The annual festival is held by the local Museum of Tower Clocks, which is a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Gdańsk.
The 13th Gdańsk Carillon Festival, which opened at the weekend, is the only such event in Poland.
The Baltic city is the only one to boast two sets of the instrument: one in the Main Town Hall, and the other in St. Catherine’s Church, the oldest church of Gdańsk’s Old Town district.
Poland’s only other carillon is at the Jasna Góra monastery in the southern city of Częstochowa.
The Gdańsk Carillon Festival features works composed especially for the instrument, ranging from Baroque to present-day compositions. This year, due to the pandemic, the event is less festive, though it abounds in many premiere works, according to organisers.
Among the performers are leading carillonists from the Netherlands, Germany and Poland.
A total of 13 weekend concerts are planned during the festival, which runs until the end of August.
The opening concert on Friday evening was performed by Gdańsk carillonist Monika Kaźmierczak, accompanied by the Tubicinatores Gedanenses ensemble of trumpeters.
Also appearing at the festival will be the NeoQuartet, a Polish string quartet performing contemporary classical music, and the Wood&Bronze duet playing contemporary music on the flute and carillon.
The tradition of playing the carillon in Gdańsk dates back to the 16th century.
The carillon is a musical instrument consisting of a series of up to 77 cast bronze bells (at least 23) played serially from a manual and pedal console to produce a melody, or sounded together to play a chord.
The 13th Carillon Festival in Gdańsk coincides with the city’s iconic St. Dominic’s Fair, one of the world’s oldest street fairs, first held in 1260.
The iconic St. Dominic's Fair opened in Gdańsk for the 761st time on Saturday. Photo: PAP/Jan Dzban
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Source: IAR, gdansk.pl