12th Summer Music Festival Wawel at Dusk

Saturday, July 6, 2019, 10:00 AM

  • Saturday, July 6, 2019, 10:00 AM
  • Saturday, July 6, 2019, 8:00 PM
  • Saturday, July 13, 2019, 7:30 PM
  • Saturday, July 20, 2019, 7:30 PM
  • Saturday, July 27, 2019, 7:30 PM
  • Saturday, August 3, 2019, 7:30 PM
  • Saturday, August 10, 2019, 7:30 PM
  • Saturday, August 17, 2019, 7:30 PM
  • Saturday, August 24, 2019, 7:30 PM
  • Saturday, August 31, 2019, 7:00 PM
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How better to contemplate classical music than listening to it performed live in the atmospheric setting of Kraków’s Wawel Castle on a summer’s evening? The 12th Summer Music Festival Wawel at Dusk kicks off in the morning of 6 July, with recitals by young pianists starting at 10am; at 8pm we return to the Arcaded Courtyard to admire the performance by Krzysztof Książek. One of the most acclaimed young pianists working today performs compositions including Chopin’s Fantasy on Polish airs in A-major, accompanied by the CORda Cracovia Orchestra under the baton of Łukasz Borowicz.
In July, the smaller Batory Courtyard resounds with masterpieces of guitar repertoire (13 July), songs by Chopin, Moniuszko and Verdi (20 July) and compositions for piano, violin and cello (27 July), while in August festival will feature five more concerts. On 3 August, we will hear a recital by Kevin Kenner. The American pianist, famous for his interpretations of Chopin’s works, pays homage to Polish composers: at the Arcaded Courtyard he also performs music by Paderewski and Szymanowski.
The next three concerts take us to the smaller Batory Courtyard. Performers include the clarinet and piano duo of Oleh Malovichko and Radosław Goździkowski (10 August), pianist Mariola Cieniawa supported by the Cordes Classiques string quartet (17 August), and Aleksandra Kuls on violin, Bartosz Koziak on cello and Marcin Koziak on piano performing works by Ravel and Debussy (24 August).
The festival closes with a performance by acclaimed soloists and the CORda Cracovia orchestra under the baton of Sebastian Perłowski recalling music by Stanisław Moniuszko as part of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth: on 31 August, the Arcaded Courtyard resounds with The Fairytale Overture and excerpts from Halka(Sebastian Rerak)


6 July 2019

Arcaded Courtyard

10am-1pm
Young pianists at Arcaded Courtyard

10am - Maria Słysz 
11am - Aleksandra Dąbek
Noon - Paweł Wojciechowski
program consisting of works by:
Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Karol Szymanowski…

8pm
Opening concert on Arcaded Courtyard
Krzysztof Książek – piano
CORda Cracovia Orchestra
Łukasz Borowicz – conductor
program consisting of works by:
Frédéric Chopin - Fantasy on Polish Airs in A major on piano and orchestra
Maurice Ravel - Piano concerto in G major
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No 5 in C minor 

13 July 2019
Batory Courtyard

7:30pm

Dmytro Holovenko – guitar
program consisting of works by:
Mauro Giuliani, Stanisław Moniuszko, Joaquín Rodrigo, Roland Dyens

20 July 2019
Batory Courtyard

7:30pm

Iwona Socha – soprano
Adam Sobierajski – tenor
Renata Żełobowska-Orzechowska – piano
program consisting of works by:
Frédéric Chopin, Stanisław Moniuszko, Giuseppe Verdi

27 July 2019
Batory Courtyard

7:30pm
Malawski Trio:
Maciej Lulek – violin
Barbara Łypik-Sobaniec – cello
Sławomir Cierpik – piano
program consisting of works by:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Artur Malawski, Adam Walaciński

3 August 2019
Arcaded Courtyard

7:30pm
Kevin Kenner - piano
program consisting of works by:
Frédéric Chopin, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Karol Szymanowski

10 August 2019
Batory Courtyard

7:30pm
Oleh Malovichko – clarinet
Radosław Goździkowski – piano
program consisting of works by:
Frédéric Chopin, Charles-Marie Widor, Witold Lutosławski, Marcel Chyrzyński

17 August 2019
Batory Courtyard

7:30pm
Mariola Cieniawa – piano
Cordes Classiques string quartet: 
Piotr Marciak – violin
Marcin Kmiecik – violin
Ryszard Sneka – viola
Tomasz Wyroba – cello
program consisting of works by::
Stanisław Moniuszko - String Quartet No. 1 in D minor
Frédéric Chopin - The Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor (with string quartet) 

24 August 2019
Dziedziniec Batorego

7:30pm
Aleksandra Kuls – violin
Bartosz Koziak – cello
Marcin Koziak – piano
program consisting of works by:
Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Karol Szymanowski

