Two works featured in the programme of this concert differ in almost everything: stylistics, time of creation, and assumptions underlying the composition. Paweł Mykietyn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 is his new work, while Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky are widely known and popular piano miniatures, which this evening will be performed in a rarely presented orchestral version, and in the last movement we will hear the new pipe organ for the first time at the National Forum of Music.

Paweł Mykietyn’s Concerto No. 2 for cello and symphony orchestra was premiered last March in Warsaw. The solo part was played by Marcin Zdunik, recognizable for his broad repertoire and eagerness to reach for contemporary works, and the whole was conducted by Bassem Akiki. The same artists will perform during this concert. The work was brilliantly received, it was praised especially for the communicativeness and emotionality of the musical language.

The Pictures at an Exhibition is one of the most famous works of Modest Mussorgsky. It was written as a tribute to the composer’s friend, the painter Victor Hartmann. Mussorgsky turned his friend’s paintings into music, as it were. Mussorgsky’s suite was originally intended for the piano, but soon it received numerous arrangements for orchestra. The most famous is undoubtedly the orchestration by Maurice Ravel. During this concert, the work will sound in much less frequently performed Walter Goehr’s orchestration from 1942.