Krzysztof Baculewski "Subjective Annals 60 Editions of the Festival"

The leitmotif was music instruments: new and unknown as well as old-historical; exotic and folk, as well as exotic vocal techniques. The list of featured instruments is impressive: those of the European Renaissance (Mauricio Kagel - Kammermusik für Renaissance-Instrumente) and Baroque (ensemble Arte dei Suonatori); a duo of contrabass clarinets; Chinese folk instruments (Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra); folk instruments of the Bolivian Indians (Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos); natural horns (György Ligeti - Hamburgisches Konzert); contemporary performance techniques on the harpsichord (soloist Goska Isphording); Breton bagpipes (soloist Erwan Keravec); the gamelan, didgeridoo, shō, koto, guzheng; glass harmonica (Jörg Widmann - Armonica), electric zither, as well as electronics. Of the latter there was a lot as usual, but electronics also appeared here in a new role. Kazimierz Serocki's Pianophonie of 1978, produced with live electronics (mostly analogue technology at that time) was - in the absence of the original historical devices - reconstructed in digital form. The programme also featured rare guests: South American composers (Alejandro Cardona of Costa Rica, Graciela Paraskevaídis of Argentina, Cergio Prudencio of Bolivia), composers from China (Wenjing Guo, Yi Chen, Wenchen Qin) as well as from cultures geographically closer and more familiar to the Polish audience. Polish debut: the Young Composers from Cracow group, consisting of Piotr Peszat, Szymon Strzelec, Kamil Kruk, and Piotr Roemer. For the first time in very many years, young composers presented themselves at the Festival as a group, professing the same modernist artistic world view - though significantly differing in specific musical solutions. The 'Little Warsaw Autumn' expanded, with an installation in the Królikarnia, a performance in the Łazienki Park, concerts in the Fabryka Trzciny (Reed Factory), as well as a location-based game at the seat of Agora SA.