Misplaced Pages

#599400

20-969: The name Wratislavia Cantans is Latin for "Singing Wrocław", and the festival from the beginning has focused primarily on presenting the beauty of the human voice. Each year, concerts attract thousands of music lovers to the concert halls of the National Forum of Music, the historic interiors of Wrocław and a dozen or so cities of Lower Silesia. In recent years, the festival has hosted, among others Philippe Herreweghe , Sir John Eliot Gardiner , Zubin Mehta , Cecilia Bartoli , Julia Lezhneva , Philippe Jaroussky , Mariusz Kwiecień , Jordi Savall , Marcel Pérès and such ensembles as: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra , Collegium Vocale Gent , Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin , Monteverdi Choir, Gabrieli Consort & Players, Il Giardino Armonico , The Swingle Singers , and English Baroque Soloists. Since 2008, Andrzej Kosendiak has been

40-663: Is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster . Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Renaissance to early Romantic classical music. He specialises in Baroque music, with a particular focus on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach . Herreweghe was born in Ghent as the first of three children to Edward Raymond Frans (1919–2006) and Elza Maria Augusta Herreweghe (née van Herrewege; 1919–1976). He received his first piano lessons from his mother. In his school years at

60-788: Is a Polish conductor and artistic administrator. From 1995 until 2016 she was the chief director and artistic director for the Wroclaw Opera . Michnik was born in Bochnia , a small town in the southern part of Poland in February 15, 1943. She graduated from the State Higher School of Music in 1972, and then studied under Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. From 1972-1978 she was the conductor for the Zielona Góra Philharmonic. From 1981 until 1995 she

80-609: Is principally known as a conductor of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach . He is regarded by leading Bach scholars today as a founding father of the Baroque authentic practice, original-instrument movement and one of record label Harmonia Mundi 's most prolific recording artists, with over 60 albums to his name. He is married to Ageet Zweistra. Over the years, Herreweghe has built up an extensive discography of more than 100 recordings with these ensembles, on such labels as Harmonia Mundi , Virgin Classics and Pentatone . Highlights include

100-738: The Lagrime di San Pietro of Lassus, Bach's St Matthew Passion , the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Schumann, Mahler's song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn , Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ & Les nuits d'été , Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 , Fauré's Requiem (1988 & 1901), Pierrot lunaire by Schönberg, Weill's Violin Concerto, Berliner Requiem; Cantate vom Tod im Wald and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms . In 2010 he founded together with Outhere Music his own label, φ (PHI). Since then these recordings have been published: Ewa Michnik Ewa Barbara Michnik-Szynalska (born 15 February 1943)

120-635: The Renaissance to contemporary music . They include the Ensemble Vocal Européen , specialised in Renaissance polyphony, and the Orchestre des Champs Élysées , founded in 1991 with the aim of playing Classical and Romantic repertoire on original instruments. Since 2009, Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent have been actively working on the development of a large European-level symphonic choir, at

140-1012: The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra , the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra , the Rotterdam Philharmonic , the Dutch Broadcasting Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra , the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra . He was artistic director of the Festival of Saintes and was permanent guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic from 2008 to 2013. Herreweghe

160-588: The University of Ghent , Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory , where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin 's accompanist, was his piano teacher. In 1970, Herreweghe founded the Collegium Vocale Gent with a group of fellow students. Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt took notice of his musical approach and invited him and

180-466: The Baroque orchestra Il Giardino Armonico . Under his leadership, the following editions of the festival have been held so far: “Journey to Italy” (2013), “From Darkness to Light” (2014), “Long Live Wratislavia!” (2015; 50th anniversary edition), “Recitar Cantando” (2017) and “Liberation” (2018). In 2019, the festival took place under the motto “South”. Philippe Herreweghe Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947)

200-847: The Collegium Vocale Gent to join them in their recordings of the complete Bach cantatas . Herreweghe's approach to Baroque music was soon drawing praise and in 1977 he founded another ensemble in Paris, La Chapelle Royale , to perform the music of the French Golden Age , Campra , Lully , Charpentier , Delalande , Dumont , Gille . From 1982 to 2002 he was artistic director of the Académies Musicales de Saintes . During this period, Herreweghe started several other groups and ensembles with whom he made historically appropriate and well-thought-out interpretations of repertoire stretching from

