Dear Music Lovers,

Upon the artists’ request, the concert Martha Argerich and Theodosia Ntokou, planned for 2 November 2022, will be held on 4 December 2022. Your tickets remain valid. Those of you for whom this change is inconvenient can return the tickets at the NFM Box Office and online or exchange them for tickets to other events in the NFM repertoire no later than 21 days before the date of the chosen concert.

We apologise for this inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

NFM Team

The legendary Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich will perform at the National Forum of Music together with Theodosia Ntokoum, a pianist of the young generation. The artists will perform an extremely impressive concert for two pianos and orchestra by French composer Francis Poulenc. The repertoire will be complemented by expressive and colourful works by Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns and Samuel Barber performed by the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic.

The concert will begin with the moving sounds of Adagio from the String Quartet in B minor, op. 11 by Samuel Barber, an American twentieth-century composer. The piece is characterized by a deep elegiac character, and its nostalgic sounds have a huge emotional charge. The work, once called “the saddest in the history of classical music”, was performed at funerals, incl. Albert Einstein and Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.

The Concerto in D minor for two pianos and orchestra by Francis Poulenc is characterized by a distinct colour palette. The composer himself described his work as a “big step forward”, because in its light texture one can hear various inspirations from trends that had so far remained beyond the scope of classical music. Poulenc drew on the jazz tradition or modalisms characteristic of Balinese gamelan.

This evening, we will also hear the L’apres midi d’un faune – a symphonic poem by Claude Debussy – one of the most important works written at the end of the 19th century. The piece is of significant importance, both in the context of Debussy’s oeuvre and the history of music in general, as it marks the beginning of impressionism in music. The characteristic flute melody that opens the composition remains a well-established theme symbolizing the advent of a new era – musical modernism.

The concert will end with the Carnival of the Animals – a series of works named by their author – Camille Saint-Saëns – a “zoological fantasy”. Saint-Saëns composed the Carnival of the Animals as a musical joke to be performed exclusively among friends. The work was published and presented to the public only after the composer’s death – as he wished. Interestingly, since then Saint-Saëns has been remembered primarily as the author of the Carnival of the Animals.