2026-10-01

October will bring a series of world premieres of the latest compositions by artists represented byPWM Edition. New works by Zygmunt Krauze, Alek Nowak, Joanna Woźny, Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska, Agata Zubel, Paweł Malinowski, Andrzej Kwieciński and Aleksander Lasoń will be performed in Poland, as well as in Japan, Germany and Austria.

Zygmunt Krauze composed his latest work, Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, whilst staying in the surroundings of Rome. As the composer explains: [The piece] draws on my earlier unistic ideas. It consists of uniform segments that consistently develop a single idea, presented in three different variations. Two of these segments are dramatic in nature, full of emotion, expressing my thoughts and feelings about today’s turbulent times. The third segment, on the other hand, resembles a habanera or a milonga, offering a respite from the tension and creating the illusion for the listener that all is well and that they are free to simply forget. The premiere of the composition will take place on 3 October at 4.00 pm at Izumi Hall in Osaka. Tomoki Kitamura will be at the piano, accompanied by the Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka under the baton of Keita Matsui.

Bells. Ailinos is Alek Nowak’s latest opera, with a libretto by Paweł Sołtys, exploring contemporary fears and anxieties. The libretto’s structure draws on that of ancient Greek micro-tragedies, combining an archaic form with themes relevant to contemporary audiences. The world premiere will take place on 3 October at 8.45 pm during the AUKSODRONE festival at the Mediateka in Tychy. The performers will include Szymon Kobyliński, Sebastian Szumski, Hubert Zemler, Miłosz Pękala and Tymoteusz Bies, and the PSM Children’s Choir from Katowice will also be performing. The AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy will be conducted by Marek Moś.

To the group of composers represented by PWM Edition has recently joined Joanna Woźny – an artist trained in philosophy, music theory and composition, who has been based in Graz, Austria for many years. Her latest composition, im Gehäuse des Schlafes die weiszen Vögel, will be performed by the Schallfeld Ensemble – an international ensemble specialising in contemporary music, based in Graz. The composer drew inspiration from the work of the Austrian poet Friederike Mayröcker, and in particular the distinctive form of her texts. The world premiere will take place on 16 October at 7.30 pm in Graz, as part of the Text im Klang #7 project.

In October, the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk will host the premiere of the opera Weiser by Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska – one of the leading figures of the younger generation of Polish female composers, a professor at the Academy of Music in Poznań and chair of the Poznań Section of the Polish Composers’ Union. Her work, distinguished by its original exploration of sound, is presented at music festivals in Poland and abroad. The libretto, based on a novel by Paweł Huelle, was written by Anna Czekanowicz.

The opera tells the story of a group of teenagers who, in Gdańsk in 1957, gripped by apocalyptic heat, become fascinated by an extraordinary boy with messianic abilities. When, following a series of mysterious events, the protagonist suddenly vanishes into the darkness of a tunnel beneath a bridge, his physical disappearance transforms into an enduring Presence that shapes his friends’ adult lives forever. – We are moving away from traditional opera towards a sensual spectacle, full of light and magic. We want to show how youthful experiences and close human bonds can transcend time, transforming the loss of a friend into an eternal, uplifting Presence in our hearts and minds. – says Romuald Wicza-Pokojski, the production’s director. The premiere will take place on 16 October at 7.00 pm. Further performances are scheduled for 17, 18, 20, 23, 24 and 25 October 2026. The cast will include, amongst others, Jan Jakub Monowid, Michał Sławecki, Anna Bochnak-Fryc, Joanna Gostkowska, Łukasz Konieczny and Leszek Skrla, as well as the Baltic Opera’s Ballet, Chorus and Orchestra under the direction of Radosław Dron.

Benjamin Coyte is a performer and interpreter of contemporary music, with an interest in the diversity of contemporary sound art and the wealth of expressive possibilities offered by the cello – and beyond. As an interdisciplinary artist, he experiments with performance forms that combine free improvisation, lighting, video, electronics, staging and acting. On various stages, he has sung, eaten spaghetti, shouted, organised a funeral for a cello, taken part in a pogo, imitated frogs, dropped books and played the role of a puppeteer. Commissioned works and collaborations with other artists form a significant part of his practice. Among the female composers with whom he has collaborated is Agata Zubel, the composer of Touch for a cello undergoing preparation. The piece, performed by Coyte, will be heard for the first time on 17 October in Sulz am Neckar, Germany.

Vergänglichkeit der Ferne for double bass and a multi-channel electronic layer is Paweł Malinowski’s latest composition. Its world premiere will take place on 17 October at 7.00 pm in Wrocław. As the composer explains: ‘In working on this composition, I draw on a limited selection of electronic means and tools. I want my entire focus to be directly linked to the sound of the double bass and the accompanying array of loudspeakers. In this composition, as if in defiance, I once again turn my attention to sonorism, reinterpreting its processual nature and interpretative freedom in the performance layer. However, I filter these through qualities that are important to me: dynamics so quiet that they require particular concentration, and harmonies subject to internal disintegration. The piece will be performed by Joanna Zabłocka (double bass) and Paweł Malinowski (electronics). The composition will be performed during Canti Spazializzati – a series of workshops and concerts dedicated to the theories and practices of experimental music, focusing on concepts of spatialising sound compositions intended for multi-channel sound systems.

At the end of the month, Grand Concert-Polonaise Militaire [e Andantino (Obsession. Madness. Implosion.)] – a composition by Andrzej Kwieciński for violin, cello and symphony orchestra – will be performed. Its formal structure will be a kind of palimpsest: overlapping layers will create a complex musical fabric. Starting from the deepest layer – a waltz from one of Auber’s operas – I begin the process of distortion by ‘Polonising’ the 19th-century which becomes a polonaise-waltz-can-can. The successive layers will consist of excerpts, bars or even parts of bars from various operas (e.g. ‘Dell’invito trascorsa è già l’ora’ from Verdi’s *La Traviata*) – explains the composer. The work will be performed on 30 October at 7.00 pm at the Sudeten Philharmonic in Wałbrzych by Marcin Markowicz (violin), Magdalena Bojanowicz (cello) and the Sudeten Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maciej Tomasiewicz.

Aleksander Lasoń’s Metta-Sonata for violin and accordion will also be performed for the first time. The piece will be performed by Wojciech Koprowski (violin) and Maciej Frąckiewicz (accordion) during the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music Concert, organised in collaboration with the Armonia dell’Arte Foundation as part of the 4th ‘Muziko de nia tempo’ Festival. The event will take place on 30 October at 7.00 pm in the Concert Hall of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music’s Białystok location. Admission is free.