Inaugural concert of the Artistic Season 2023/2024
Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
10 September 2023, 7 p.m.
Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio, Warsaw
Performers
Hyuk Lee | piano
Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Antoni Wit | conductor
Programme
Richard Wagner – Overture for Tannhäuser
Camille Saint-Saëns – Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, Op. 103, "Egyptian"
Zygmunt Noskowski – Symphony No. 3 in F major "From Spring to Spring"
Antoni Wit - photo Juliusz Multarzyński; Hyuk Lee - photo Artist's archive
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Tannhäuser was the first of Richard Wagner's operas inspired by the Old High German literature – in this case, the stories of minnesingers' contests in the Middle Ages and the encounter between one of the minnesingers, the title character, and the goddess Venus herself, and his love dilemmas. The famous, monumental overture to the opera begins with an impressive orchestral crescendo anticipating the motifs of the Pilgrims' Chorus from Act III. Wagner composed it after completing the entire work, which premiered in Dresden in 1845.
The work of Camille Saint-Saëns is somewhat controversial – sometimes described as eclectic, it delights the audience with the beauty of its sound, richness of melodic inventions, great sense of proportion and colourful orchestration. His works have something as appealing as the technically perfect canvases of the academic painters of the 19th century, full of artfully posed figures from ancient myths and stories. The great popularity of the Piano Concerto No. 2 overshadowed the other works in the genre, while his last concerto, Piano Concerto No. 5 (1896), appears to be unprecedented and well worth recalling. It was written during a winter vacation spent in Luxor, Egypt – hence the subtitle ‘The Egyptian’, but the composer himself mentioned that the concerto was a symbol of a great ‘sea voyage’ – it displays not only Egyptian and Middle Eastern influences, but also evokes the echo of Iberian and even... Javanese music. This highly original work will be performed by a 23-year-old South Korean pianist Hyuk Lee, who is developing an impressive career on world stages. He is known to Polish audience, among others, as the winner of the 10th Ignacy Jan Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz and the winner of an honourable mention at the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. He also won 8th Moscow International Frederic Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, and the prestigious Long-Thibaud International Competition in 2022.
Symphony No. 3 in F major From Spring to Spring is one of the most significant achievements of the Polish neo-romantic composer Zygmunt Noskowski. This work is a beautiful tribute to Polish nature, but also to Polish tradition. The successive parts of the Polish ‘Four Seasons' evoke the mood of the respective periods, while the national element is also revealed by the presence of quotations from folk and religious songs. It was composed in 1903 on commission from the recently established Warsaw Philharmonic and was successfully performed there on 15 January 1904 (the manuscript is preserved in the Library of the Warsaw Music Society). Its elements illustrate the spring awakening of nature, the joyful Midsummer’s Night, the autumn harvest festival – with the song Plon niesiemy, plon [We carry the crops] and the lively kujawiak, the dangerous winter blizzard with the fearful prayer of the people Kto się w opiekę [Who will give himself up to his Lord] and finally the hope for the return of spring, symbolised by the song Kiedy ranne wstają zorze [When the morning rises] and the reference to the new beginning. This striking, illustrative and emotional symphony has fallen into oblivion – it is now very rarely performed, and undoubtedly deserves to be popularised.
The concert will be an opportunity to once again admire the art of one of the most prominent contemporary conductors, Maestro Antoni Wit, an artist with an impressive output (including the recording of over 200 albums published in more than 5 million copies!), whose experience includes leading important musical institutions in many countries for many years: in Poland, he led the ensembles of the Pomeranian Philharmonic (1974-1977), the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra and Choir in Kraków (1977-1983), the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (1983-2000), and from 2002 to 2013 he held the position of Managing and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic. He also directed Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (1987-1992) and Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra in Pamplona (2013-2018). He studied conducting under the supervision of Henryk Czyż at the Higher State School of Music in Kraków, and also completed his law studies at the Jagiellonian University. He started his career as an assistant to Witold Rowicki at the Warsaw Philharmonic. After winning second prize in the International Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin in 1971, he became an assistant to Karajan himself. His decades-long activity on stages all over the world has earned him great acclaim from audiences and critics; he is also a highly respected academic teacher who has trained many outstanding conductors. [pmac]
Realization of the concert in cooperation with the Polish Music Publishers as part of the TUTTI.pl project promoting the performance of Polish music
Standard price of the tickets: 45 zł/1 seat
Reduced price of the tickets: 35 zł/ 1 seat
for:
• students, students before 26, pensioners and the persons after 70,
Tickets: Bilety24, eBilet.pl
Media patronage: TVP Kultura, Polska Agencja Prasowa, Presto, polmic.pl
Organiser: Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
The organiser reserves the right to change the programme or the performers of the concert
