Fellows News
Marcin Stanczyk (BF '18) at the Musica Polonica Festival in Wroclaw
The 31st edition of the "Musica Polonica Nova" festival in Wroclaw will take place from April 20-28. Next to "Warsaw Autumn", it is among the oldest Polish festivals dedicated to new music. The festival's new artistic director, Pawel Hendrich, intends to highlight one particular composer at each subsequent edition of the festival, and the first artist to be invited as a Resident Composer under his direction is Marcin Stanczyk (BF '18). Stanczyk's latest works will be presented during the festival, including the world premier of "Sursounds," commissioned by the National Forum of Music and written during the composer's residential Fellowship at the Bogliasco Foundation. As in his piece "Blind Walk," which premiered during the Venice Biennale, Stanczyk encourages his audience to experience the new piece while wearing blindfolds. "Sursounds" will premier on April 26th at the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw.
The National Polish Radio Symphony, led by conductor Marzena Diakum, will be performing "Woven Music," a piece that Stanczyk based on the sounds of weaving machines that he recorded at the Museum of Textiles in Lódz.
Stanczyk will also encourage the Wroclaw audience to take part in the creation of a new collaborative work. Red boxes akin to mailboxes will be placed in various locations throughout the city with "scores" stacked next to them. Audience members are invited to imagine Stanczyk's piece, write their imporession on the back of the "score," and then "send" them to Stanczyk in the red box, who will then use these impressions to create a new work.
Lastly, Stanczyk will give a lecture on his works, after which he will lead a masterclass for composition students at the Wroclaw Academy of Music.
(Trans. Anna Wójcikowska, ed. Eliza Harrison)