Flute Ensembles across Europe 2019

The European Flute Ensemble Event

 

The first event to be organized by the European Flute Council was held in collaboration with Ewa Murawska and our Polish friends in Poznan from April 5th – 7th 2019. Most of the concerts and workshops took place at the M. Karlowicz Lower Music School, and a Gala Concert was held at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Music Academy.

Two major concerts featured artists both local to Poland (Ewa Murawska, Antoni Wierzbiński, Lucasz Zimnik with pianists Natalia Donanska and Hanna Lizinkiewicz) and elsewhere (Lars Asbjornson, Ruth Wentorf, Sophie Dufeutrelle, Sibel Pensel, Carla Rees, Millica Milojevic-Bogdanovic, Gudrun Hinze, Stefan Keller and Matthias Ziegler).

The event opened with a presentation by Ewa Murawska of a new book about the life and career of Barbara Świątek-Żelazna.

The event attracted flute ensembles containing flute players of all ages and experience from Poland, Portugal, Spain, France, the UK, Germany, Turkey, Israel and Sweden. We were treated to a fantastic variety of music and styles of playing, and some groups incorporated theatrical and dance elements. Some of the groups were multi-generational, and we also had some outstanding playing from student groups from Istanbul, Aveiro, Warsaw, Lodz, and the Cote d’Azur. There were also many experienced adult groups on show.

The sophistication of some of the playing was exceptional, and composers featured included Marin Marais, Mozart, Grieg, Bernstein, Piazzola, Bill Evans and Freddy Mercury. There were also some notable first performances of works, including two world premieres of works by Polish composers given by students from the Lodz Music Academy.

We were also fortunate to have lectures and workshops on particular aspects of flute ensembles given by our international artists, including the problems of arranging for this combination, interpreting and communication, founding a flute ensemble, technical aspects of playing, improvisation and contemporary music for flute ensemble.

Throughout the festival our colleagues from the trade provided valuable support to the event. These included Adams, Flutissimo, Eva Kingma, Jarmula Music, Jan Junker, Mancke flutes, Piotr Smietana, Silesia Music Centre, Merakel, Edition Svitzer and Alec Music and Merakel.

The Festival Flute Choir was rehearsed and directed by the indefatigable Sophie Dufeutrelle, and made up mainly of local students, some of which also took part in masterclasses. Their final concert which included a work featuring Matthias Ziegler and his contrabass flute, was a fitting end to a memorable event.

Finally, we thank most sincerely the distinguished Polish flautists Barbara Świątek-Żelazna and Antoni Wierzbiński for their support and enthusiasm for this project in their native country.

We thank our Polish host Ewa Murawska most sincerely for the warmth of her welcome to us and look forward to facilitating future collaborations between European flute players!