Scheduled for August 15-17, the "Break in Classic" festival will be held in a lakeside Baroque palace in the Warsaw suburb of Otwock.
Organizers say it aims to make classical music feel "less exotic" and more accessible to new generations of listeners.
The event, co-hosted by pianist-composer Aleksander Dębicz, will feature eight concerts by performers ranging from period-instrument ensemble Il Giardino d’Amore to Dutch recorder star Lucie Horsch and Poland’s jazz-inflected Atom String Quartet.
Orliński and Dębicz will each give separate headline sets.
Jakub Józef Orliński and Aleksander Dębicz, artistic directors of the Break in Classic festival. Piotr Podlewski/Polish Radio
“It’s a picnic setting, really for everyone,” Orliński told Poland's PAP news agency in an interview.
"Classical music can feel a bit exotic to young people, but it’s coming back into fashion, and we want to ride that wave," he added.
The 34-year-old singer, dubbed “the Justin Timberlake of opera” by Polish media, said the program deliberately keeps set lists under wraps to break with what he sees as fussy tradition.
“When people buy tickets for a pop star, they don’t ask for an exact running order two years ahead," he said in the interview. "Why should classical be different?”
Dębicz said the duo drew inspiration from mainstream Polish events such as Open’er and Orange Warsaw, but rejected crossover projects that “water down” the music.
"We trust the audience’s sensitivity—you just have to present the music differently, without dumbing it down,” he said.
The festival organizers, supported by the National Museum in Warsaw and the Polish National Foundation, plan long-term cooperation with the palace and promise a fresh surprise each year.
Tickets and details are available on the museum’s website.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP, Portal Otwocki