The Warsaw Autumn International Contemporary Music Festival is the biggest event of its kind in Poland. For many years it was the only festival of this type in Central and Eastern Europe. The Polish Composers' Association started the festival in 1956, and it has become traditional that it is held annually over eight days during the second half of September.

The festival's main aim is to present the variety of trends in new music throughout the world and in Poland, and to encourage the development of Polish music.

This year's 50th jubilee festival will be held Sept. 21-29. The program includes five symphony concerts, six chamber music performances, one chamber opera performance, nine concerts by smaller groups (violin quartet, piano duet, harpsichord recital and an electro-acoustic music concert), and nearly 20 complementary events including concerts, conferences, meetings and exhibitions.

Other attractions include a concert to be held at the Expo XXI exhibition hall; Paweł Szymański's Ceci n'est pas une ouverture and Kaija Saariaho's cello concert; a performance by the outstanding SWR Baden-Baden/Freiburg radio orchestra with conductor Rupert Huber; and the finale concert with two enormous vocal and instrumental works: Sofia Gubajdulina's Resurrection and Krzysztof Penderecki's Jutrznia II.

In total, 22 world premieres of new compositions have been commissioned for the Warsaw Autumn jubilee.

Among notable musicians there will be Teodoro Anzelotti, Marco Blaauw, Kuba Jakowicz, Anssi Karttunen, Urszula Kryger, Tine Rehling and Mike Svoboda. Conductors including Ruediger Bohn, Reinbert de Leeuw and Antoni Wit will lead international orchestras such as the Israel Contemporary Players, Klangforum Wien, Elision Ensemble (Australia), Megaron Orchestra (Greece), Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain (France) and Ensemble Mosaik (Germany).

The prestige of the festival is accentuated by the best Polish contemporary composers Krzysztof Penderecki, Wojciech Kilar and Henryk Górecki, who are co-chairmen of the Warsaw Autumn 50th Jubilee Honorary Committee.

More information: www.warszawska-jesien.art.pl