David Kettle travels to Wrocław to find out more about how Poland’s third largest city has transformed itself into a cultural powerhouse
Vienna, Berlin, Paris, London and… Wrocław? It might seem a bit far-fetched to line up Poland’s third largest city alongside such historic European centres of music and culture. But reaching those giddy heights may only be a matter of time. Over the past decade or two, Wrocław has been investing heavily in music and setting its cultural sights high, not only promoting and expanding its musical activities, but also encouraging musical discoveries, fostering new collaborations, and transforming the city, its region and even the whole of Poland as a result. With all that in mind, it feels only right that the Edinburgh International Festival is bringing those transformations to greater global attention with a trio of concerts from two of the city’s many classical ensembles, plus a related chamber recital. Wrocław’s musical transformations all flow out of a single musical establishment: the gleaming, wood-and-glass National Forum of Music (NFM) that sits in its own town square (a favourite haunt of cyclists and skateboarders) just to the south of the city’s historic centre. And that establishment was essentially the brainchild of one man: eminent conductor, teacher and softly spoken force of nature Andrzej Kosendiak. When Rafał Dutkiewicz was elected Wrocław’s mayor in 2002 (a post he’d remain in until 2018), he hired Kosendiak as artistic advisor, and promptly asked him to look into getting the best concert hall in the world. “I said I didn’t know how,” chuckles Kosendiak, “but that there were people in the world who did. So I got in contact to see projects that had happened internationally.” The Scotsman’s arts newsletter is now sent twice a week - subscribe today The final building that opened in 2015 houses no fewer than four concert halls, and is home to 11 ensembles – from orchestras and choirs to chamber groups – and to seven music festivals. “But from the very beginning,” Kosendiak continues, “the idea wasn’t just to build a house. We thought about how to use this project to change life in Wrocław.” Indeed, the NFM’s impact resonates deeply in the city, from the wholesale reconfiguring of one of Wrocław’s last remaining under-developed districts to a new engagement with locals as both audiences and participants – in a community chorus, for example, or a wealth of education initiatives for all ages (even as yet unborn babies). There’s also a clear personal resonance for Kosendiak, whose own career has followed his country’s turbulent recent history. “I was born in Wrocław in 1955, and I also had, let’s say, some experiences with the trade union Solidarity, and in prison as a result. Many people suggested I should move away from Poland, but I always felt this was the place for me, where we could really do things.” History and culture are loaded, contested concepts at any time, seldom more so than in Poland’s recent communist past. But one of the NFM’s defining goals is the discovery – or, perhaps, rediscovery – and the celebration of distinctively Polish culture in the broadest sense. That might be cutting-edge composers and sound artists of today, or often neglected figures from the distant past. It’s those latter musicians whose music is explored in the International Festival concert from the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble, where Kosendiak is artistic director. “My idea was to collaborate with musicologists who are carrying out research,” he explains, “so that we can create a network of cooperation between performers and scholars.” The results have been a glittering series of concerts and recordings shining bright new light on sometimes almost forgotten music, represented in Edinburgh by choral works from early 17th-century composer Zieleński and fellow composer Żebrowski, a Polish contemporary of Haydn and Mozart. The music will hardly be known to UK listeners, Kosendiak admits – but he points out that much of it has been new to Polish musicians and audiences too. It’s all about discovery. READ MORE: Works and Days: FC Bergman's celebration of rural life at EIF is 'all about the collective' More recent Polish music is a focus for the first in a two-concert EIF residency from the NFM Leopoldinium Orchestra, the versatile strings-only chamber orchestra in residence at the NFM. “We’re bringing the beautiful but very short Concerto for String Orchestra by Grażyna Bacewicz,” explains Moscow-born British violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, the NFM Leopoldinium Orchestra’s artistic director and violinist/director. “She’s someone who’s held in very high esteem in Poland, not only as a composer but also as a violinist and educator in the mid-20th century. Then we have a really fun piece by Wojciech Kilar, who’s a renowned film composer – it’s called Orawa, which is a region in southern Poland, and it has a really natural feel to it.” Perhaps more familiar music completes the Orchestra’s first concert, though from different ends of the emotional spectrum: Strauss’s deeply cathartic Metamorphosen, and a suite from Bizet’s Carmen given an unforgettably madcap makeover by Soviet prankster Rodion Shchedrin. The NFM Leopoldinium Orchestra’s second programme, however, shifts its focus from Poland to more personal connections. Both Sitkovetsky and EIF director Nicola Benedetti were students at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, and they reunite to celebrate its visionary founder. “We were there at the same time,” Sitkovetsky remembers, “and we were both very fortunate in the opportunities that the school gave us, especially when we were so young. It was a programme that had been on my mind for some time, and Nicola was really keen to be involved in it.” The two violinists are sharing the limelight, too: Sitkovetsky is the soloist in the Violin Concerto by Pole-turned-Brit Andrzej Panufnik, written for Menuhin, while Benedetti leads the colourful Divertimento by Béla Bartók, Menuhin’s great friend, and they share soloist duties in Bach’s Double Violin Concerto. Just the following morning, Sitkovetsky returns with his own chamber group, the Sitkovetsky Trio, for a concert contrasting the perhaps more familiar Beethoven and Shostakovich with lesser-known Chaminade, and even a recent work by Iranian-born composer Mahdis Golzar Kashani. The four concerts feel, in their own individual ways, like they’re very much about discovery – of overlooked music, of Polish culture, and of course of the country’s musicians too. “I’m spending more and more time in Poland,” says Sitkovetsky, “and it has such a unique cultural heritage, and an incredibly rich artistic community.” It’s a sentiment that Kosendiak echoes. “The reasons for us showcasing Polish music? Not only because it’s great music, but also because it’s important for us as Europeans to understand the bigger picture of our continent – not only to focus on the things we already know.” The NFM Leopoldinium Orchestra and Alexander Sitkovetsky perform at the Usher Hall on 10 and 11 August, with a performance by the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble at the Queen’s Hall on 16 August. The Sitkovetsky Trio performs at the Queen’s Hall on 12 August, see www.eif.co.uk. This feature was produced in association with the Edinburgh International Festival READ MORE: The Scotsman’s 2025 Edinburgh Festival coverage: everything you need to know
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