The stage of the Auditorium Hall at ICE Kraków saw the two founders of the label, Valgeir Sigurðsson and Nico Muhly. They were joined by Nadia Sirota, an outstanding viola player, Jodie Landau – a singer, conductor and drummer, Daniel Bjarnason on piano and with a baton, Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir with her cello and Liam Byrne with the only instrument with gut strings – viola da gamba. Behind them was the Krakow-based Spółdzielnia Muzyczna collective, with young instrumentalists, who supplemented the line-up of the Icelandic collective and added to the momentum. The audience could experience some severe swings, on the one hand touching the smooth melodies and gliding over drone plains, and on the other touching pure classical music. With the smoothness of a pendulum, the Bedroom Community musicians ran along the bridges, spanning the great divides. The concertante exploits of Nadia Sirota on viola, (Tristan Da Cuhna), the engaging vocals of Landau, devoid of any bravado (Night Music), the bold combination of a weeping viola with a cloudy, electronic background (Drones for Viola da Gamba). All of that followed by the outstanding vocalist – Barbara Kinga Majewskam who brilliantly summed up the concert with Mothertongue, where she sung various addresses, including psychiatric facilities, with her strong and agile voice. Let’s just say that the opening night of this year’s Sacrum Profanum was simply exceptional.

The second day... Well, we have seen the Himalayas. After the training with the Icelandic collective everything seemed to lead us to the peaks to the 20th century music – that is the only way to describe two compositions by Luciano Berio, presented to the audience gathered in the Theatre Hall of ICE Kraków by the outstanding musicians of the Musikfabrik ensemble. Points on the curve to find (1974), opening the concert titled Acousmatic on the 2nd of October started with a bold piece for the piano, which set up an opening point for the rest of the instruments. The instrumental train passed through various musical landscapes, pulled by the fast locomotive – the fingers of Ulrich Löffler. The second piece, presented after the intermission – Naturale (su melodie siciliane) from 1985 was an opportunity for Alex Porath to shine. The viola player presented the whole spectrum of emotions with ease, using the fragments of traditional melodies from southern Italy as a base for his exploits. He was accompanied by Dirk Rothburst, who subtly emphasised or summed up the viola parts, with the moving vocals of a Sicilian singer, Peppin Celano, registered by the composer in the late 1960s dominating the piece. The echoes (of the past) serving as the beginning (of a piece) – what a surprising twist.

The contact with the classical musician of the 20th century was quite a feast, but the expectations of the audience turned towards the works of a young Polish composer – Marcin Stańczyk, especially since both of the presented compositions were intriguing. The first one, the Blind Walk from 2015 is a slow stroll along the sea shore, jungle, city... No matter what the audience thought and imagined during the concert was right, as the Musikfabrik musicians, led by Diego Masson circled around the blindfolded audience, surprising them with sounds from every side. The spectrum was unheard of – organic and industrial, subtle and wild... This stream of surprises, undisturbed by any other senses was received quite enthusiastically, just like the composer, who was invited to the stage and rewarded with ovations.

The evening was summed up with a unique piece – some drops..., specially composed for the Sacrum Profanum festival, partnered by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The premiere performance showed the static and cohesive character of the composition, in which the stains of harmony and shreds of melody mixed with the entirety of the work, like rain, which could be heard from behind the listeners’ backs. It seemed as if the composition did not attempt to go in a single direction, but rather tried to expand and contract, showing the elasticity of the musical matter, with the concertante part of the double bell trumpet, a unique instrument in the skilful hands of Marco Blauuw.

The first two evenings of the Sacrum Profanum festival boldly presented the outlines of two out of three sections, comprising the 14th edition. And it was promising. Seeing the programme of the festival we have all the reasons to believe that it was created according to the rule proposed by Alfred Hitchcock. And since we already had an earthquake... Now we can expect to be blown out of the orbit.