Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of Kletzki’s death.
A motion to honour one of the city’s most famous sons has been put forward to the Łódź City Council by the Museum of the City of Łódź, with support from the local Music Academy.
The director of the Museum of the City of Łódź, Magda Komarzeniec, has told the media that, while local residents are familiar with figures such as pianist Arthur Rubinstein, composer Aleksander Tansman or poet Julian Tuwim, all of them natives of Łódź, Kletzki’s name has fallen into obscurity.
Plans for 2023 include an exhibition documenting Kletzki’s life and artistic career, as well as his links with the town of his birth.
Also, a concert featuring Kletzki’s compositions is scheduled for March, and a series of events focusing on Kletzki is planned by the city’s Music Academy, which has already published a study on his chamber music with piano.
Kletzki joined the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 15 as a violinist. He studied composition and conducting in Poland, Germany and Italy. In 1939, he settled in Switzerland, becoming a Swiss citizen a decade later.
He worked with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, Switzerland.
He died on March 5, 1973, at the age of 72, after collapsing during a rehearsal with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Kletzki’s compositional output includes four symphonies, three string quartets, a sinfonietta for strings, a fantasy for piano, and a sonata for violin and piano.
He gave up composing in 1942, arguing that Nazism had destroyed his creative spirit and will to write music.
(mk/gs)