Polish Independence Concert is the closing event of the Celebration of 11th November. It is a kind of a „bracket” – something that closes the celebration of Independence Day. This event allow all of us to meet and to be connected by a common musical tradition.
– Jan Ołdakowski, the director of the Warsaw Uprising Museum –
Project „Polish Independence Concert”
Polish Independence Concert is one of the most interesting events to celebrate Independence Day on 11th November in Warsaw.
– Radio Eska –
About Polish Independence Concert
Polish Independence Concert is an oral and musical performance organized since 2009, on November 11, at the Warsaw Uprising Museum to commemorate National Independence Day, and since 2013 at the Royal Castle in Warsaw to celebrate the Third of May Constitution Day.
This is the original project of Ola Turkiewicz, a jazz composer and singer as well as the music director of the Independence Concert, and Jacek „Wiejski” Górski, the producer of the concert and the author of some of the scenarios.
Co-organizers of Polish Independence Concert are the National Heritage Foundation of the Republic of Poland in cooperation with the Federation of Fighting Youth, the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Museum of World War II in Gdańsk, and the Museum of Westerplatte and War of 1939.
In 2016, in Canada, an international edition of the concert was inaugurated, under the name of Polish Independence Concert „Poland”. Polish Independence Concert name is also shared by a group of session musicians contributing to the project, including over 170 artists from Poland, Armenia, Ukraine, Canada, Mexico, and Great Britain.
In 2017, within the evaluation of the project, the Internet portal of the Independence Songbook (Śpiewnik Niepodległości) was created, as an online database of patriotic cantos. The aim of the Independence Songbook is to popularize the resources of patriotic cantos along with literary and historical descriptions, texts, musical notes and multimedia tools for independent learning, such as incidental music, arrangements and recordings.
History of concerts
The premiere of Polish Independence Concert took place at the Warsaw Uprising Museum on November 11, 2009. It is an annual event that fits into both the formula of high culture and a complex music project, including the genres of, among others, rock, jazz, electronic, and ethnic music.
Since 2015, Polish Independence Concert has been covered by the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda. In 2011-2014, Polish Independence Concert took place under the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Bronisław Komorowski, who addressed in each of these years open letters to the participants of the event. The concert became a permanent part of the calendar of cultural events taking place in Warsaw on Independence Day.
In 2013, the next edition of the project was inaugurated, which, under the name of Polish Independence Concert of the Third of May, takes place annually on May 3, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Since 2016, the Pomeranian edition of Polish Independence Concert “Westerplatte”, has been implemented to take place on September 1, on Westerplatte, Gdańsk. In 2016, under the name of Polish Independence Concert „Poland”, the international premiere of Polish Independence Concert took place in Canada. The concert was realized by an international Polish-Canadian team of session musicians, and its program was extended for the purpose of mutual relations between Poles and Canadians.
Concerts: the form, content and list of editions
Material arranged since 2009 consists of 120 Polish patriotic cantos, hymns and soldier songs. The repertoire also features poetry pieces, including Latin fragments of the Chronicle of the Polish Anonim of so-called Gall, poems of Adam Mickiewicz, Wincenty Pol, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmayer, Natan Tenenbaum, Leszek Szaruga and others. The repertoire also includes contemporary pieces specially composed for the consecutive editions of Polish Independence Concert.
Polish Independence Concert has the character of an oral and musical performance, in which musical pieces are preceded by a prose and poetic narrative, describing the genesis of the uprising and the historical background of presented works. In the compositions and arrangements created since the first edition in 2009, the artists use, among others, patriotic, traditional, ethnic or ritual pieces. In combination with jazz, classical and electronic climates as well as alternative rock, ethnic music, techno-house, sung poetry and traditional cantos, they become musical quotes in larger compositions and arrangements. Thus a new, original musical genre is created, defined by creators as “hybrid music”. Admission to all concerts is free.
Regular editions of Polish Independence Concert:
• The 1st Polish Independence Concert “Premiere”
– November 11, 2009, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme: Showing the history of Poland through the repertoire of the most famous Polish patriotic cantos.
• The 2nd Polish Independence Concert „Gaude Mater Polonia”
– November 11, 2010, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration: The greatest Polish hymnic cantos.
• The 3rd Polish Independence Concert „Granddaughter’s letters”
– November 11, 2011, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– The performance combined a concert of well-known Polish patriotic cantos with Anna Mentlewicz’s monodrama „Listy wnuczki” (Granddaughter’s letters).
• The 4th Polish Independence Concert „For Our and Your Freedom”
– November 11, 2012, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Religious and national minorities as well as foreigners fighting for Polish independence.
• The 5th Polish Independence Concert „Jubilee”
– November 11, 2013, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Forgotten heroes and cavaliers of the Virtuti Militari order.
• The 6th Polish Independence Concert „Poland”
– November 11, 2014, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Poles fighting under foreign banners for the freedom of other nations.
• The 7th Polish Independence Concert „Year 1980”
– November 11, 2015, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Events of the 1980s of the Twentieth century.
• The 8th Polish Independence Concert „Young Wolves”
– November 11, 2016, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Youth’s independence deeds.
• The 9th Polish Independence Concert „Rebellious”
– 11 November 2017, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Women’s independence deeds.
• The 10th Polish Independence Concert „Turning Points”
– November 11, 2018, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Key events in the 1050-year history of Poland.
