Krzysztof Baculewski "Subjective Annals 60 Editions of the Festival"

The main topic: music for keyboard instruments, including the accordion, harpsichord, harmonium, electro-acoustic instruments, midi piano, as well as the classical concert piano; all this with a symbolic reference to the bicentenary of Fryderyk Chopin's birth. The Festival music itself, despite the passage of two centuries, also referred to some extent to Chopin's works. Ensembles included: the Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik, Orkest de Ereprijs, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Musikfabrik, the international Ensemble Nikel, and the European Workshop for Contemporary Music. Sound installations were again present in abundance: Gordon Monahan's project was shown in Warsaw's Castle Square as a prelude to the Festival, and during the 'Warsaw Autumn' installations were presented in several Tęcza Studio interiors (Jarosław Kapuściński, Ignas Krunglevicius, Elisabetta Benassi, Lucia Ronchetti) and in the courtyard of the F. Chopin University (Marek Chołoniewski and Krzysztof Knittel). The Artistic Centre 25 changed its name to Soho Factory. The Festival programme featured works by, among others, Louis Andriessen, Ondřej Adámek, François-Bernard Mâche, Włodzimierz Kotoński, Fausto Romitelli, Bruno Mantovani, Beat Furrer, Agata Zubel, Misato Mochizuki, Claude Vivier, Mauricio Kagel, Cornelis de Bondt, Jerzy Kornowicz, and Lidia Zielińska. The Festival debuts: Marcin Stańczyk, Prasqual, Katarzyna Szwed, as well as installation authors: Marek Chołoniewski and Paweł Janicki. The 'Orpheus' Prize of the Association of Polish Artists-Musicians SPAM went to sound producer Ewa Guziołek-Tubelewicz for the realisation of the electronic part in Lidia Zielińska's In the Rear. In this way, the award committee emphasised the ever growing though still much underestimated role of sound producers in performances of not only electro-acoustic music.