Wawel at Dusk
Summer Music Festival
The summer music festival, held in the open air in the royal courtyards
Welcome to the 12th Edition of the Summer Music Festival Wawel at Dusk!
Experience the glorious music of Chopin, Ravel, Beethoven, Moniuszko, Verdi, Szymanowski, Mozart, and other great composers in the enchanted setting of Wawel Royal Castle’s Arcaded and Bathory Courtyards in the summer outdoor music festival Wawel at Dusk.
The nine concerts – three concerts in the Arcaded Courtyard and six chamber music the intimately-scaled Bathory Courtyard – will take place in the months of July and August with a concert every single weekend. As a prelude to the festival, three talented young pianists will perform in the Wawel Royal Castle’s Arcaded Courtyard in a free concert open to all visitors.
This year’s rich and varied program centers on the music of Frédéric Chopin within the context of other Polish and international composers. The festival welcomes seasoned performers such as pianists Kevin Kenner and Mariola Cieniawa, cellist Bartosz Koziak, and soprano Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha and talented young musicians such as pianists Krzysztof Książek and Marcin Koziak, violinist Aleksandra Kuls, and guitarist Dmytro Holovenko, and of course, the Festival’s child – the CORda Cracovia Orchestra with conductor Łukasz Borowicz.
On July 6, Krzysztof Książek, who took third place in the 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in, 2018 will open the inaugural concert in the Castle’s grand Arcaded Courtyard with Chopin’s Fantasy on Polish Airs in A Major. The inaugural concert will also feature Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor– a work so well-known that it has fallen victim to its own fame and is rarely performed live.
World-famous pianist Kevin Kenner, winner of, among others, the 12th International Chopin Piano Competition (1990), will play Chopin and Paderewski in a special solo recital in the Arcaded Courtyard on August 3.
The finale concert on August 31 is a tribute to Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko on the 200th anniversary of his birth. The concert will feature arias from Moniuszko’s best-loved operas – Halka, The Haunted Manor, and Rokiczana – performed by the outstanding singers Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha, Wanda Franek, Tomasz Kuk, and Przemysław Firek.
For a completely different musical experience the festival hosts six chamber music concerts in the intimately-scaled Bathory Courtyard nestled between the Castle and the Cathedral. The diverse repertoire includes a classical guitar recital, vocal concerts, trios and quartets.
Wawel at Dusk is organized by Wawel Royal Castle and Grupa Twórcza Castello
Artistic Director: Małgorzata Janicka-Słysz
Organizational Management: Hubert Piątkowski
6 July – 31 August 2019
Concert venue opens 30 minutes before concert begins
Experience the glorious music of Chopin, Ravel, Beethoven, Moniuszko, Verdi, Szymanowski, Mozart, and other great composers in the enchanted setting of Wawel Royal Castle’s Arcaded and Bathory Courtyards in the summer outdoor music festival Wawel at Dusk.
The nine concerts – three concerts in the Arcaded Courtyard and six chamber music the intimately-scaled Bathory Courtyard – will take place in the months of July and August with a concert every single weekend. As a prelude to the festival, three talented young pianists will perform in the Wawel Royal Castle’s Arcaded Courtyard in a free concert open to all visitors.
This year’s rich and varied program centers on the music of Frédéric Chopin within the context of other Polish and international composers. The festival welcomes seasoned performers such as pianists Kevin Kenner and Mariola Cieniawa, cellist Bartosz Koziak, and soprano Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha and talented young musicians such as pianists Krzysztof Książek and Marcin Koziak, violinist Aleksandra Kuls, and guitarist Dmytro Holovenko, and of course, the Festival’s child – the CORda Cracovia Orchestra with conductor Łukasz Borowicz.
On July 6, Krzysztof Książek, who took third place in the 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in, 2018 will open the inaugural concert in the Castle’s grand Arcaded Courtyard with Chopin’s Fantasy on Polish Airs in A Major. The inaugural concert will also feature Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor– a work so well-known that it has fallen victim to its own fame and is rarely performed live.
World-famous pianist Kevin Kenner, winner of, among others, the 12th International Chopin Piano Competition (1990), will play Chopin and Paderewski in a special solo recital in the Arcaded Courtyard on August 3.
The finale concert on August 31 is a tribute to Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko on the 200th anniversary of his birth. The concert will feature arias from Moniuszko’s best-loved operas – Halka, The Haunted Manor, and Rokiczana – performed by the outstanding singers Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha, Wanda Franek, Tomasz Kuk, and Przemysław Firek.
For a completely different musical experience the festival hosts six chamber music concerts in the intimately-scaled Bathory Courtyard nestled between the Castle and the Cathedral. The diverse repertoire includes a classical guitar recital, vocal concerts, trios and quartets.
Wawel at Dusk is organized by Wawel Royal Castle and Grupa Twórcza Castello
Artistic Director: Małgorzata Janicka-Słysz
Organizational Management: Hubert Piątkowski
6 July – 31 August 2019
Concert venue opens 30 minutes before concert begins
Program
6 July 2019, godz. 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Young Pianists – Arcaded Courtyard
Free admission10:00 Maria Słysz
11:00 Aleksandra Dąbek
12:00 Paweł Wojciechowski
Program: Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Stanisław Moniuszko, Karol Szymanowski and others
6 July 2019, 8:00 p.m.
Inaugural Concert – Arcaded Courtyard
Krzysztof Książek – pianoCORda Cracovia – orchestra
Łukasz Borowicz – conductor
program:
Frédéric Chopin, Fantasy on Polish Airs in A major, Op. 13, for piano and orchestra
Maurice Ravel, Piano Concerto in G major
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
Chamber Music Concerts
- 3 July 2019, Bathory Courtyard, 7:30 p.m.
program: Mauro Giuliani, Stanisław Moniuszko, Joaquín Rodrigo, Roland Dyens
- 20 July 2019, Bathory Courtyard, 7:30 p.m.
program: Frédéric Chopin, Stanisław Moniuszko, Giuseppe Verdi
- 27 July 2019, Bathory Courtyard, 7:30 p.m.
program: Wolfgang Amadeusz Mozart, Artur Malawski, Adam Walaciński
3 August 2019, 7:30 p.m.
Special Piano Recital – Kevin Kenner
Arcaded Courtyard
program: Frédéric Chopin, Ignacy Jan Paderewski Chamber Music Concerts
- 10 August 2019, Bathory Courtyard, 7:30 p.m.
program: Frédéric Chopin, Charles-Marie Widor, Witold Lutosławski, Marcel Chyrzyński
- 17 August 2019, Bathory Courtyard, 7:30 p.m.
Cordes Classiques String Quartet: Piotr Marciak – violin, Marcin Kmiecik – violin, Ryszard Sneka – viola, Tomasz Wyroba – cello
program:
Stanisław Moniuszko, String Quartet No. 1 in D minor
Frédéric Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 (arranged for string quartet)
- 24 August 2019, Bathory Courtyard, 7:30 p.m.
program: Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Karol Szymanowski
31 August 2019, 7:00 p.m.
Finale Concert – Arcaded Courtyard
Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha – soprano, Wanda Franek – mezzosoprano, Tomasz Kuk – tenor, Przemysław Firek – bass CORda Cracovia Orchestra
Sebastian Perłowski – conductor
A tribune to Stanisław Moniuszko on the 200th anniversary of his birth
Program: Stanisław Moniuszko
Fairy Tale – Fantastical Ouverture
Ouverture from the opera Halka
Arias and ensembles from the operas Halka, Rokiczana, and The Haunted Manor
Highland Dances from the opera Halka
Mazurka from the opera Halka
