KARŁOWICZ FEST | Opening concert

For several decades, we have become accustomed to saying the phrase “Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin” in a single breath. It has become so familiar that Szczecin and Mieczysław Karłowicz seem inseparably linked. We even carry this connection far beyond our city. Wherever our initiatives appear, wherever our musicians perform, and wherever we promote our events, the name of our patron is heard time and again.

But do we ourselves truly know who Mieczysław Karłowicz was? Do we know what kind of person he was, what mattered to him, and what he sought to convey through his music, his writings, and his life? On the 150th anniversary of Karłowicz’s birth, for the first time in our history, we will ask ourselves: “What does it mean to have him as our patron?” And further: “What does it mean not only for the Philharmonic, but also for our entire concert community?”

Karłowicz Fest is an unprecedented encounter with the music of Mieczysław Karłowicz. Each evening, we will discover the unique value his music holds for us-not only for the residents of Szczecin, but also for all the visitors who will come to take advantage of the rare opportunity to hear his masterful symphonic poems performed by Poland’s leading orchestras.

Youth as the courage to confront the world-this idea can be found in two of Mieczysław Karłowicz’s early works, composed during his years of study in Berlin. The Violin Concerto in A major, written for his mentor and violin teacher Stanisław Barcewicz, is a work full of energy, lyricism, and youthful expressiveness. The Rebirth Symphony goes a step further, becoming a musical narrative about struggling with pessimism and finding the strength to rise and begin anew. In these works, we hear a young artist boldly entering the world and taking on its challenges.

The symphony is one of the most personal statements made by the young Karłowicz. The composer himself provided it with a programme describing the story of a soul travelling from doubt to inner transformation. The work begins with an image of shattered youthful dreams and a sense of emptiness-a moment when a person loses direction and purpose. Yet from this state of inertia, a new life force gradually emerges: first comes a vision of happiness, then a painful confrontation with reality, and finally a decisive struggle in which the soul regains its balance and achieves triumph. The symphony’s finale brings a hymn of rebirth-the conviction that, despite experiencing doubt and despair, a person can find within themselves the energy to start anew. It is with this conviction that we will conclude the festival’s opening evening.

Listen to the excerpts of Karłowicz's works to be performed at this concert: