In May 2015, the City of Katowice—the capital of the Polish region of Silesia—introduced a new music festival called Katowice Kultura Natura Festival 2015: Metamorphoses, taking place in the newly opened music hall of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (NOSPR) under the artistic direction of the orchestra’s conductor-in-chief, Alexander Liebreich. In 2016, Katowice were awarded the status of UNESCO City of Music and the festival returns in full force with 10 concerts stretched over 10 consecutive evenings from May 13 to 22, 2016. The theme for this year’s edition is Spirituality.Apart from the unifying theme, the programme is truly varied. It ranges from Grigory Sokolov’s intimate piano recital and a Liederabend featuring Franz-Josef Selig accompanied by Gerold Huber, to performances of Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, to a concert in a full-fledged symphony orchestra and choir settings with Alexander Liebreich, NOSPR, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and sopranist Iwona Sobotka; from Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn to Stravinsky, Messiaen, Szymanowski, and jazz. In addition to those mentioned above, the list of artists making their appearance at the festival includes conductors Ilan Volkov, Marek Moś, and Thomas Søndergård; ensembles such as Cuarteto Casals and AUKSO Chamber Orchestra; and soloists Matan Porat, Valérie Hartmann-Claverie, Claire Booth, Tatiana Monogarova, Sergei Leiferkus, as well as Charles Lloyd who will present his Wild Man Dance Project, accompanied by Gerald Clayton, Reuben Rogers, Eric Harland, Sokratis Sinopoulos, and Miklos Lukacs.

For full programme of Katowice Kultura Natura Festival 2016: Spirituality, see:  http://kulturanatura.eu/

Ester Lavoie Fialová