Krauze | Brahms | Bartók Artistic Season Finale 2025/2026
The season’s final concert, conducted by Wojciech Rodek – and marking the culmination of his first season as director of POSI – brings together two masterpieces of the symphonic and concert repertoire with a work of particular resonance in today’s world: Zygmunt Krauze’s Hymn to Tolerance, dedicated to Jerusalem – a city of encounter, but also of conflict between faiths and cultures.
Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 (1878), composed in collaboration with Joseph Joachim, combines virtuosity with symphonic grandeur. It is not merely a soloist’s showcase, but a ‘symphony with a concertante violin’: the monumental first movement evokes Beethoven, the lyrical Adagio opens with the famous oboe solo, and the final rondo in the Hungarian style is imbued with exuberant energy. The solo part will be performed by Natalia Dragan – a violinist born in 2009, winner of dozens of competitions, and a performer admired on many stages in Poland and abroad.
Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra (1943–1944) is one of the most important works of the 20th century. Here, the composer softens his musical language, whilst retaining his characteristic rhythmic style, folk influences and masterful orchestration. “Concertante” consists in bringing different orchestral groups to the fore, and the work as a whole - from the austerity of the opening and its dark elegy to the finale - progresses towards an affirmation of life.
Zygmunt Krauze’s Hymn to Tolerance was commissioned by Aleksander Gudzowaty and was performed at the unveiling of the Monument to Tolerance in Jerusalem (2008). It carries a powerful emotional charge – it is a musical voice of protest against violence, injustice and human cruelty, and an expression of hope for reconciliation between different views, faiths and cultures. During the concert, the piece will be performed in Poland for the second time in 20 years.
