• Total Immersion: Henryk Górecki

The Barbican Centre, London, has just announced its programme for 2015-16.  Among the events are three BBC Symphony Orchestra ‘Total Immersion’ days devoted to Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (3 October 2015), Louis Andriessen (13 February 2016) and Henri Dutilleux (30 April 2016).

The programme for the Górecki day covers chamber, choral and orchestral music.  I am particularly pleased to see the programme for the final event, when the BBC SO will be conducted – for the first time – by Antoni Wit, with a line-up of exciting soloists.  The programme is terrific: the UK premiere of Kyrie and the effervescent Harpsichord Concerto, framed by two rarely performed but characteristically gritty and luminous works from Górecki’s late 30s.  It will be quite a day.

• 11.00  Talk: ‘Henryk Górecki, Polish Pioneer’; given by me…
• 13.00  String Quartets nos 1 (1988) and 2 (1991); Silesian String Quartet
• 15.00  Film: Please Find Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (2012, dir. Violetta Rotter-Kozera); introduced by me…
• 17.30  Totus Tuus (1987), Four Preludes (1955), Marian Songs (1985), Church Songs (1986, selection); BBC Singers, conducted by James Morgan, pianist tba
• 19.00  Learning Project culmination
• 19.30  Old Polish Music (1969), Kyrie* (2005), Harpsichord Concerto (1980), Second Symphony ‘Copernican’ (1972); Mahan Esfahani, Marie Arnet and Neal Davies, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC SO, conducted by Antoni Wit; BBC recording co-presented by me…

[October 2015: the full programme notes are available here]