V BESKID CLASSICAL FESTIVAL “BESKID CLASSICS” – it’s hard to believe that this is already the fifth, jubilee edition! When we started our extraordinary adventure in 2019 with combining classical music with the unique atmosphere of the Beskids, it was fruitless to look for places in Beskid Mountains where you could hear a symphony. And yet today such a repertoire can be experienced in the wonderful new concert halls of Bielsko-Biała, Jastrzębie-Zdrój and Pszczyna. The extraordinary energy and cultural ambitions of this region are evident in the fact that out of 12 Polish cities that competed for the title of European Capital of Culture 2029, three are located in this area. Bielsko-Biała, as a finalist in the competition, still has a chance.
Our festival played a significant role in this. Already in 2021, you could hear Schubert’s 6th Symphony performed at the Bielsko Cultural Center by the Slovak Sinfonietta orchestra. We regularly brought the best artists from Poland and abroad here. Last year, we hosted ensembles from three European capitals (Rome, Prague, Warsaw) and musicians from the best orchestras of Poland, Czechia and Slovakia. However, there was also no shortage of inspiring combinations of classical music with other musical genres, as in the case of the concert of the world-famous “Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa” with the Zabrze Philharmonic. In addition, our new educational project “World of Musical Imaginations” by “Beskid Classics”, prepared with Anada Production and the Animated Film Studio (SFR) in Bielsko-Biała, has achieved phenomenal success in recent months, delighting thousands of adults and young music lovers in Cavatina Hall and the Krakow Philharmonic. Today, our enthusiasm for playing classical music in the Beskids is common here and does not surprise anyone.
You can read about our extraordinary musical offer this year below. However, we pay special attention to our star this year, Charlie Siem. The world-famous model and violinist, considered the perfect model for a modern man, who last year stirred emotions with a short performance at the Podbeskidzie Women’s Congress, this time will perform the beautiful violin concerto by Johannes Brahms. We will give you an opportunity to get to know this extraordinary artist better, his everyday life on world stages, but also the life and artistic dilemmas he experiences in his homes in London, Monte Carlo and Florence. We will show a full-length film dedicated to him by Danish director Eva Mulvad. After the screening, the artist will meet with you to answer your questions.
As usual – we promise a unique atmosphere and wonderful world class artistic experiences, absolutely unique compared to other events of this type in Poland. We cordially invite you!
Paweł Kotla
Festival Director
We will open the festival in the Amphitheatre in Ustroń with an ethnic and lively version of one of the greatest musical hits of all time, which is “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi. This arrangement will be combined with elements of improvisation in the style of minimal music, trans, world, as well as interwoven highland folklore and recitations of sonnets by Vivaldi and Agnieszka Osiecka about the seasons, nature and wildlife. The creators and soloists of NEW VIBES Ensemble will invite listeners on an extraordinary journey into the world of nature and elements seen anew with fragments of innovative and open improvisations and artistic visualizations, created live during the concert. We guarantee that the effect will be electrifying!
19:00, Amfiteatr, ul. Parkowa, Ustroń
[admission free]
VIVALDI – NEW 4 SESONS
WORLD, MINIMAL, ETHNO
Performers:
The New Vibes
Anna Wandtke – violin /solo/
and
Piotr Kopietz – accordion
Jacek Małachowski – accordion
Mirosław Feldgebel – harpsichord
Sebastian Wypych – bass, electronics, recitations, artistic leadership
Paweł Kotla – conductor
Zabrze Philharmonic Soloists
Marek Hajduk – animations
Programme:
What was the musical atmosphere like in the urban salons of Warsaw and Paris, where Chopin presented his piano pieces and songs? World-class artists will try to answer this question – Aldona Bartnik and the winner of the 2nd place in the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments, Japanese pianist Naruhiko Kawaguchi. Filled with beautiful light and wonderful colors of the paintings presented there, the Bator Art Gallery, known worldwide for the biennial “Magical Dreams”, will be the perfect place to feel this atmosphere. In addition to Chopin, there will also be several gems extracted by the singer from the archives of Wrocław music libraries, including little-known romantic songs by Stanisław Niewiadomski, Jan Gall, Stanisław Lipski.
