Art reflects the time in which it is created. If it is honest, it is always relevant, the most relevant it can be – even if it refers to the past, it looks at it through the eyes of the present. If it destroys existing patterns, it automatically sets new ones. It reacts to reality to best reflect it specificity – and its complexity, which is what happens in the case of the third of the trends presented as part of this year’s Sacrum Profanum festival: indie classical.
English phrases are everywhere, in all languages, as globalisation also means universalisation. The term “indie classical” is unambiguous – it complements the two remaining trends that are part of the festival: the academic and the avant-garde. It complements them, and at the same time binds them, blurring their borders– reacting to the complexity of reality – indie classical lies at the intersection of the newest music coming from the academic trend and the aesthetics that break academic norms. “Indie” means independence, but without excluding competence, a kind of “do it yourself”, but by no means implying sloppy work. It wrests music out of narrow, often fossilised environments and puts it in the hands of enthusiasts. We can say that it’s music fit for its time – music 2.0, where the listener can become a creator, a rocker can compose contemporary music, and the amateur works as a professional.
For years, pop music was created according to this philosophy, and the trace of independence can also be found in classical music in recent years. To emphasise its presence and the profound influence it has on contemporary music, an indie classic concert will open Sacrum Profanum 2016 on the 1st of October. This will be no small event – taking the stage in the Auditorium Hall of the ICE Kraków Congress Centre will be representatives of probably the most famous stable of emancipated composers – the Bedroom Community label/collective. Works by Jodie Landau, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nico Muhly, Daníel Bjarnason will be performed by... Jodie Landau, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nico Muhly and Daníel Bjarnason. They are composers and performers v3.0 – to the role of creator and listener, they will also add interpreters, performing each other’s works. The international line-up will be complemented by the flexibleSpółdzielnia Muzyczna formation, which specialises in performing the latest contemporary music, as well as the fantastic Polish soprano, Barbara Kinga Majewska, for whom experimentation has become an everyday practice.
The concert, titled Whale Watching, will be an opportunity to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the label by Sigurðsson, Muhly and Ben Frost with the artists of Bedroom Community. The concert of mutual inspirations will be a mix of genres from the latest contemporary music compositions through pieces rooted in the electro-acoustic genre, mature electronica, all the way to Scandinavian folk filtered through modernity. A genre mix that perfectly reflects the contemporary world and its multidimensionality. During the inauguration of Sacrum Profanum, we will all benefit from it.
Just as indie classical combines genres, so will Barbara Kinga Majewska become the common denominator of the opening concert and the evening of the 5th of October. An evening that will be, simply put, unprecedented – the Theatre Hall of the ICE Kraków Congress Centre will host legends, performing the repertoire of a legend – Arditti Quartet and pianist Stephen Drury will appear with Majewska, performing the works of John Zorn from 1991-2013. A mixture worth of the indie classical label – hypnotic klezmer music translated into the language of the classics, seasoned with an energetic sauce of improvisation – the first of the announced series of events presenting the impressive legacy of the spiritus movens of New York avant-garde will be remembered for a long time. The review of Zorn’s intimate works, presented in Poland so far in modest amounts, will be one of the highlights of this year’s Sacrum Profanum.
Things will be no different in the case of presentation of the material from the Virginal Co-Ordinates album by Eyvind Kang. On the 7th of October, in the Auditorium Hall of the ICE Kraków Congress Centre, Kang – a violinist and composer – will be supported by the undisputed talent of the great Mike Patton – the embodiment of artistic freedom and imagination, originating from pop “do it yourself” music, known for crossing borders and combining different musical worlds. Patton, one of the greatest voices of independent music, will be accompanied by Polish artists – a specialist in avant-garde electronica, Mirt (synthesiser and field recordings) and Anna Mamińska and Hubert Połoniewicz on Middle Eastern tanburs. There will also be truly classical instruments – the fullness of the sound will be ensured by the fantastic Krakow orchestra that plays like a perfectly tuned organism – Sinfonietta Cracovia, which specialises in performing music of the 20th and 21st-centuries. Kang and Patton will present Virginal Co-Ordinates in a new version from this year, enriched with new pieces not heard on the original from 12 years ago. This is an additional element of the surprise – material from the album is partly improvised with every stage presentation. Even last year’s performance with Alan Bishop, the vocalist of the experimental band Sun City Girls, does not give us even a hint of an idea about what will happen on the stage of the ICE Kraków Congress Centre, especially given that the incomparable Mike Patton will be part of the performance. During Sacrum Profanum 2016, improvisation will be multiplied by the unknown, but we can be sure of one thing – this will be a concert we will remember for a long time, a great emanation of the indie classical genre, during which the classical will be a starting point for the free creativity of world-renowned artists.
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