(Battle of) Carmen

Contractors

Maciej Tomasiewicz — conductor

Anna Gorna — marimba

Sudeten Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra

program

18:15 Conversations in C major
introduction to the concert and meeting with the artists (free admission for those who have a ticket to the concert)

7:00 p.m. Concert:
Adam Jarzębski — Tamburetta

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber — Battalia

Emmanuel Séjourné — Concerto for marimba

Georges Bizet — Suite Carmen

About the concert
November at the Sudeck Philharmonic is held under the intriguing slogan “Youth on the Stage”. This youthful, vital and rebellious energy resonates perfectly with the theme of tonight's theme, which is broadly understood as battle. We understand it here both literally, as the noise of battle, and metaphorically, as the clash of musical eras, passions and virtuosic elements. In front of you is an extremely varied program, in which baroque extravagance meets contemporary percussion power and temperamental operatic drama.

The evening will begin with a short but full of verve work from the Polish early Baroque — “Tamburetta” by Adam Jarzębski (died around 1648/9 in Warsaw). The title of the composition refers directly to the small drum, which in the musical layer was conveyed through an expressive, motor pulse and dance character. It's a perfect musical warm-up before what happens a moment later. The focus of the first part of the concert will be the historical “Battalia” by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704). This Austrian composer created in 1673 a work that in his time was an absolute phenomenon. Biber paints in it an extremely suggestive, sonorous picture of the battle. In one part — illustrating the drunken chants of soldiers in the camp — instruments deliberately play in different tonalities and meters, creating a gritty, comical chaos that overtook polyphonic and avant-garde experiments by several centuries! In this musical illustration, we will also hear the imitation of musket shots and a moving final lament over the fallen.

The jump to contemporary music with Emmanuel Séjourné's 2005 Marimba Concerto will be extremely interesting in this context. To see the marimba in the role of a solo instrument in the company of an orchestra is still a rarity, and the work of the French composer allows you to fully reveal its fascinating possibilities. This piece combines an almost romantic lyric with trance, jazz-inspired energy and Latin rhythms. The solo part, which Anna Górna will perform this evening, requires from the instrumentalist the highest virtuosity and enormous physical dynamism. Her performance is the perfect embodiment of the idea of “Youth on the Stage” — a thrilling, modern and spectacular visual and sound show.

Finally, we will listen to a work that transports us to the sunburned squares of nineteenth-century Andalusia. Georges Bizet's Carmen Suite is the story of another battle — a love battle in which destructive desire collides with a tragic destiny. The opera, which initially shocked the Parisian audience with its brutality and realism, quickly became one of the most popular works in the history of the genre. The Sudeten Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maciej Tomasiewicz will present the most famous instrumental fragments of this work, representing the quintessence of the Spanish temperament, gypsy passion and brilliant, colorful instrumentation of the French composer.

All listeners wishing to enter even deeper into the world of the described compositions are invited to “Conversations in C major” at 18:15. Introduction to the concert and meeting with the artists will be a great opportunity to get to know the behind the scenes of work on this demanding program (admission free for concert ticket holders).

In-house