Andrzej Grygier – as the winner of the guitar competition from the last edition of the Festival – will begin the evening concert at the Mediateka in Tychy. He belongs to the group of the most promising European classical guitarists. He is a first-prize winner of many prestigious guitar competitions, including the Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition in Alessandria, the Baltimore International Guitar Competition, Forum Gitarre Wien, and the Silesian Guitar Autumn. He has also won prizes at renowned competitions and festivals throughout Europe, including in Weimar, Gorizia, Kutná Hora, Zagreb, Budapest, Stuttgart, Tallinn, and Louisville. He has performed as a soloist with leading orchestras under the baton of conductors such as Ilya Gajsin, Georg Köhler, Nicolas Milton, Roberto Zarpellon, Jonathan Darlington, Maciej Tomasiewicz, Marek Moś, Miłosz Kula, and Anna Sułkowska-Migoń. His solo recitals have been presented at music festivals in Russia, Slovakia, Germany, Romania, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Belgium, France, Italy, and the United States.
In 2022, he was recognized by “The Acoustic Guitar Magazine” as a rising star of the classical guitar.
The second part of the concert will feature the European Guitar Quartet, an ensemble already well-known to the festival audience. Here, two legends of the classical guitar meet two virtuosos of modern fingerstyle, creating an innovative and fresh sound for the instrument. This is not the traditionally understood classical guitar – it is a completely new experience of guitar music. This is a unique meeting of four outstanding personalities from the guitar world that transcends boundaries of genres, traditions, and musical habits. The program Turn The World Around is a fascinating journey through classical music, jazz, tango nuevo, rock, world music, and modern fingerstyle – full of energy, virtuosity, and unexpected sounds. The repertoire will include compositions by the legendary Astor Piazzolla, including the sensual Verano porteño from the cycle The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires and the emotionally charged Concierto para quinteto, in which South American temperament meets masterly guitar narrative. Alongside them, original pieces by the quartet members – Reentko Dirks, Thomas Fellow, and Pavel Steidl – will be heard, showcasing the extraordinary diversity of contemporary guitar music: from lyrical landscapes and subtle impressions to rhythmically pulsating compositions with an almost rock-like energy. The audience will also hear surprising interpretations of tracks by Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, which acquire a new, highly original face in the quartet’s performance. The culmination of the evening will be the optimistic and vibrantly energetic song Turn the World Around by Harry Belafonte – a musical message of openness, community, and the joy derived from the meeting of cultures.
The quartet’s concert is not only a display of the highest guitar craftsmanship but above all an extraordinary musical experience in which tradition meets modernity, and the guitar unfolds entirely new worlds of sound before the listeners.
Part I
Andrzej Grygier – guitar
Program:
Part II
European Guitar Quartet consisting of:
Zoran Dukić (Croatia)
Pavel Steidl (Czech Republic)
Thomas Fellow (Germany)
Reentko Dirks (Germany)
Program:
Turn The World Around