Purification is an experiment from the borderline of music and theatre. The project asks the question about the point of contact between these two areas and the tension that exists between them.

Award-winning composer Agata Zubel was invited to take part in the project by composing a chamber music score adapted to the structure of the play. The piece, performed by a group of instrumentalists, is accompanied by the performance presented by Iwona Budner, actress of the Stary National Theatre.

The artists want to ask a question about the understanding of the term conducting in all the meanings of the word. Is there still a place for the idea of conducting in contemporary art and – in a broader sense – in the world? Can art do without it? If not - how to build it anew, based on different rules and principles? And if it can, who will conduct, when it emerges at the junction of musical structure and theatrical anarchy?

The stage analysis focuses on the emancipatory character of artistic actions and the possibility blurring the lines between high culture and everyday life.

The project is directed by Katarzyna Kalwat, a recognized and award-winning artist, whose previous performance at the Łaźnia Nowa Theatre – Return to Reims – was one of the most popular theatre releases of the previous season. Beniamin Bukowski, winner of several Polish and international awards and playwriting scholarships, is responsible for the dramaturgy. The project was co-created by Agata Zubel – world-famous composer and winner of the Paszport Polityki Award, who is working on a new arrangement of her compositions for the performance. Choreography is created by Wojciech Grudziński, a graduate of Rotterdam Dance Academy. The performance by one actress– Iwona Budner – is accompanied by live music performed by an ensemble of ten instrumentalists under the direction of Andrzej Bauer, an outstanding cellist and conductor.

Art of Conducting (2021) pre-release
Directed by: Katarzyna Kalwat
Dramaturgy: Beniamin Bukowski
Music: Agata Zubel
Choreography: Wojciech Grudziński
Assistant director, stage and costume design collaboration: Julia Łucja Mazur
Theatre stage manager: Monika Weis

Performers:
Iwona Budner
and ensemble:
Małgorzata Mikulska - flute
Oleksander Pecheniuk - bassoon
Krzysztof Guńka - saxophone
Krystian Jarosz - trumpet
Kamil Pasikowski - trombone
Natalia Orszak - violin
Aleksandra Lignar - cello
Konrad Zapotoczny - double bass
Paweł Chmielewski - drums
Martyna Zakrzewska - piano
Musical director: Andrzej Bauer