• The 11th Polish Independence Concert „Partisans”
– November 11, 2019, the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Partisans and freedom fighters in the history of Poland.
• The 1st Polish Independence Concert of the Third of May
– May 3, 2013, the Royal Castle in Warsaw
• The 2nd Polish Independence Concert of the Third of May
– May 3 2016, the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
• The 3rd Polish Independence Concert of the Third of May
– May 3, 2017, the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: International significance of the Third of May Constitution. Polish service under foreign banners.
• Polish Independence Concert “Westerplatte”
– September 1, 2016, Westerplatte, Gdansk.
– Theme and inspiration of the concert: Polish military deeds in World War II.
• The 2nd Polish Independence Concert „Westerplatte”
– September 1, 2017, Westerplatte, Gdansk. Live broadcast on radio Gdańsk.
• The 3rd Polish Independence Concert „Westerplatte”
– August 31, 2018, Westerplatte, Gdansk.
• The 4th Polish Independence Concert „Westerplatte”
– September 1, 2019, Westerplatte, Gdansk.
• Polish Independence Concert „in Radio Łódź”
– October 25, 2016, Lodz. Rebroadcast on Radio Łódź on November 11, 2016.
• Polish Independence Concert „For our freedom and yours” Kruszyniany
– August 15, 2018. The Polish Tatar Centre of Education and Muslim Culture in Kruszyniany, Podlachia, Poland
• Polish Independence Concert „Under a foreign banner” Kruszyniany
– August 15, 2019. The Polish Tatar Centre of Education and Muslim Culture in Kruszyniany, Podlachia, Poland
• Polish Independence Concert „Poland” dedicated to general J. Bem
– September 9, 2018. The Bemowo Amphitheater, Warsaw, Poland.
• Polish Independence Concert „Young Wolves” – the 79th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland
– September 17, 2018. Marshal Piłsudski Square, Warsaw, Poland.
• The 2nd Polish Independence Concert – the 80th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland
– September 17, 2019. Marshal Piłsudski Square, Warsaw, Poland.
International edition of Polish Independence Concert:
• Polish Independence Concert „Poland” in Canada
– September 16, 2016, at the Rose Theater in Brampton (Greater Toronto Area, Canada)
• Polish Independence Concert „Poland” in Australia
– December 28, 2018, Redland Porforming Arts Centre, 2/16 Middle St, Cleveland QLD 4163, Australia
• Polish Independence Concert „For our freedom and yours” Latvia
– November 20, 2018, Polish Cultural Centrewilno, Daugavpils, Latvia
• Polish Independence Concert „For our freedom and yours” Lithuania
– November 16, 2018, Polish Communiaty Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
• Polish Independence Concertin NATO Military Base in Ādaži
– September 20, 2019, Theater at NATO Military Base in Ādaži, Latvia
• Polish Independence Concert „For our freedom and yours” Latvia
– September 21, 2019, Lielā Ģilde, Riga, Latvia
• Polish Independence Concert „For our freedom and yours” Latvia
– September 23, 2019, Liepāja Olympic Centre, Liepāja, Latvia
Team of Polish Independence Concert
Polish Independence Concert is also the formation of session musicians and artists, founded by Ola Turkiewicz, including over 170 artists from Poland, Armenia, Ukraine, Canada, Mexico and Great Britain. Actors, jazzmen and performers of symphonic, popular and ethnic music, both from Poland and abroad took part in different editions of Polish Independent Concert, including, among others, actors from Poland: Maciej Kozłowski, Andrzej Piszczatowski, Elżbieta Czerwińska-Sofulak, Wojciech Malajkat, Jacek Mikołajczak, Antoni Pawlicki, Arkadiusz Brykalski, and Krzysztof Franieczek, Dariusz Kordek, Aleksandra Justa and Małgorzata P. Bonikowska from Canada; soloists from Poland: Ola Turkiewicz, Marek Bałata, Grzegorz Wilk, Jan Bogdaniuk, Stanisław Belica; instrumentalists: Grzech Piotrowski, Paweł Kaczmarczyk, Marcin Murawski, Grzegorz Grzyb, Marcin Riege, Dawid Lubowicz, Krzysztof Kowalewski, Małgorzata Komorowska, Tigran Aleksanian from Armenia / United Kingdom, Vasyl Popadiuk from Ukraine / Canada, Rebecca Hennessy, Sly Juhas, Aline Homzy, Brielle Goheen, Laurence Schaufele, Beth Silver from Canada. Also appearing were the live music performer Anna Suda „An On Bast” and musical groups: the “Alchemik Orchestra”, the vocal group “Dziczka”, the Quartet “Obligato”, the Ensemble of Old-Time Music „Jericho”, and the choir of the “III Wielopoziomowa Artystyczna Drużyna Harcerska” (The Third Multi-Level Artistic Scouting Team). Special guests of the 4th Independence Concert and Polish Independence Concert of the Third of May were the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, and the Imam of Polish Tatars, Janusz Aleksandrowicz, who took part in the performance of the composition „Res Publica Serenissima”, referring to the religious diversity of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Discography
Polish Independence Concert „Polish Independence Concert”.
Publisher: National Heritage Foundation of the Republic of Poland, 2016
Independence Concert „Niepokorne” (Rebellious).
Publisher: Polish Radio / National Heritage Foundation of the Republic of Poland, 2018
25
Editions
170
Team members
120
Arrangement and compositions
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Australia, Canada
Where we play