The International Cello Academy (ICA) is one of the few events in Europe aimed at cellists from all over the world. It plays primarily an educational role, taking the form of a festival at the same time. As part of the ICA, concerts with a very wide repertoire are organized. Their programmes include Baroque pieces, as well as jazz and contemporary music. ICA was created to bring the world of cello ensembles closer to the audience and to support talents wishing to master their playing on this instrument.

The founder and organizer of the International Cello Academy is the Polish Cello Quartet. It was established in 2011 on the initiative of prominent Polish cellists: Tomasz Daroch, Wojciech Fudala, Krzysztof Karpeta, and Adam Krzeszowiec. Their repertoire includes mainly works originally composed for a cello quartet. This repertoire is constantly expanded with works written today by Polish and foreign composers, incl. by Agata Zubel, Artur Zagajewski, Piotr Moss, and Annelies Van Parys.

The July concert will begin with the performances of Fryderyk Chopin’s compositions prepared especially for the Polish Cello Quartet. The programme features six very different compositions: Waltz in C sharp minor op. 64 no. 2, Nocturne in C sharp minor op. posth., Prelude in G sharp minor op. 28 no. 12, Prelude in D flat major op. 28 no. 15, Mazurka in F major op. 68 no. 3 and Waltz in D flat major op. 64 no. 1. Then we will hear the Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus (The Praise to Eternity of Jesus), the fifth movement in the work entitled Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) by Olivier Messiaen. The story behind this piece is dramatic. The composer wrote the quartet when he was a prisoner in the German POW camp Stalag VIII-A in Zgorzelec (Görlitz) with fellow musicians in mind, and its premiere took place in the open air in mid-January 1941. Over four hundred prisoners and guards listened to him then, and the composer recalled that none of his works had ever been met with such attention. The fragment that will be presented during the concert is the slow, longing cantilena of the cello, played against the background of uniform piano chords (which will be replaced by the cello ensemble). The concert will end with the premiere of Sentieri interrotti (Trails Interrupted) – a piece by the Italian composer Francesco Bottigliero. It is a work intended for four solo cellos and a cello orchestra.