19:00, Bator Art Gallery, ul. Myśliwska 60, Szczyrk
[admission free]
NOT ONLY ABOUT LOVE – CHOPIN’S MUSICAL SALON
Performers:
Aldona Bartnik – soprano
Naruhiko Kawaguchi – piano (Japan)
Programme:
The most beautiful lieds by Chopin, Niewiadomski, Gall, in the style of the period.
In the interiors of the historic Sixt Villa, truly loved by our fans, which is currently part of the Galeria Bielska BWA, the violin and accordion duo, awarded many times at international competitions, this year the winner of the prestigious “Polityka” Passports, will perform. Playing in an unusual line-up, the ensemble (violin and accordion) is able to reach the hearts of listeners in Poland and in New York’s Manhattan with its distinctive sound and unique interpretations of the greatest hits of classical music. This will be a unique opportunity to see them live in this part of Poland.
19:00, Willa Sixta, ul. Mickiewicza 24, Bielsko-Biała
[admission free]
MIKOŁAJCZYK & JEDYNECKI – PASZPORTY „POLITYKI”
Performers:
Duo Karolina Mikołajczyk & Iwo Jedynecki
Karolina Mikołajczyk – violin
Iwo Jedynecki – accordion
Programme:
Grzegorz Fitelberg – Lullaby
Aleksander Tansman – 5 Pieces for violin and small orchestra
Ignacy Friedman – Romance op. 32
Mieczysław Wajnberg – Two Songs Without Words
Szymon Laks – Polish Suite
Last year’s edition of the festival featured the Sułkowski Castle in Bielsko-Biała for the first time. The concert was such a great success that we decided to return to this place. During the concert in the castle interiors, the Cracow Duo – Kalinowski & Szlezer, considered one of the best and most active ambassadors of Polish music abroad, will perform in an extremely delighteful Polish and foreign repertoire, which they have presented on many stages around the world – from South Korea, Brazil, to the USA.
19:00, Muzeum Historyczne – Zamek Sułkowskich, ul. Wzgórze 16, Bielsko-Biała
[admission free, COMPULSORY PRIOR SEAT RESERVATION WITH THE CASTLE: 33 811 04 25 or 508 358 823]
MUSICAL DREAMSCAPES
Performers:
Cracow Duo: Jan Kalinowski & Marek Szlezer
Jan Kalinowski – cello
Marek Szlezer – piano
Programme:
Fryderyk Chopin – Introduction & Polonaise op. 3
Ludomir Różycki – Sonata op. 10
Andrzej Panufnik – Dreamscape
Aleksander Tansman – Fantasia for cello and piano (1936)
José Bragato – Milontan
Astor Piazzolla – Le Grand Tango
In the extraordinary, historical interiors of the Castle Museum in Pszczyna, one of the most innovative in its approach to historical repertoire, baroque bands in Europe will perform. It will be the Neue Hofkapelle Graz baroque orchestra associated with the prestigious Styriarte festival. They will be joined by the exceptional British folk violinist Jim O’Toole and Austrian violinist Lucia Froihofer, who grew up in Styrian folk music. With an extraordinary sense, they present the energy of French baroque dance music, combined with elements of English and Austrian Styrian folk music. This concert will be yet another event inspiring the combination of concert hall music style with mountain folk music from various countries.
18:00 (!!!please note earlier times!!!), Muzeum Zamkowe w Pszczynie, ul. Brama Wybrańców 1, Pszczyna
[Tickets: 80 zł]
DANCING MEADOWS, PLAYFUL COURTS
Performers:
Jim O’Toole – violin (UK)
Lucia Froihofer – violin (Austria)
Neue Hofkapelle Graz (Austria)
Programme:
Traditional folk music of Styria and England, combined with works by the masters of the French Baroque.
In the “SFERA” shopping gallery – the main shopping mall of Bielsko-Biała, a brass quintet of students from the Academy of Music in Katowice will perform – this is a conservatoire which educates the most outstanding young artists who later join best orchestras in Poland and abroad. Excellent arrangements of pieces from the classical repertoire will certainly be a great start to the weekend for anyone who decides to join us.
