6th edition
It was the first Four Cultures Festival without the participation of its creator, Witold Knychalski. He had died two days after the conclusion of the fifth edition, on 12 September 2006. The new artistic director of the Festival was Piotr Trzaskalski, who decided to continue the existing programme policy. The 6th edition ran from 31 August to 9 September 2007.
There was no shortage of excellent music. The Festival boasted an impressive line-up of pianists: Ning An, laureate of many prestigious awards; Edward Auer (USA), winner of the 1965 Chopin Competition; Markus Groh (Germany), a leading pianist of the young generation; and the Viennese duo of Ranko Markovic and Marialena Fernandes. The concert of the Polish violinist Agata Szymczewska, winner of the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznań, stood out as a particular highlight. The Festival was graced with the presence of Tommy Emmanuel (Australia), one of the greatest living virtuosos of the guitar. There was also a recital by the world-famous American soprano Barbara Hendricks, whose credits include over 25 operatic roles. Her performance at the Łódź Philharmonic featured compositions by Robert Schumann and Gustav Mahler.
The 6th edition certainly satisfied jazz enthusiasts. Aga Zaryan, a pupil of Ewa Bem and a rising star of Polish jazz singing, gave a concert dedicated to the memory of Witold Knychalski at St. Matthew’s Church. Equally exciting was the performance by Nils Petter Molvaer, hailed as an electronic jazz visionary after the release of his first solo record in 1997. There were also performances by Mazzoll Tow and Mikołaj Trzaska’s free jazz quartet, and a special concert by Leszek Możdżer. The Jazzga club on Piotrkowska Street held two Saturday Nights in its Jazzga Off and On Air series (featuring Bassisters Orchestra, Kapital Band 1, Noze and other acts), involving live music in the courtyard and a dance party inside the club.
The Israeli Cameri Theatre presented a production of The Father directed by Yossi Polak, and Theatre Association Chorea performed Songs of Euripides. The Polish Dance Theatre, founded in 1973, is one of the best European ballet ensembles. In Łódź, the audience saw the company’s famous performance “Battle between C@rnival and Lent,” directed and choreographed by its director Ewa Wycichowska and Zbigniew Łowżył.
The Festival featured a retrospective of Zbigniew Rybczyński’s work. Both his animated films and multimedia productions were shown. Other film offerings included a survey entitled “Jewish Fates, Jewish Identity” and a presentation of contemporary cinema.
Of particular interest in the fine art section were “The Art of Rebellion” (Russian painting from the collection of Kenda and Jacob Bar-Gera), a display of works by artists who belonged to the avant-garde and nonconformist movement in Russian art in the 1960s and 70s, and an exhibition of photographs by Ewa Rubinstein. As a contribution to the Festival, the Łódź Art Center invited a group of international photographers to participate in the project „Łódź – Photosensitive Space.” The aim of the project was to create an artistic image of Łódź, as seen through the eyes of Poles and outsiders alike.
Festival poster
