The programme of the event includes 35 concerts of orchestral, chamber and vocal music held in the four venues of the National Opera and a nearby church. The festival also offers a wide range of special attractions for children.
Featured ensembles include Sinfonia Varsovia, the National Opera Orchestra, and the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, as well as conductors Patrick Fournillier, Michał Klauza, Marta Gardolińska, and Ernst Kovacic, and pianists Jonas Vitaud and Tanguy de Williencourt.
The theme of the 2022 La Folle Journée - Ballads and Romances - is a reference to the title of a collection of poetry by Adam Mickiewicz, whose publication 200 years ago marked the beginning of Polish Romanticism.
In addition to such Polish composers as Chopin, Moniuszko, Wieniawski, Karłowicz and Zarębski, the programme of the event comprises music by Schubert, Berlioz, Brahms, Liszt, and Alma and Gustav Mahler.
One of the pieces included in the programme of the inaugural concert was Grazhine, written by Ukrainian composer Borys Lyatoshynsky (1895-1968) in 1955 for the centenary of Mickiewicz’s death. The work is based on Mickiewicz’s poem Grażyna (Grazhine) about a chieftainess who led her people into war against the Teutonic Knights.
The idea of La Folle Journée to bring classical music closer to those who may not be regular concert-goers, in short concerts and at affordable prices was born several decades ago in France.
The first festival was held in Nantes in 1995. In 2010, La Folle Journée was launched in Warsaw.
This year it is held for the 12th time. Its previous editions have attracted an audience of over 350, 000.
(mk/pjm)