This evening, the guest artists at the National Forum of Music will be Jakub Jakowicz and Paweł Wakarecy, who together with the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra will perform the Double Concerto in D minor for violin, piano and string orchestra by MWV O4 by Felix Mendelssohn. The programme also includes compositions by Béla Bartók (Divertimento) and Andrzej Panufnik (Arbor cosmica), played/directed by Jakub Jakowicz.

Jakub Jakowicz is a soloist and chamber player, a widely-known violin virtuoso. Paweł Wakarecy is a prize-winner of the 16th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition. He gives concerts in Poland and abroad, performs with the best Polish conductors and orchestras and plays with his wife in the Wakarecy Piano Duo. At the NFM, Wakarecy and Jakowicz will perform as soloists in the Double Concerto in D minor for violin, piano and string orchestra MWV O4 by Mendelssohn. This is a very interesting piece, in which the solo part was divided between two instruments: a violin and a piano. Mendelssohn wrote the concerto at just fourteen – he was only at the beginning of his composing career. Despite his young age, he made his music very mature. It is believed that the final shape of the Double Concerto in D Minor could have been influenced by the study of the score of the Concerto in G major for piano, violin and orchestra op. 17 by the Baroque composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. The young Mendelssohn could have also been inspired by the works of Carl Maria von Weber, for whom he had great respect.

The programme features a work by a Polish composer, too. The Arbor cosmica (Latin “cosmic tree”) by Panufnik was born out of fascination with nature and attributing magical qualities to trees. The composer's approach to the structure of the work is the most interesting element – the form was carefully thought through, and the whole composition can be represented graphically in the form of a tree. A phenomenal aspect of Arbor cosmica is the skilful combination of precise form with diverse and expressive sound and melodic-rhythmic layer. Every aspect of the work, thought out so well, and attention to the smallest details makes the Arbor cosmica an outstanding composition.

The Divertimento Sz.113, BB.118 by Bartók is the composer's return to the roots, as it were. The work was created in 1939, when Bartók planned to end his career in Europe and move to the United States. In the piece, the composer returns to tonalities and musical tradition – thanks to the use of dialogues between groups of instruments in the Divertimento, there are pronounced references to Baroque concerto grosso. The word "divertimento" means a piece serving mainly the entertainment of both listeners and musicians.