Inspired by Bach: Kostrzewa & Szczecin Philharmonic Big Band

The first concert within the SOUNDLAB series this season. It is a philharmonic laboratory of electronic music, which was born from the inspiration of the unusual shape of our building. In the musical and architectural sound sequences, we present various sound programs in which all fields of art intertwine. We are opening the new season with the premiere of the latest piece by Wojciech Kostrzewa. The Suite for Big-Band and Electronics "Stream" was commissioned by our Philharmonic!
We consider Johann Sebastian Bach to be the greatest master in the history of music for several reasons:
1. As it has been said, "he absorbed all musical genres himself, instead of being absorbed by them".
2. Not only did he not perfect contemporary forms and styles, but he more than once preceded the musical language of his era by several decades.
3. His work inspired successive generations of creators for several centuries, and this only happens in cases of perfect mastery.


The Philharmonic in Szczecin is an exciting place in itself, and SOUNDLAB is an excellent proposition for composers, performers and the audience. I have already played in Szczecin several times – in highly alternative places, such as a dark club in an old locomotive shed, but also in the phenomenal hall of the Philharmonic. Then, of course, came the victory in the 2018 International Composers' Competition. Apart from these occasions, I have visited the city many times. All this made me think of Szczecin as a highly inspiring point on the map of Poland - Wojciech Kostrzewa tells us.

It could not be otherwise – when we made plans for the new season, we hailed the piece by the award-winning composer as an absolute must. It will not be experimental, contemporary music, but rather something more ambient – Wojciech told us when we asked him about his work on the piece a few months ago. The philharmonic big-band will not swing but rather face house and drum'n'bass. Inspired by Bach, I took a form – an orchestral suite, but we are pressing it into a new aesthetic. There will be a fugue, there will be a brim, but it's all made of new material. Like the Philharmonic in Szczecin, a traditional institution, but in a modern shape – literally and figuratively.

Wojciech Kostrzewa is a laureate of the "In modo di Lutosławski" Composers 'Competition, the 4th International Composers' Competition of the Wojciech Kilar Contemporary Music Festival in Gorzów and the Krzysztof Penderecki Composers' Competition "Arboretum". In October 2018, he became the winner of the 1st Mieczysław Karłowicz International Competition for Composers of the ZAiKS Authors' Association and the Philharmonic in Szczecin also received the audience award. Leading Polish orchestras performed his compositions. He is the author of music for numerous theatre and television productions.

He has performed at many foreign festivals, incl. "La Folle Journée" in Nantes or "Düsseldorf Jazz Rally". In the course of artistic projects, he collaborated, among others with Gordon Goodwin, Irena Santor, Basia Trzetrzelewska, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Michał Urbaniak, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Krzesimir Dębski, Adam Sztaba, MoCarta Group and The Dumplings.