The Birth of Sonata

I am more than happy to invite you to another edition of the Forum Musicum festival dedicated to early music performed in accordance with historical practices. This year, the main topic of our meetings with the audience is one of the most important instrumental forms of Classicism and Romanticism – the sonata. Its birth was witnessed by an earlier era – the Baroque, a time of many breakthroughs in the history of culture.

The very process of shaping the sonata is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting in the history of music. We must realise that until the end of the 16th century, instrumental music was based entirely on vocal patterns – indeed the development of sonata consisted in the emergence of instrumental forms from vocal music. It will be illustrated by the programme of three concerts. During the first of them, excellent artists associated with the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble – Zbigniew Pilch and Marta Niedźwiecka – will present together early, 17th-century violin sonatas in a cross-sectional programme. Other festival performers – the internationally acclaimed Concerto Scirocco ensemble – will introduce us not only to the titular genre, but also to others belonging to early instrumental works, indicating their affinity with vocal forms. Members of Filatura di Musica will focus on an important element of the development of the sonata, which was the practice of improvised counterpoint. In addition, during Forum Musicum, concerts of historical wind instrument formations, as well as a folk dance party, will return to urban spaces. Fascinating contexts of old performance practices will become closer to us during meetings with artists. 
I cannot wait to share the festival events with you. See you in August!

Tomasz Dobrzański
Artistic Director 
Forum Musicum

The Raven and the Lion

Loud Music

Mini-Concerts in Public Spaces
09.08
Sat.
4:00 PM
Wrocław city space
17th-Century Violin Sonatas
Zbigniew Pilch / Marta Niedźwiecka
09.08
Sat.
8:00 PM
Wrocław, Town Hall, Principal Room
Alta Bellezza “The Phenomenon of Alta Cappella” – a meeting with the audience
Grzegorz Joachimiak
10.08
Sun.
12:00 PM
NFM, Chamber Hall
Concerto Scirocco: Sirens & Soldiers
Songs without Words from the 17th century Instrumental Repertoire
16.08
Sat.
8:00 PM
NFM, Red Hall
Mini-Concerts in Public Spaces
 
17.08
Sun.
4:00 PM
Wrocław city space
Dance party
Kapela Odloty
22.08
Fri.
8:00 PM
Wrocław, Old Refectory at the Dominican Monastery
The Birth of Sonata

Ars contrapuncti diminuti

Filatura di Musica
23.08
Sat.
8:00 PM
Wrocław, Oratorium Marianum
The Art of Ornamental Counterpoint
Meet Marek Nahajowski and Filatura di Musica
24.08
Sun.
12:00 PM
NFM, Chamber Hall
Olga Humeńczuk
Director

Olga Humeńczuk is a manager with many years of experience in running a cultural institution and producing artistic events, as well as a certified cellist. As a coordinator of works related to the design and construction of the National Forum of Music – on the part of both the investor (City of Wrocław) and the organisation (NFM) – she worked with acoustic designers, architects, engineers and other investment partners. At the same time, she participated in the process of merging the Witold Lutosławski Philharmonic in Wrocław and the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans and creating the organizational structure and internal processes of the newly established institution: the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music.

Tomasz Dobrzański / fot. Łukasz Rajchert
Tomasz Dobrzański / fot. Łukasz Rajchert
Tomasz Dobrzański
Artistic director of Forum Musicum

He graduated from the Academy of Music in Wrocław in the clarinet class of Prof Mieczysław Stachura. He studied recorder with Gabriel Garrido at the Early Music Centre at the Conservatoire Populaire in Geneva and with Michel Piguet in the Basel Schola Cantorum, where he also studied historical clarinet under the direction of Pierre-Andre Taillard. Tomasz Dobrzański is a multi-instrumentalist - he also plays medieval plucked instruments, as well as shawms, bagpipes and onehand flutes. In addition, he reconstructs old musical instruments himself and makes copies of them.Since 2000, he has been in charge of the Wrocław ensemble Ars Cantus, which has recorded numerous recordings of unknown music from Wrocław and Silesia. At the same time, he is involved in teaching and championing of early music. At the Wrocław Academy of Music and the Second Degree State Music School, he runs the recorder class.

Wratislavia Cantans
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Musica Polonica Nova
Musica Electronica Nova
Leo Festival
Early Music Academy
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