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Karolina Węgrzyn and band – Sunday 27 September

Karolina Węgrzyn and band

Folk music in the Polish Centre

 

Karolina Węgrzyn is an award-winning Polish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist from South-Eastern Poland, now based in the UK. Raised in a family of traditional singers and dancers, she inherited many songs from her grandmother and uses singing techniques rooted in Eastern European village traditions. She performs across the UK with her band, blending powerful upbeat Balkan folk with emotional North-Carpathian rawness to create a sense of shared cultural heritage.

Part of the Leamington Music “Focus on Poland” Festival Weekend, 25-27 September

 

The finer details…

Estimated finish: 4pm

Tickets

Unreserved : £19 full price | £9.50 under-35s | £3 child/student

 

Royal String Quartet | Lucas Krupinski piano – Sunday 27 September

Royal String Quartet | Lucas Krupinski piano

Górecki    String Quartet No. 3 Op. 67 ‘…songs are sung’
Schumann    Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44

 

Two masterpieces in one concert for our Festival finale….
Members of the first audience for Górecki’s five-movement magnum opus declared it to have “transcendental qualities”, and in what better way could we close this fabulous weekend? With the coming together of the Festival’s resident pianist and string quartet, to give us arguably the greatest Piano Quintet of them all, of course!

Part of the Leamington Music “Focus on Poland” Festival Weekend, 25-27 September

 

The finer details…

Estimated finish: 9.30pm

Tickets

Centre Section: £29 full price | £3 child/student
Side Sections: £19 full price | £9.50 under-35s | £3 child/student

Krystyna Osostowicz violin | Lucas Krupinski piano – Sunday 27 September

Krystyna Osostowicz violin | Lucas Krupinski piano

Ravel    Habanera
Penderecki    Violin Sonata No. 1
Szymanowski    Mythes, Op. 30: Narcisse
Franck    Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 23

 

The British-Polish violinist Krystyna Osostowicz is best known to Leamington Music audiences as leader of the Brodsky Quartet. She has made over 30 CD recordings of solo, duo and ensemble repertoire, and collaborates with Lucas Krupinski for the first time especially for our Festival Weekend, with this wonderful programme of French and Polish music that promises to bring out the Festival fireworks!

Part of the Leamington Music “Focus on Poland” Festival Weekend, 25-27 September

 

The finer details…

Estimated finish: 1pm

Tickets

Centre Section: £19 full price | £3 child/student
Side Sections: £14 full price | £9.50 under-35s | £3 child/student

 

Royal String Quartet – Saturday 26 September

Royal String Quartet

Twardowski    Tryptyk mariacki (Triptych of the Virgin Mary)
Lutosławski    Bukoliki (viola and cello)
Paweł Mykietyn    String Quartet No. 2
Szymanowski    6 Kurpian Songs
Britten    String Quartet No. 2

 

These audience favourites come back to us from Warsaw for their 8th and 9th concerts in Leamington Music’s 20 years, this time with an intriguing mix of Polish and British composers to highlight the Festival Weekend’s aim of sharing the two cultures. Their interpretations are always “confident and energetic, characterized by a vast array of dynamics and timbres, with carefully planned, surprising twists.” – Gramophone

Part of the Leamington Music “Focus on Poland” Festival Weekend, 25-27 September

 

The finer details…

Interval: 20 mins

Estimated finish: 9.30pm

Tickets

Centre Section: £29 full price | £3 child/student
Side Sections: £19 full price | £9.50 under-35s | £3 child/student

 

Professor John Rink – Saturday 26 September

Professor John Rink

Illustrated talk: “The Genius of Chopin”

Supported by The Chopin Society

 

Prof. John Rink is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Music, and Fellow in Music at St John’s College; he also holds the Concert Recital Diploma and Premier Prix in piano from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. One of the world’s leading authorities on the music of Fryderyk Chopin, Prof. Rink is Editor-in-Chief of The Complete Chopin – A New Critical Edition (Edition Peters). He has published numerous books on the great composer and shares his insights with us in this illuminating talk.

Generously supported by The Chopin Society

Part of the Leamington Music “Focus on Poland” Festival Weekend, 25-27 September

 

The finer details…

Estimated finish: 4pm

Tickets

Unreserved Seating: £9 full price | £4.50 under-35s | £3 child/student

 

Lucas Krupinski piano – Saturday 26 September

Lucas Krupinski piano

J.S. Bach    Partita No. 1 in B-flat major, BWV 825
Brahms    Three Intermezzi, Op. 117
Chopin    Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49

 

Lucas Krupinski is a British-Polish pianist and Steinway Artist, celebrated for his refined lyricism, poetic tone, and depth of expression. He won the Grand Prix at the 7th San Marino International Piano Competition, along with all three top prizes: Audience, Critics’, and Orchestra Awards. He also reached final rounds of the Busoni, Leeds, and Chopin piano competitions, and won first prizes at international contests in Hannover (Chopin Gesellschaft), Aachen (ClaviCologne), and Yamaha Europe.

Part of the Leamington Music “Focus on Poland” Festival Weekend, 25-27 September

 

The finer details…

Estimated finish: 1pm

Tickets

Centre Section: £19 full price | £3 child/student
Side Sections (unreserved): £14 full price | £9.50 under-35s | £3 child/student

 

 

Ćwiżewicz Brothers violin duo – Friday 25 September

Ćwiżewicz Brothers violin duo

Grażyna Bacewicz    Suite for Two Violins (1943), 1. Allegro
Górecki    Sonata for Two Violins, Op.10, (1961)
Mozart    Duo for Violin and Viola No. 2, K424
Daria Kwiatkowska    New commission (world premiére)
Michał Ćwiżewicz    Tatra Melodies (2013)
Grażyna Bacewicz    Quartet for four violins (1949)

 

The British-Polish duo of brothers Filip and Michał Ćwiżewicz are champions of lesser-known works, programming new commissions as well as performing the capricious fireworks of the virtuosic two-violin repertoire and their own arrangements of classical and folk music.

Part of the Leamington Music “Focus on Poland” Festival Weekend, 25-27 September

 

The finer details…

Estimated finish: 9pm

Tickets

Centre Section: £29 full price | £3 child/student
Side Sections (unreserved): £19 full price | £9.50 under-35s | £3 child/student