Krzysztof Baculewski "Subjective Annals 60 Editions of the Festival"

The main accents of this Festival edition - though not really very strongly accented - were time and multimedia. The Festival was opened by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Simonov, with a programme including the Violin Concerto by Alfred Schnittke and Symphony No. 1 by Galina Ustvolska. The remaining four Symphonies by the venerable woman composer were performed by the Silesian Philharmonic conducted by Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, with Jadwiga Rappé (alto) as soloist. Mathias Spahlinger presented a work titled furioso performed by the ensemble United Berlin, while Jean Efflam Bavouzet gave a daring performance of Piano Concerto - hommage à Frédéric Chopin by Elżbieta Sikora.

The Grand Theatre - National Opera hosted the première of the first part of an opera triptych commissioned by the Festival, The Land of Ulro [title after Czesław Miłosz]. This part (adapted from Emanuel Swedenborg), titled Tattooed Tongues, was composed by Martijn Padding. There was also a performance by the Parisian ensemble Court-Circuit of one of Gérard Grisey's most important works, Vortex temporum. In the Agnieszka Osiecka Concert Studio (of Polish Radio), Martine Joste presented a number of works for microtonally tuned piano. We witnessed the debuts of Weronika Ratusińska, Aleksandra Gryka, Bartłomiej Krcha, Tomasz Praszczałek, and one of the most interesting composers of young generation - Agata Zubel (Lentille). The Festival closed with performances of Symphony by Bent Sørensen, Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra by Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar and Dämmerschein by Iannis Xenakis, who had died in February the same year.