Chinese students a unique opportunity to work with an established European ensemble and test their composing skills in practice.
The members of the Kwartludium ensemble, founded in 2002, are: Dagna Sadkowska (violin; during the ensemble's China tour she will be substituted by Karolina Piątkowska-Nowicka), Michał Górczyński (clarinet, bass clarinet), Paweł Nowicki (percussion), Piotr Nowicki (piano). The ensemble focuses on performing works of young composers, created specifically for this unique instrumental combination. Contemporary improvised music also plays an important role in the group’s activity. Kwartludium’s repertoire includes graphic and intuitive compositions of the most significant representatives of the new music such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen, Cornelius Cardew, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Christian Wolff and Dubravko Detoni.
The musicians, for whom the upcoming tour will be the first chance to present themselves in China, have so far performed in USA, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Australia and South Korea. The group appeared at numerous festivals, such as Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, Unsound Festival in Kraków and New York, Dialogue of Four Cultures Festival and Musica Moderna in Łódź, Ensemble Europa in Cologne, to name but a few.
Kwartludium’s artistic output comprises three records released by DUX label and an album Catalogue des Arbres recorded in collaboration with Michał Jacaszek released by the British label Touch. In 2015, another album recorded with organist and composer Dariusz Przybylski titled Hammond Project was released by Requiem Records.
Beijing Modern Music Festival and China – ASEAN Music Festival in Nanning are alongside Shanghai New Music Week the most important festivals of contemporary music in China. Both events regularly invite Polish artists: Beijing Modern have so far hosted performances of such ensembles and soloists as OMN – New Music Orchestra and Lasoń Ensemble (2011), Apollon Musagète Quartett (2014), NeoQuartet (2015), Adam Kośmieja (2017), while the festival in Nanning hosted the NeoQuartet ensemble in 2015 and 2018.
Programme of the Concerts:
Beijing Modern Music Festival, 24th May 2019
- Dai Bo: Footprints on the Sands of Time (2019)
- Tadeusz Wielecki: Multiple Image (2016)
- Wojciech Ziemowit Zych: Always Present Longing (2005)
- Zoltan Almashi: Echo from the Blow to the Dry Spruce Stem in Rycerka Górna (2015)
- Leszek Kułakowski: Ostinatopermutation (2009)
- Bai Chao: The Mountain, The Cloud, The Afar (2019)
China – ASEAN Music Festival, 29th May 2019
- Qiu Yulan: Luocheng in the Rain for piano solo
- Tadeusz Wielecki: Multiple Image (2016)
- Wojciech Ziemowit Zych: Always Present Longing (2005)
- Zoltan Almashi: Echo from the Blow to the Dry Spruce Stem in Rycerka Górna (2015)
- Leszek Kułakowski: Ostinatopermutation (2009)
Kwartludium’s concert tour in China is co-financed by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polish Culture Worldwide programme, Polish Institute – Culture Service of the Polish Embassy in Beijing and the City of Gdańsk as part of the Cultural Grant of the City of Gdańsk – Mobility Fund programme.
Sources: own materials, artists promotional materials, originally written in Polish by AW, 14 May 2019, translated by AW,14 May 2019
