Great virtuosos, a multitude of genres and their timelessness. The era of Romanticism is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for contemporary musicians, and facing the works created at that time is a real challenge. The challenge has been met by an excellent pianist, Thomas Cornelius, who will perform songs of an outstanding Polish composer, Stanisław Moniuszko, and his own compositions.

The debut song cycles were penned by Moniszko when he was still a teenager. As a young man, he felt a great urge to develop a more informal, home-singing culture. However, while setting words to music, he carefully selected the lyrics, drawing from the achievements of the contemporary Polish poets, in his opinion the most outstanding. This noble group includes, among others Adam Mickiewicz, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Teofil Lenartowicz and Józef Korzeniowski. As a result, one of the most popular song cycles was created entitled the Home Songbooks and containing a total of nearly 270 songs collected in 12 books.

The rich repertoire of Moniuszko's songs inspired Thomas Cornelius to tackle this topic. A recognized organist, pianist and composer, among others of film music, is preparing songs that will be presented for the first time during a concert at the NFM. On this intriguing journey he will take us in excellent company, as this evening we will also hear Magdalena Cornelius-Kulig and Łukasz Konieczny performing on Polish and German stages. The audience will be treated to ballads, dumkas, romances, as well as idyllic, lyrical and patriotic compositions. The excellent repertoire performed by the outstanding enthusiasts will make us feel that the era of Romanticism has not gone into oblivion, and its echo will resound long after the concert.