Jazz Autumn - November 7

FOX: Fryderyk LIS featuring Mayu Shirai and Keiji Matsuoka Kasia Pietrzko Trio: XIX/XX

LIS: Fryderyk LIS featuring feat. Mayu Shirai and Keiji Matsuoka Łukasz Przawski - saxophones Jan Smoczyński - synthesizers, piano Michał Miśkiewicz - drums Mayu Shirai - dance Keiji Matsuoka - painting

LIS is an original trio project created by Łukasz Przawski and Jan Smoczyński, working at the intersection of electronic, acoustic, experimental and minimalist music. The founders invited Michał Miśkiewicz to the project and on three albums together they create contemporary soundscapes in which improvisation meets precise form and tradition meets experiment. Łukasz Pravski brings to the project jazz narration and the characteristic sound of saxophones, whose natural tones he processes and complements with unobvious electronic effects. Jan Smoczyński is one of the most versatile and sought-after figures on the Polish music scene. Pianist, producer, composer and master synthesizer, in LIS he gives a particularly important role to the iconic Arp Odyssey, on which he builds hypnotic bass structures and sounds balancing between jazz and electronics. Michał Miśkiewicz - a drummer associated with, among others, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio and the artist of ECM publications - builds the rhythmic and spatial dimension of LIS music. He combines acoustic percussion with electronics and samples, creating multi-layered rhythmic structures. The band's third album, “Fryderyk LIS”, is an unobvious encounter with the music of Fryderyk Chopin. The band draws on the distinctive motifs of their songs, passing them through their own language: electronic, minimalist, at times rebellious and surprisingly organic. Melodies become bass lines, independent compositions merge into new structures, and Chopin finds himself in the Lisieja Nora, where he takes on completely different shades. The album “Fryderyk LIS” received Fryderyk 2026 in the category Experimental Jazz/Contemporary Improvised Music. The project was presented in Japan during Expo 2025. “Fryderyk LIS” will receive another installment at the Jazz Autumn. The music will be accompanied by the dance of Mayu Shirai, and specially for the Bielsk concert, Keiji Matsuoka - a Japanese visual and sound artist, who creates improvised live images, will join the project. The meeting of music, movement and image will open the project to another space of improvisation.

Kasia Pietrzko Trio: XIX/XX Kasia Pietrzko - piano Andrzej Święs - double bass Piotr Budniak - drums

Kasia Pietrzko — pianist, composer and jazz arranger from Bielsko-Biała, one of the most important personalities of Polish jazz of the young generation. Leader Kasia Pietrzko Trio, with whom she recorded albums Forthright Stories, Ephemeral Pleasures and Fragile Ego — released in the legendary Polish Jazz series as the first album of the pianist-leader in the history of this series. Her relationship with Tomasz Stańko's Jazz Autumn is extremely natural and personal. Growing up in Bielsko-Biała, Kasia Pietrzko grew up at this festival — she listened to concerts, watched artists and absorbed the atmosphere of musical freedom. It was here, while still a very young pianist at the beginning of her journey, that she met Tomasz Stańko. Over time, this meeting grew into a musical relationship and mutual respect. In 2018 Tomasz Stańko invited Kasia Pietrzko and her trio to play together. One of the results of this meeting was a concert in Krakow's Alchemia — February 14, 2018 — which turned out to be his last full-length concert before his death. The artist has been associated with Jazz Autumn for years also creatively. At the request of the festival, she prepared premiere projects, including the monumental Anxious Beauty and an original program created especially for a larger, selected lineup. During Jazz Autumn 2026, Kasia Pietrzko will present in her trio the project XIX/XX — a development of material from the Prokofieff project, an artistic doctoral dissertation inspired by the work of Sergiusz Prokofiev and the music of the turn of the 20th century. Last year, Kasia Pietrzko defended her doctorate and wrote compositions that, as she herself says, are “complete opposition” to the previous work of her trio. Now she decided to expand this material into a concert format. Rhythmics gain more strength here, harmony becomes more insistent and unobvious, and improvisations - much more open, crazy, unpredictable and explosive. What remains in common with the last albums are the melodies, still very important in her musical thinking. The project will be presented with: Kasia Pietrzko — piano, Andrzej Święs — double bass, Piotr Budniak — drums.

The organizer of the 23rd Tomasz Stańko Jazz Autumn in Bielsko-Biała is the Municipality of Bielsko-Biała and the Maria Koterbska Cultural Center of Bielsko. Co-organizer is Ars Cameralis — Institute of Culture of the Silesian Voivodship Self-Government. Co-financed from the funds of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund within the “Music” program, implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

The partner of the Festival is the Silesian Voivodeship The patronage of the festival was taken over by the Tomasz Stańko Foundation

The festival takes place as part of the Polish Capitals of Culture program. Polish Capitals of Culture is an initiative that aims to promote and support the cultural development of Polish cities. The program was initiated by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2024. The coordinator of the programme is the National Cultural Centre. The Patron of the Program is Totalizator Sportowy.