In addition to Beethoven, the programme of 12 symphonic concerts, three song recitals, two piano recitals, and two chamber concerts includes compositions by Ferenc Liszt, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, and Krzysztof Penderecki, all inspired by literary works.
Now in its 29th edition, the event is the brainchild of Elżbieta Penderecka, the wife of Krzysztof Penderecki, the famous Polish composer who died in 2020. She has served as the festival’s artistic director since its inception.
Andrzej Giza, the director of the Ludwig van Beethoven Association, the organizer of the event, told the PAP Polish Press Agency that Elżbieta Penderecka has invited an impressive lineup of conductors, soloists, and ensembles.
The opening concert will feature Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, performed by the Orchestra of the National Forum of Music (NFM) in Wrocław, the Kraków Philharmonic Choir, and international soloists, with the world-acclaimed Christoph Eschenbach on the conductor’s podium. Born in Wrocław (then Breslau) in 1940, he is the music director of the city’s National Forum of Music.
The final concert of the festival, traditionally held on Good Friday, will bring together two compositions that are settings of the Jewish prayer in memory of the dead: Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish and Krzysztof Penderecki’s Kadysz.
The large performing forces include the Orchestra and Chorus of the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Alla Polacca youth choir, soprano Natalia Rubiś, cantor Gerard Edery, and narrators Leah Pisar-Haas and Sławomir Holland, with Germany’s Christoph Koenig conducting.
Leah Pisar-Haas is the daughter of Holocaust survivor Samuel Pisar, the author of the libretto to Bernstein’s Kaddish.
Featured soloists at the Easter Beethoven Festival also include British tenor Ian Bostridge, Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, and Polish pianist Ewa Pobłocka.
In line with a long-standing tradition championed by Penderecka, the festival continues its rediscovery of virtually forgotten operas.
This year, the Poznań Philharmonic under Łukasz Borowicz, with young Polish singers, will give a concert performance of Werther, an opera written at the end of the 18th century by Johannes Mayr, a German composer who gained immense popularity in Italy.
Source: PAP/beethoven.org/YouTube.com/Shalom Foundation
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