12:30, Galeria Sfera, ul. Mostowa, Bielsko-Biała
[admission free]
WITH PASSION FOR CLASSICS
Performers:
“Burning Brass” Quintet (Mateusz Zimnik, Bartosz Jałowiecki, Agnieszka Ciszewska, Szymon Rypa, Wojciech Głąb)
Programme:
Works by W.A. Mozart, E. Elgar, J. Offenbach, A. Vivaldi, G. Puccini, G.F. Haendel, L. Anderson, G. Verdi etc.
This is how this film was described at Sydney Film Festival: Young, handsome, immensely rich, a virtuoso violinist and a Hugo Boss model: meet the man who appears to have everything, in this surprisingly charming documentary. You could be forgiven for mistaking Charlie Siem for James Bond. Whether he’s driving an orange Porsche to his cliff-top Monaco mansion, ordering martinis or looking suave in a designer suit, he is a man on a mission. It isn’t to hunt down SPECTRE, but to find perfection in everything he does. Whether it’s performing on stage, recording albums, or selecting a suit, Charlie demands the best, of himself and others.” However, the Danish director’s film goes deeper. It also shows a picture of a modern man who, despite having the opportunity to choose a comfortable life, decided to choose the extremely difficult path of an international artistic career, full of doubts, frustration, sacrifices and subjecting his talent and sensitivity to constant evaluation by the audience.
13:30, Kino Helios, ul. Mostowa, Bielsko-Biała
[Tickets: 19 zł, 29 zł]
„A MODERN MAN” – CHARLIE SIEM IN FILM
Programme:
Film “A Modern Man” dir. Eva Mulvad (Denmark, 2017). There will be a meeting with the artists after the screening.
The extremely dynamic and well-known not only in Poland but also abroad Baltic Neopolis Quartet, which already played a great chamber concert at the second edition of “Beskid Classics”, will perform a program that will combine the richness of emotions and styles of music from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The band consisting of Polish and Portuguese musicians will be accompanied by the excellent Slovak guitarist Miriam Rodriguez Brullova. The virtuoso guitar and harmonious sound of the string quartet guarantee exceptional experiences and expressive interpretations.
19:00, Państwowa Szkoła Muzyczna w Żywcu, ul. Sienkiewicza 19, Żywiec
[admission free]
ON THE MUSICAL TRIPOINT
Peformers:
Miriam Rodriguez Brullova – guitar (Slovakia)
Baltic Neopolis Quartet (Poland/Portugal)
Programme:
Paweł Łukaszewski – String Quartet no. 3
Ilja Zeljenka – Musica Slovaca for string quartet
Sylvie Bodorova – “Concierto de Estio”
The Final Gala of the festival will take place in one of the most modern concert halls in Europe. Emphasizing the strong ties of Bielsko-Biała with Italian and Austrian culture, the concert programme will include pieces inspired by the musical traditions of these countries, but which are also in a sense a story about something still rare in the modern world – masculine elegance, passion and sensitivity. The soloist will be one of the most sought-after violinists in the world, a model for the largest fashion brands – British-Norwegian violinist Charlie Siem. The concert, accompanied by the National Chamber Orchestra of Slovakia “Slovak Sinfonietta”, will be led personally by the director of the festival Paweł Kotla. The gala will be hosted by Agnieszka Nowak and the well-known TV personality Olivier Janiak.
19:00, Cavatina Hall, ul. Dworkowa 2, Bielsko-Biała
[Tickets: 99 zł]
„LA ELEGANZA MODERNA” – SYMPHONIC GALA „BESKID CLASSICS”
Performers:
Charlie Siem – violin (UK)
Paweł Kotla – conductor
National Chamber Orchestra “Slovak Sinfonietta”
Programme:
L.van Beethoven – “Coriolan” Overture op. 62
J.Brahms – Violin Concerto in D major op. 77
F.Mendelssohn – Symphony no. 4 “Italian” A major op. 90
Festival Office
Temida Arts & Business Foundation
ul. Gałczyńskiego 39
43-300 Bielsko-Biała
KRS: 0000754893
NIP: 9372717839
+48 33 812 34 90
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