The 15th edition of La Folle Journée de Varsovie, held under the motto City Vibrations, has come to an end. In just three days, 57 concerts took place across six stages – at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, the Church of the Art Societies, and in the Concert Pavilion on Teatralny Square. Nearly 1,000 performers, 15 chamber ensembles, 18 conductors and 14 orchestras – including nine youth orchestras from Polish music schools – contributed to this year’s programme. Altogether, La Folle Journée de Varsovie attracted an audience of 29,000.
The orchestras featured included Sinfonia Varsovia, the Polish Radio Orchestra in Warsaw, the Orchestra of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jean-François Verdier, Grzegorz Wierus, Ewa Strusińska, Bar Avni, Christian Arming, Patrick Fournillier, Wojciech Rodek and Michał Klauza. Soloists and recitalists appearing during the festival included Yuto Kiguchi (piano), Seina Matsuoka (violin), Waed Bouhassoun (oud, voice), Neşet Kutas (percussion), Ania Karpowicz (flute), Sotiris Athanasiou (guitar), Jean-Frédéric Neuburger (piano), Momo Kodama (piano), Aleksandra Olczyk (soprano), Monika Ledzion (mezzo-soprano), Emmanuel Balssa (viola da gamba), Katarzyna Drogosz (historical piano), Luka Faulisi (violin), Trey Lee (cello), Maciej Kułakowski (cello), Julien Beautemps (accordion), Pierre Hantaï (harpsichord) and Martín García García (piano). The festival also hosted chamber ensembles including Quatuor Ellipsos, Quatuor Elmire, TVÆRS, the Paul Lay Trio, Ensemble Maru, the Martin String Quartet, the Chopin University Big Band, the Deaf Percussion Orchestra, Aka Duo and Duo Argos, as well as early music groups Arte dei Suonatori, Capella Cracoviensis and Oltremontano.
As part of the Young Performers cycle, school ensembles from all over Poland took to the stage: dancers from the Roman Turczynowicz General Ballet School in Warsaw, and orchestras from Warsaw (Karol Szymanowski State Music Schools Complex No. 4, Zenon Brzewski Secondary Music School – State Music Schools Complex No. 1), Białystok (Ignacy Jan Paderewski Music Schools Complex), Katowice (Karol Szymanowski State Secondary General Music School), Bielsko-Biała (Stanisław Moniuszko State Music Schools Complex), Gdańsk (Feliks Nowowiejski General Music School I and II Level), Wrocław (Karol Szymanowski Primary and Secondary Music School) and Kraków (Bronisław Rutkowski State Primary and Secondary Music School, Mieczysław Karłowicz State Music Schools Complex).
For 15 years, La Folle Journée de Varsovie has thrived not only thanks to its artists but also to the hundreds of people engaged behind the scenes. The festival entails countless hours of work, piles of invoices and contracts, and kilometres run during the event. It is also posters, billboards and advertising campaigns in the city space, in cinemas, trams, on the radio and online, as well as thousands of printed programmes. Each year, the team of Sinfonia Varsovia – both permanent staff and those engaged specially for the festival – including producers, stage managers, technicians, piano tuners, members of the operations, marketing, stage and front-of-house teams, box office staff, artist liaisons, the print team, photographers, impresarios and programme coordinators, security staff, together with a group of volunteers, the directing team from the Academy of Film and Television documenting the Young Performers concerts, dozens of drivers and logistics personnel, and tutors accompanying the visiting school ensembles – all contribute to the organisation of the festival. Their dedication is a reminder of the enormous organisational machinery that makes La Folle Journée de Varsovie possible.
