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THE POLISH ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
IN KRAKOW and The Schulich School of Music at McGill University along with
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada invite you to attend
the International Conference Lutoslawski - Music and Legacy as part
of the celebration of Lutoslawski's centenary.
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Witold Lutosławski was
indisputably one of the major composers of the twentieth century. Born
in Warsaw in 1913, he showed prodigious musical and intellectual talent
from an early age. His composition studies in Warsaw ended at a politically
difficult time for Poland so his plans for further study in Paris were
replaced by a period which included military training, imprisonment by
the Germans and escape back to Warsaw, where he and his compatriot Andrzej
Panufnik played in cafes their own compositions and transcriptions. After
the war, the Stalinist regime banned his first symphony (1941-47) as 'formalist',
but he continued to compose and in 1958 his Musique Funebre, in memory
of Bartok, established his international reputation. |
His own personal aleatoric technique
whereby the performers have freedom within certain controlled parameters
was first demonstrated in his Jeux Venitiens (1961) and is to be found
in almost all the later music Over the years, Witold Lutosławski was frequently
inspired by particular ensembles and artists including the London Sinfonietta,
Sir Peter Pears, Heinz and Ursula Holliger, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Mstislav
Rostropovich
and Anne-Sophie Mutter. His Symphony No. 4 was commissioned by the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and received its world premiere in February
1993 under the baton of the composer. A powerful work, it reflected his
increasing concern with expansive melody. Among many international prizes
awarded to this most modest man were the UNESCO Prize (1959,1968), the
French order of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (1982), Grawemeyer Award
(1985), Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal (1986), in the last year
of his life, the Swedish Polar Music Prize and the Inamori Foundation Prize,
Kyoto, for his outstanding contribution to contemporary European music,
and, posthumously, the International Music Award for best large-scale composition
for the fourth symphony. Lutosławski's contribution to the musical world
was enormous and his loss in February 1994, at the age of 81, will continue
to be deeply felt. (Chester
Music)
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ORGANIZER:
WITH THE COOPERATION
OF:
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| Financial
support: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programme "Lutoslawski
2013 Promesa" realised by The Institute of Music and Dance. |
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Andrzej Leszczewicz |