31 August 2019
Arcaded Courtyard

7pm
Final concert
Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha – soprano
Wanda Franek – mezzo-soprano
Tomasz Kuk – tenor
Przemysław Firek – bass
CORda Cracovia Orchestra
Sebastian Perłowski – conductor
program consisting of works by::
Stanisław Moniuszko (on 200th anniversary of composer's birthday):
Fairytale– fantasy overture
Halka overture
Selection of arias and opera's ensembles: Halka, The King of Peasants, The Haunted Manor
Mountainers' Dances 
from Halka
Mazur from Halkakoncertu mlodych piani

Tickets for each of concerts: PLN 60/40 (except for young pianists concert - admission free)
Tickets available at Tourist Infomation Point, Jana Street and Tourist Information Point of Wawel Castle, Promotion and Information Centre, building np. 9

Wawel Royal Castle

Wawel 5

The spectacular renaissance palace that we admire today atop Wawel Hill is the result of the refurbishment of the Gothic Royal Castle in the first half of the 16th century according to the wishes of Sigismund I the Old (Zygmunt Stary). It was the abode of Polish kings and their closest family, while the stately halls provided a backdrop for courtly and political life.

The impressive space of the arcaded courtyard is where you enter the individual exhibitions: the State Rooms, Royal Private Apartments, Crown Treasury and Armoury, and Oriental Art. Those interested in the history of the castle and the hill in the early medieval times are welcome to visit the Lost Wawel exhibition.

Visiting the castle interiors provides a great opportunity to imagine details of the lives of bygone kings. The first-floor chambers (Royal Private Apartments) are designed to portray their former character and furnishing. Here you will find royal quarters, chambers of the royal courtiers, quarters for the guests, and the premises where monarchs yielded to their passions. The special interests of the kings of Poland in the 16th century were connected with arcane knowledge and alchemy. Sigismund (Zygmunt) III Vasa had a laboratory set up in one of the towers, where he conducted experiments with the participation of an eminent alchemist, Michał Sędziwój. Earlier, the semi-legendary master Twardowski allegedly operated in the castle. They say that King Sigismund II Augustus (Zygmunt August) had him summon the spirit of his beloved though prematurely deceased wife, Barbara Radziwiłłówna. The collection of tapestries from the unique collection of Sigismund II Augustus, made in Brussels in the mid-16th century, are the most valuable of all the works of art displayed here. It is the largest collection of tapestries in the world to be made to the commission of just one ruler. Displayed in the Private Apartments are primarily the examples with landscapes and animals, that is the verdures.

Visiting the second floor (the State Rooms), you enter the space of official events of state significance that took place during the Golden Age of Polish culture. Worth special attention are the assembly halls of the two houses of the Sejm: the Polish Parliament. The first took counsel in the Senators’ Hall. The largest in the castle, this chamber doubled as the place where other important state and court events and ceremonies were held: balls, plays, musical performances, and even royal weddings. On the walls of the Senators’ Hall, covered in cordovan (Cuir de Cordoue), that is dyed and lavishly decorated leather, we can admire successive majestic tapestries from the collection of Sigismund II Augustus, this time with biblical themes. The lower house of the Sejm held sessions in the Audience Hall, also known as Under the Heads, from its most characteristic element, that is sculpted renaissance heads set in the coffers of the ceiling. It was also here that the King would receive envoys and issue judgements. There is a legend connected to one of the decorative heads presenting a woman with a ribbon covering her mouth. When Sigismund Augustus was about to issue a verdict in a difficult case, the head spoke out from the ceiling: Rex Auguste iudica iuste (“King Augustus, judge justly”). Her words were followed, yet from that time on the mouth of the woman has been gagged with a band, so that she would never again intervene with royal decisions.

When the Sejm was in session, the royal tribunal moved to another stately chamber, known as the Chamber under the Eagle. Today we can admire on its walls not only the cordovan but also royal portraits and historical scenes from the 17th century. Maintained in a similar baroque style is the Chamber under the Birds with a marble fireplace designed by Giovanni Trevano and portals with the coats of arms of the Vasa dynasty. This was the favourite chamber of Sigismund III. Adjacent to it is a little chapel richly decorated with stuccowork, where the king used to hear mass. A bonus for aficionados of all things military and knightly are the Military Review Chamber with a frieze portraying a military parade before the king and the Tournament Hall, with a knightly tournament depicted on the frieze. The paintings, works of Antoni of Wrocław and Hans Dürer (brother of the famous Albrecht) originated in the first half of the 16th century.

Trophies can also be admired at the exhibition of Oriental Art, which is a collection of objects obtained through military and commercial contacts with the countries of the Middle East, and of Chinese ceramics. Works of artists, craftsmen and artisans from Turkey, Crimea, Caucasus, and Iran made their way to Poland over the centuries, and in the 17th century the local custom among the nobility and court ceremonial acquired slightly oriental – Sarmatian – features.

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