Festival like no other
Formerly, the Forum Musicum Festival was one of the few summer opportunities to enjoy classical music in Wroclaw, and their innovative approach to concert venues (musicians would give short recitals on the stairs in historic residential buildings) has won them quite an audience. Now that Tomasz Dobrzański, Artistic Director of the Ars Cantus from Wroclaw, is at the helm, the event is perhaps less unpredictable, but it offers a consistent and thoroughly developed programme. The festival fails to attract celebrities. Instead, they prefer musicians who specialise in period music and are painstaking interpreters of early music scores. This year's programme, which used to surprise the audience with young ensembles gathering middle or secondary school students, focuses on vocal and instrumental music performed in several locations around Wroclaw, including one of the chamber halls at the newly developed National Music Forum. The works presented span the period from the Middle Ages all the way to Romanticism.
Musical attractions in August
The festival kicks off with medieval songs by Neidhart von Reuental (performed by the Ensemble Leones). A day later, the Il Timbro ensemble takes you on a journey back in time to enjoy the atmosphere of romantic drawing rooms and chamber music. While Open Folk take the stage on 20 August, the festival continues with Olga Pasiecznik and the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra performing Beethoven's and Mendelssohn's arias on 21 August, and it comes to a close with a real icing on the cake, namely "La Serva Padrona", an opera buffa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.
Tickets to all concerts are available at 10 and 20 PLN.
Forum Musicum programme
- 15 August, 8 pm, National Museum
Ensemble Leones: Els Janssens-Vanmunster (voice) Baptiste Romain (medieval fiddle, bagpipes) Marc Lewon (voice, lute, medieval fiddle, artistic direction)
Songs by Neidhart von Reuental
- 16 August, 8 pm, Aula Ossolineum
Il timbro: Aldona Bartnik (soprano) Magdalena Pilch (romantic flute) Tomasz Dobrzański (historic clarinets) Bartosz Kokosza (cello) Marek Pilch (table piano)
The ensemble present a chamber music repertoire featuring woodwinds such as flute or clarinet, excerpts from popular cycles by Spohr and Lachner, individual pieces by Fürstenau, Meyerbeer and Donizetti, as well as a trio for flute, cello and piano by Mendelssohn and a trio for clarinet, cello and piano by Beethoven.
- 20 August, 8 pm, Mleczarnia
Open folk: Paweł Iwaszkiewicz (flutes, bagpipes, pommers) Mirosław Feldgebel (Celtic harp) Olena Jeremianko (medieval fiddle) Jarosław Kopeć (percussions)
The ensemble are clearly fascinated by Celtic music, but they also seek inspiration in other cultures and genres, including both Slavdom and the Orient, and early music and rock music.
- 21 August, 8 pm, NFM, Red Hall
Jarosław Thiel (conductor) Olga Pasiecznik (soprano) Zbigniew Pilch -(violin) Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra
Joseph Haydn's symphonies and concert arias by Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart, or a programme which the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Olga Pasiecznik fans know from their fantastic album. This time round live!
22 August, 8 pm, Oratorium Marianum
Anna Moniuszko (conductor) Małgorzata Trojanowska (soprano) (Serpina) Roman Ciumakin (tenor) (Uberto) Bartosz Budny (bass) (Vespone) Il Diletti Early Music Ensemble
G. B. Pergolesi La Serva Padrona
The opera buffa focuses on a cunning servant who develops an intrigue to ensnare and marry her own master, the latter being happy to fall into the trap.
