After almost 2 years of a pandemic crisis, could we say that we can slowly go back to the same situation as before? Probably that will not be the case as many signals are showing that beyond this crisis, a lot of things are changing and that we may enter a chaotic period, full of doubts as well as expectations. As a reflection of this situation the next edition of the MEN festival will be very diverse, putting the audience at some kind of cross-roads with a lot of different paths to take.

Of course, some global objectives of the festival will remain: the exploration of new forms of concert, the integration of new medias in the music art, our wish to develop a wide programme in terms of aesthetics and to invite artists from abroad. Some projects we could not perform because of restrictions in 2021 will be included in this programme as we want to support the artists and not cancel those projects.

We are planning to keep some of the categories of our previous programmes, such as the cycle Akusma Forum dedicated to electroacoustic art, projects including performative aspects, new commissions for Polish and international composers and, of course, the partnership with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, which we could not carry out in 2021 as well as all the project dedicated to our young audience.

Mostly we hope to be able to share again with curiosity and joy the diverse routes taken today by composers; and to conceive the festival as a space of freedom for all kinds of expression, encouraging dialogue with audiences and offering guidelines in this chaotic world where, we hope, freedom will always keep us together.

Pierre Jodlowski
Artistic Director of Musica Electronica Nova Festival