W. Lutosławski
Wianki; Pożegnanie wakacji – two songs for children for voice and piano
Bajka iskierki and other songs for children for voice and piano  
Nocny Marek and other songs for voice and piano  
Abecadło and other children's songs for voice and piano  

Songs from the Academy of Mr Kleks films:
Witajcie w naszej bajce (music A. Korzyński, lyrics K. Gradowski, arr. M. Ziółkowski)
Na wyspach Bergamutach (music A. Korzyński, lyrics J. Brzechwa, arr. M. Ziółkowski)
Psie smutki (music A. Korzyński, lyrics J. Brzechwa, arr. M. Ziółkowski)
Kaczka dziwaczka (music A. Korzyński, lyrics J. Brzechwa, arr. M. Ziółkowski)
B. Coulais Vois sur ton chemin from Les choristes

Małgorzata Podzielny – conductor
Agnieszka Lewandowska-Gryś – piano
NFM Girls' Choir
NFM Boys' Choir

The long-awaited beginning of summer is for many a time of carefreeness and long, sunny days filled with freedom. The vibe of late June has inspired the NFM Girls’ Choir and the NFM Boys’ Choir, conducted by Małgorzata Podzielny, to a prepare concert that will take us to the world of children. We will hear songs by Witold Lutosławski and pieces from films about the one and only Mr Kleks, a wizard teacher and his school filled with magic.  

The work of Witold Lutosławski includes not only symphonies or concertos but also works intended for the youngest. His songs for children were written mainly in the decade after the war. Over the years, the composer divided them into two separate categories: for those who listen to music and those who sing. This latter group includes Wianki [Wreaths] and Pożegnanie wakacji [Farewell to Holidays] written to the words of Stefania Szuchowa and Lucyna Krzemieniecka, Bajka iskierki [A Spark’s Tale] to the text by Janina Porazińska, or Nocny Marek [Night Owl] with the lyrics by Janina Osińska and Roman Pisarski. As leading Polish musicologists Danuta Gwizdalanka and composer Krzysztof Meyer have emphasised, no other composer created “so many pieces for children that would enjoy such great popularity and at the same time represent an impressively high artistic level”. The young choristers will sing many of them on this summer afternoon.

A truly magical atmosphere will be evoked by songs from films about the most famous Polish wizard with a thick mane of hair and a face dotted with colorful freckles – Mr Kleks. Welcome to Our Fairy Tale or In the Bergamuty Islands are just some of the songs featured in the programme. This time, Andrzej Korzyński’s music will be performed in the arrangement of a young composer from Wrocław, Michał Ziółkowski. The artists will also present a fragment of the soundtrack from the famous French film Les choristes. It tells the story of a music teacher Clément Mathieu – a former choirmaster employed in a reformatory for boys, whom he tries to infect with love of the arts and sensitise to beauty contained in music by establishing a choir in the facility, consisting of its pupils wronged by life. Vois sur ton chemin is a moving piece by Bruno Coulais, enriched with a simple but noble accompaniment, and is about the hopes and desires of young people looking into an uncertain future.