Perth and its twin town of Bydgoszcz in Poland will take centre stage this spring as they provide the focus for an ‘exchange' featuring two major orchestras from Scotland and Poland.
The harmonious trade will see Perth welcome Filharmonia Pomorska from Bydgoszcz as part of its Scottish Tides-Polish Spring celebrations and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra perform in the Polish town on the first leg of its Eastern European tour.
A symphony orchestra in the grand Eastern European tradition - full blooded and dramatic - Filharmonia Pomorska will provide the classical climax for the Scottish Tides-Polish Spring festival when it performs at Perth Concert Hall on Sunday 5 April.
The programme includes Symanowski's Violin Concerto No1 Op.35 and Górecki's moving and spiritual Symphony No3 Op.3, ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' - the best selling classical recording of the 1990s.
‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' will strike a familiar chord with many as it has been used as atmospheric and evocative background music for a number of films and television shows. It continues to be used to this day to convey mournful and sombre moods.
The performance will be a relaxing ‘soak' at the end of a day of total immersion in classical music at Perth Concert Hall starting at 1pm with a lunchtime Chopin piano recital with Nikolai Demidenko, described by The Times as having an "extraordinary intimacy with the piano", followed at 5pm by Hebrides Ensemble performing a full programme of smaller Górecki pieces, offering a broader portrait of this very individual composer, showing both his humour and his spiritual side.
On 18 March, virtuoso Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski directs the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall in Mozart's Piano Concerto in B flat, K456 and the Concerto in C minor K491. SCO Leader Christopher George directs from the violin in Mozart's Divertimento in E flat K113 and Bach's Overture, Lucio Silla.
Anderszewski and the orchestra will then perform in Edinburgh and Glasgow before heading off to Anderszewski's native Poland for the first two concerts of an Eastern European tour in Bydgoszcz and Krakow. The SCO then travels to Budapest in Hungary and Istanbul in Turkey.
Svend Brown, creative director (classical music) for Horsecross and one of the organisers of Scottish Tides-Polish Spring, said:
"It is no mean feat to shift an entire orchestra, in fact, there are so many of them in Filharmonia Pomorska that at one point it looked like it would make economic sense to charter a plane to bring them and jazz act Sing Sing Penelope (also from Bydgoszcz who are performing at Perth Theatre Redrooms as part of Scottish Tides - Polish Spring) here to perform!
"Scottish Tides-Polish Spring highlights centuries of shared cultural connections, and, what better way to celebrate this than by having a top Scottish orchestra perform in Poland whilst, at the same time, welcoming Polish performers to Scotland?
"We look forward to giving the eighty two visiting musicians a warm Scottish welcome and I am sure that members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra will be given a fantastic reception on their Polish trip."
Organised by Horsecross, the creative enterprise behind Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre, with support from Homecoming Scotland 2009 and Perth and Kinross Council, Scottish Tides-Polish Spring is a three month long cultural feast celebrating centuries of close connections between Scotland and Poland. It forms part of the national Homecoming celebrations.
Concentrated over several weekends from February to May, Scottish Tides-Polish Spring features a range of unique collaborations, performances, exhibitions and events at Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre.
For more information about individual Scottish Tides-Polish Spring events and tickets, call Horsecross Box Office on 01738 621 031 or click here.