Sounds that, despite their ephemeral nature, leave a lasting trace in the memory, fill the 7th International Festival of Central and Eastern European Music Euphonies. Their Afterimages and Afterglows, announced in the headline of this year’s edition, will also be visible in Kraków.
From the Balkans, Romania and Austria, the Visegrad Group countries, to the Baltic States, we invite you on a journey through the musical landscapes of Central and Eastern Europe.
The idea of the festival is to disseminate the cultural heritage of most of the countries today referred to as Central and Eastern Europe. The area is an extremely interesting melting pot, which allows to discover its complexity through the variety of works and artists presented.
The uniqueness of the festival is, on the one hand, drawing on tradition, and on the other, presenting completely new, previously undiscovered sounds. Eufonie present music of various eras and styles.
24 November 2025, 7pm
Manggha Museum
Masks: Szymanowski / Bacewicz / Bacevičius
For the generation of Polish-Lithuanian siblings – Vytautas Bacevičius and Grażyna Bacewicz – Karol Szymanowski was an icon of new music. His Masques, Op. 34, belonging to the Impressionist/Expressionist phase, present his interpretation of figures rooted in culture.
Three Grotesques by Bacewicz fit into the trend of comic and dance vitalism. In turn, Bacevičius’ works represent cosmological ideas: anticipated by Poème mystique, Op. 6 and Méditaton, Op. 29 from the Kaunas, modernist years, and embodied by Trois pensées musicales, Op. 75 from the American years. Cosmic music expressed the artist’s inner universe. The Piano Suite No. 3, Op. 60 crowns the earlier period, which was a “compromise” with the listener, while Sixième mot, Op. 72 belongs to a collection of seven compositions resembling words “conveyed” through sounds.
Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937)
– Schéhérazade from the cycle Masks, Op. 34 No. 1
–Tantris le bouffon z cyklu Maski, Op. 34 No. 2
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969) Three Grotesques
Vytautas Bacevičius (1905–1970)
–Mistinė Poema (Poème mystique), Op. 6
–Suita No. 3, Op. 60
–Meditacija (Méditation), Op. 29
–Šeštas žodis (Sixième mot), Op. 72
–Trys muzikinės mintys (Trois pensées musicales), Op. 75
Yusuke Ishii piano
30 November 2025, 7:30pm
Kraków Philharmonic
Voyage: Enescu/ Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák and George Enescu had the ability to draw on the musical traditions of their nations with lightness and elegance without losing their individual musical languages. Their passion for the culture in which they grew up left its mark on them, but it did not define them as artists, as evidenced by the greatness of the ideas they practiced. They were cosmopolitans who transformed tradition into a universal musical language of values – understandable to and fascinating for music lovers all over the world.
George Enescu (1881–1955)
–Romanian Rhapsody in A major, Op. 11 No. 1
– Symphonie concertante in B minor for cello and orchestra, Op. 8
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Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60
Jaemin Han cello
George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra
Gabriel Bebeșelea conductor
6 December 2025, 6pm
Kraków Philharmonic
Quo vadis
While walking the streets of Rome, we are stopped every step by breaths of history. Numerous remains of ancient buildings testify to the former greatness of the Eternal City – a majestic witness to the events described by Henryk Sienkiewicz in his 1896 novel Quo vadis. Against the background of the twilight of the empire and the bloody birth of Christianity, he placed one of the most famous love themes in the history of Polish literature, telling the story of the relationship between Ligia, who came from a barbarian tribe, and the patrician Marcus Vinicius.
As is well known, all roads lead to Rome, and one of them to the Italian capital at the beginning of the 20th century came the composer Felix Nowowiejski. While absorbing the charming atmosphere of la dolce vita, he simultaneously followed the traces of the Roman Empire’s past. In 1903, he composed “dramatic scenes” in the Eternal City to a libretto by German writer Antonie Jüngst, based on a book by Sienkiewicz. Thus was born the monumental oratorio Quo vadis for solo voices, choir, orchestra and organ. Leaving aside the love theme of Ligia and Vinicius, Jüngst and Nowowiejski focused on the conflict between Christians and pagans, conceived in terms of the eternal struggle between good and evil. The work consists of five parts, describing the fire of Rome, the Roman Forum, the famous catacombs, the oldest Roman road Via Appia and the ruins of the Colosseum.
The premiere of Quo vadis took place in 1907 in Usti nad Labem. Two years later in Amsterdam, the composer presented the work to the public in a new version and was spectacularly successful with it. After the concert, he was honored with a gilded laurel wreath as a token of his appreciation, and also received a ring from Queen Wilhelmina. If someone had asked Nowowiejski at the time where he was going – quo vadis? – the one with a clear conscience could answer that… to celebrate triumphs on world stages. Despite the demanding cast, the Polish composer’s oratorio, popular in the interwar period, was often performed in Europe and abroad.
Feliks Nowowiejski (1877–1946) Quo vadis, scenes based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz for solo voices, choir, orchestra and organ, Op. 30
Wioletta Chodowicz soprano
Wojciech Gierlach baritone
Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir
Janusz Wierzgacz choir preparation
Piotr Sułkowski conductor
