For decades, the Church of St Mary Magdalene has hosted performers performing at the Wratislavia Cantans festival. This time, the church will host an important concert – ​​the premiere of a new setting of the funeral mass by Zygmunt Krauze. Jacek Kaspszyk will also conduct Adagio – the only movement of Symphony No. 10 completed by Gustav Mahler.

Born in 1938, the composer, pianist and teacher Zygmunt Krauze is currently one of the doyens of Polish music life. He enjoys international recognition, and his works are presented by the major international institutions, such as the National Theatre in Mannheim, Theatre National de la Colline in Paris, Staatsoper in Hamburg, and the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. He is the author of, among others, eight operas, three piano concertos and many solo works for this instrument, orchestral works written for various line-ups, as well as theatre, choral and song music. Among Krauze’s inspirations are paintings by Władysław Strzemiński.

Zygmunt Krauze’s Requiem, the latest work by the Polish composer, was commissioned by Wratislavia Cantans. However, it is not, as one might think, a piece based on liturgical texts, but on secular, poetic ones. It is dedicated to the most innocent and defenseless victims of wars – children. It is a reaction and protest against what is still happening in the world today. This composition was designed for large performance forces. The concert will feature two solo singers – a soprano and a baritone, as well as three choirs: the Polish Radio Choir – Lusławice, NFM Girls’ Choir and NFM Boys’ Choir. Sinfonia Varsovia will play, and the whole will be conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk, an acclaimed conductor well-known to the Wrocław audience.

Gustav Mahler began working on The Tenth Symphony in the summer of 1910. According to his intentions, the whole was to consist of five movements. However, fate decided that the composition remained unfinished, because Mahler died in May 1911, leaving only the first movement of the new work – Adagio – orchestrated. Mahler believed that his music was autobiographical, that it recorded the diversity of life and the emotions it carried. The Tenth was written at a very difficult time for the artist, and his experiences from that period are reflected in this fragment full of despair, which only brings a ray of light at the end.