I gladly accepted the invitation to the 7th edition of the Eufonia International Festival of Central and Eastern European Music, organized by Poland’s National Centre for Culture. This year’s event takes place between November 13th and December 7th. Initially held exclusively in Warsaw, the festival has, for the second consecutive year, expanded to several major cities in Poland. Thus, in the current edition, concerts originally programmed for the capital are also being presented in Katowice, Opole, Olsztyn, Kraków, Łódź, Gdańsk, Lusławice, and Dębica (the birthplace of Krzysztof Penderecki). A significant premiere this year is the festival’s first expansion beyond Poland’s borders: Eufonia has reached Bucharest thanks to the 2024–2025 Romania–Poland Cultural Season, organized on the Romanian side by the Ministry of Culture and the Romanian Cultural Institute, and on the Polish side by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage together with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, in cooperation with the Polish Institute in Bucharest. The November 28th concert performed by the Bucharest Philharmonic under the baton of Gabriel Bebeșelea was included in the Festival’s programme before the ensemble presented the (nearly identical) programme in Kraków and Warsaw.

Romanian musical creation has been included în the concerts of the Eufonia festival since the very first edition, and 2022 marked the first participation of Romanian artists, through the presence of the Transylvania Philharmonic Orchestra of Cluj-Napoca, conducted by Gabriel Bebeșelea.

I was present on that occasion as well, and this year—at the invitation of the National Centre for Culture in Poland, led by Robert Piaskowski, and through the Adam Mickiewicz Institute—I chose to attend the concert held on November 29th in Warsaw. This gave me the opportunity to observe just how much this ambitious festival has grown, bringing together artists from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe while embracing a wider scope, including musicians from the Baltic states, for instance. The 7th edition bears the metaphorical title “Poświaty i powidoki”, a phrase that could be translated into Romanian as “Glimmers and Afterimages.” It evokes the echoes and sonic images that, on the one hand, remain with us long after a concert has ended, and on the other, continue to inspire new generations of artists—an imprint of history through the lens of art.

Entitled “Exuberance”, the Saturday concert was performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gergely Madaras, with cellist Tomasz Daroch as soloist; the institution’s Men’s Choir, prepared by Bartosz Michałowski, also took part. Presented to a large audience in the Philharmonic Hall, the programme featured works by three cosmopolitan composers deeply relevant to their national cultures as well as to universal musical heritage: Enescu, Kodály, and Weinberg—creators who drew inspiration from their nations’ musical traditions while shaping original and distinctive musical languages.

The concert opened with George Enescu’s Romanian Poem, Op. 1. Evocative was my first thought as I listened to the opening chords, with the cellos at the forefront—an impression that stayed with me throughout the evening. Excellently performed by the Polish orchestra under Madaras, the score unfolded in all its splendor, highlighted by a moving flute solo played from the balcony, playful folkloric moments, and the majestic sonorities of the royal anthem. These showcased not only the ensemble’s timbral richness and power but also its versatility, shifting seamlessly between passages of overwhelming lyricism, folk-infused sections, and a solemn, imposing finale that alternated hushed, chamber-like nuances with orchestral tuttis in full fortissimo. The Warsaw Philharmonic Men’s Choir impressed with its cohesive, homogeneous sound and precise attacks, responding impeccably to the conductor’s gestures. I appreciated Gergely Madaras’s decision to place the intermission after this work, allowing the audience to savor the echoes of this extraordinary score, which lingered long within us.

The second half began with Mieczysław Weinberg’s Cello Concerto, Op. 43, composed in 1948—a difficult year in the composer’s life, marked by the assassination of his father-in-law on Stalin’s orders and the beginning of the Soviet dictator’s persecution of the composer himself. The concerto was only premiered in 1957, after Stalin’s death allowed for slightly greater artistic freedom. Structured in four movements, the work includes a striking cadenza at the end of the third—exceptionally extensive, giving the impression of a standalone piece for cello, delicately accompanied by part of the orchestra. The concerto conveys a wide range of emotions and was rendered with remarkable expressivity by Polish cellist Tomasz Daroch, principal cellist of the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, active in various chamber ensembles, and pursuing a solo career. The chamber character that permeates much of the concerto is intertwined with a sense of nostalgia. And although the score features expansive moments evoking the bustling atmosphere of old-time fairs—energetically and impeccably delivered by the brass parts—the word that best captures this listening experience is once again evocative. The ending of the concerto was particularly sensitive, with Daroch’s expressive phrasing holding the audience in suspense; the public applauded only after a long moment of silence, during which the echoes of the final chord faded completely.

The last work on the programme was a piece through which Gergely Madaras fully expressed his exuberance: Zoltán Kodály’s “Dances of Galánta.” One of the composer’s most popular works, written in 1933, the suite—built on folk themes that Kodály had carried with him since childhood, when he briefly lived in Galánta (now in Slovakia)—captivates with its multitude of expressive means. It takes listeners on a highly colorful agogic and dynamic roller coaster. The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra delivered a brilliant performance, shifting skillfully between evocative, picturesque moments with delicate solos and passages overflowing with vivacity, concluding en fanfare to enthusiastic ovations from the audience.

Photo credits: NCK/Grzegorz Karkoszka, Rafał Kudyba