220-861: The Culture and Art Centre in Wrocław. From 1995–1998 the festival had a subtitle “Music and Fine Arts”. In 1996, the festival was organized by the “Wratislavia Cantans” State Institution of Culture, the International Music and Fine Arts Festival, and the management was divided between two persons: the general director and the artistic director. Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg became the general director, and artistic directors during her tenure were: from 1997 Ewa Michnik , from 2002 Mariusz Smolij, and from 2004 Jan Latham Koenig. Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg initiated cooperation with many Lower Silesian towns to organize festival concerts outside Wrocław. In 2005, Andrzej Kosendiak became

SECTION 10

#1732870100600

240-1162: The Holy Cross and Saint Bartholomew, and the White Stork Synagogue, as well as the Town Hall and university rooms (Aula Leopoldina, Oratorium Marianum). In the past, concert venues also included the Radio Wrocław Concert Hall and the hall of the former Wrocław Philharmonic. Apart from Wrocław, Wratislavia Cantans concerts take place in the towns of Lower Silesia and Wielkopolska province, so far these have been: Bardo, Bielawa, Bolesławiec, Brzeg, Dzierżoniów, Głogów, Jelcz-Laskowice, Jelenia Góra, Kalisz, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki, Kłodzko, Krotoszyn, Krzeszów, Legnica, Lubiąż, Lubomierz, Milicz, Oleśnica, Oława, Polkowice, Prochowice, Strzegom, Szczawno-Zdrój, Syców, Środa Śląska, Świdnica, Trzebnica, Wałbrzych, Zgorzelec, and Żmigród. The authors of festival posters have been well-known Polish artists, such as Rafał Olbiński , Eugeniusz Get-Stankiewicz , Lech Majewski , and Michał Batory . In 1978,

260-665: The Wratislavia Cantans festival became a member of the European Festivals Association (EFA), which officially gave the event an international rank (although it has hosted foreign artists almost from the beginning). In 1998, the festival joined the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA). The festival also belongs to Music Masters on Air (MusMA) network. From 2015–2019 Wratislavia Cantans

280-617: The festival's general director, and since 2013, the Italian conductor and instrumentalist Giovanni Antonini has been the artistic director. From the beginning, the festival's events take place in the historic interiors of Wrocław, such as the churches: Basilica of St Elizabeth, Cathedral of St Mary Magdalene, Cathedral of St John the Baptist, University Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Evangelical Augsburg Church of Divine Providence, Collegiate Church of

300-627: The festival’s general director and Paul McCreesh the artistic director. In 2014, the institutions of the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans and the Witold Lutosławski Philharmonic in Wrocław were merged into one cultural institution, Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music, who has since been the festival’s host. Since 2013, the artistic director of Wratislavia has been Giovanni Antonini , an Italian virtuoso and conductor, founder and director of

320-532: The invitation of the prestigious Accademia Chigiana in Siena and since 2011 with the support of the European Union's Cultural Programme. For some time Herreweghe has been active performing the great symphonic works, from Beethoven to Gustav Mahler. He has been principal conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra since 1997. As a guest conductor, Herreweghe has conducted a number of well-known orchestras, including

340-515: The parts of Richard Wagner’s Tetralogy, Ring of the Nibelung , Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Twilight of the Gods, she is the second woman in the world to have conducted the whole tetralogy. As of 2022, Michnik was the only female conductor who was older than 55 to hold a permanent position as an orchestral conductor. Michnik was award the title of honorary professor in musical art in 2000. In 2001, Michnik

360-575: Was awarded the Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe Label (EFFE Label). Wratislavia Cantans was established by Andrzej Markowski , a composer and conductor, in 1966 as an oratorio and cantata festival. Markowski was director of the Wrocław Philharmonic from 1965, and the Philharmonic was the host of this event. He served as festival director for eleven years. From 1978 to 1996, Tadeusz Strugała

380-641: Was the general and artistic director of the Krakow Opera . From 1995 until 2016 Michnik was the director of the Wrorclaw Opera in Poland. In a 2016 interview she did she noted “Entering the world of opera theater was a very important moment in my life, because opera became my passion and consumed me whole." In 1997, Ewa started working on opera super-performances with the team of the Wroclaw Opera. She conducted all

400-514: Was the head of the festival, and added new elements to its programme: ethnic music and music of various religions, art exhibitions accompanying concerts, musical screenings, countertenor tournaments at the Silesian Piasts Castle in Brzeg, festival academies run by scholars, as well as academic sessions and a course on interpreting oratorio music. From 1991, the main organizer of the festival was

#599400