Carnival Concert - Polska Orkiestra Sinfonia Iuventus

22 February 2019, 7 p.m.
Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio in Warsaw

Programme features:
Leonard Bernstein Candide Overture
John Williams Escapades from Catch me if you can
(for alto saxophone and orchestra)
Darius Milhaud Scaramouche op. 165 c
Leonard Bernstein Symphonic dances from West Side Story
Arturo Márquez Danzón No 2

The original programme of this concert will delight every enthusiast of ambitious masterly symphonic music coming into interactions with the “lighter Muses”. Leonard Bernstein was a master of such synthesis: he referred to his Candide as an operetta but this large work drawing from motifs of the Voltairian ironic and bitter tale combines traditions of many genres. They are announced by the grand overture, potpourri, played also as a standalone symphonic composition. Its grotesque aura, vicissitude of subjects and moods and the brilliant orchestration is somewhat remindful of Prokofiev’s style. West Side Story by the same author became a milestone in the history of musical. Admired on the Broadway stage, it earned the author his great popularity, particularly in the film version (1961). The daring dance scenes lived to see the author’s take in the form of the colourful orchestral suite. John Williams is a true legend of film music. His soundtracks for Star Wars or Jaws became as much as icons of contemporary cultures. He was nominated for Oscars 52 (!) times and won the award five times. The soundtrack for Catch me if you can, the mischievous Steven Spielberg’s comedy from 2002, may be a slightly less known achievements of the author but it matches those most famous in terms of quality and beauty of musical ideals. Orchestral miniatures: Escapades with the saxophone solo (Paweł Gusnar in this part, one of the most valued Polish saxophonists of his generation) based on the film score is a charming and funny stylization of the film music of the 1960s, the time settings of the film. The vibraphone that used to be very popular at that time, with a pronounced part played by Dominik Bukowski, was its specific “hallmark”. The bravura saxophone is also the concertising hero of the Scaramouche suite (the character is a fanfaron soldier from the commedia dell’arte) composed in 1937 as part of music for The Flying Doctor comedy by Molière. Its author, Darius Milhaud, was a member of Les Six, the famous group of French composers, and the composition glittering with humour is representative for its style that frequently combines classicising parts and references to jazz or trivial and cabaret music. Danzón No. 2 by Arturo Márquez is a symphonic gem of Mexican music (imitating the Cuban dancing style), popularized as encore , played gladly by the famous Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Wojciech Rodek, active on many stages in Poland and abroad, will stand behind the conductor’s console. Associated with the Lublin Philharmonic (as the art director and the lead conductor), the Gliwice Musical Theatre (as the music director and conductor), among others, he became the artistic director of the Lower Silesian Philharmonic in Jelenia Góra as its art director and the lead conductor in 2014.

Media patronage: Polskie Radio Program 2, Radio dla Ciebie, Presto, Art Post, polmic.pl

Tickets available at bilety24 , eBilet and sklep.polskieradio.pl, as well as in the box office of W. Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio one hour before the concert.