Norwid's Letters is a project commissioned by the International Music Festival Chopin and his Europe - its concept is based on a musical interpretation of selected texts from Poland's fourth Romantic bard, read by the famous actor Andrzej Chyra. The world of improvisation appears in an intriguing relationship with the selection of Norwid's texts, which are an impulse for musicians to create an individual and unique commentary.
The trio of Kasia Pietrzko has been dynamically conducting its activities, both in concerts and phonographic projects for several years. Thanks to their extensive performance practice, the ensemble has become extremely coherent in terms of sound, which has undoubtedly contributed to the dynamic development of its career. The leader of the trio is a laureate of, among others Mateusz - the music award of the Polish Radio Three in the Debut of the Year category for the album Forthright Stories (2018) and the Grand Prix award "Jazz Melomani" in the Music Lovers' Hope category (2018). The monthly "Jazz Forum" awarded her the title of New Hope of 2019, she was also nominated for a Fryderyk 2018 Music Award in the Debut of the Year category. In Letters the trio is joined by the alto saxophonist Maciej Kądziela, with whom Kasia Pietrzko first collaborated in the USA during the recording of the album Jammin with KC at Make Believe Studios in Kansas City. In an article describing the performance of "Jazz Forum Talents" at the Jazz on Odra festival, Andrzej Zieliński of the Polish Radio Two wrote: "I particularly liked the singing of Maciek Kądziela's saxophone, sometimes sounding like Stańko's lamenting trumpet. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the collaboration of the pianist and the saxophonist - after all, Kasia Pietrzko performed with Tomasz Stańko just before his death ”.
Andrzej Chyra is one of the most respected film and theatre actors - constantly looking for new forms of expression and non-obvious artistic confrontations. He collaborated and collaborates with the most important directors, incl. with Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Krauze, Krzysztof Zanussi, Feliks Falk, Marek Koterski, Jacek Borcuch and Małgorzata Szumowska. In the theatre, he has appeared in performances including by directors Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Agnieszka Glińska, and Grzegorz Jarzyna. In 2001, he played Dionysos in Euripides' Bacchae directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the Rozmaitości Theatre in Warsaw. Since then, he has been performing constantly in the theatre of Krzysztof Warlikowski. An important part of Andrzej Chyra's artistic work is opera directing. He made his debut in this role in 2013 with the staging of Players based on a libretto by Nikolai Gogol and with music by Dmitri Shostakovich at the Baltic Opera in Gdańsk. At the request of Malta Festival Poznań, he also undertook the staging of the Magic Mountain with music by Paweł Mykietyn to a libretto by Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk and with stage sets by Mirosław Bałka. As a director, he also collaborates with the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera - in 2019, the premiere of Carmen directed by him too place, inspired by the Mexican arthouse cinema of the by Carlos Reygadas.
Having listened to almost all of the festival's twenty-seven concerts, let me finally make a private discovery. It was a jazz concert, inspired by the poetry of Norwid, interpreted by Andrzej Chyra, a trio of extremely energetic young pianist Kasia Pietrzko, with a guest appearance by the brilliant saxophonist Maciej Kądziela. Their performance was a reference to the festival concert from years ago, when Tomasz Stańko was inspired by Chopin.
Jacek Marczyński, "Rzeczpospolita"