{"id":11575,"date":"2025-11-19T14:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T13:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/?p=11575"},"modified":"2025-11-19T14:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T13:15:13","slug":"andrzej-panufnik-and-the-art-of-wycinanki-music-memory-and-polish-folk-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/london\/2025\/11\/19\/andrzej-panufnik-and-the-art-of-wycinanki-music-memory-and-polish-folk-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrzej Panufnik and the Art of Wycinanki: Music, Memory and Polish Folk Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As part of the UK\/Poland Season 2025, the British Library invites you to an afternoon celebrating the rich intersection between Polish music and folk art. Andrzej Panufnik and The Art of Wycinanki<\/em> brings together live performance, expert discussion, and rare archival materials to explore one of Poland\u2019s most important 20th-century composers through a striking visual tradition that helped shape his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panufnik\u2019s Return and His Third String Quartet<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Polish-British composer Andrzej Panufnik<\/strong> wrote his String Quartet No. 3<\/em> in 1990, shortly after his first visit to Poland since leaving in 1954. The work is infused with emotion, memory, and deep cultural reconnection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his own words, written before the quartet\u2019s premiere:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMy Quartet No. 3 emerged from my lifelong attachment to the rustic art of Poland \u2013 especially the paper-cuts (\u2018Wycinanki\u2019 in Polish) \u2013 symmetrical designs of magical abstract beauty and naive charm.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These traditional paper cut-outs (wycinanki<\/em>)\u2014delicate, geometric, and vividly expressive\u2014inspired Panufnik\u2019s interest in symmetry, structure, and the interplay between shape and sound. The event will illuminate these artistic connections through manuscripts, visual examples from the British Library\u2019s collections, and the music itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live Music and Expert Insights<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are delighted to welcome the Fiora Quartet<\/strong>, who will perform Panufnik\u2019s String Quartet No. 3<\/em>, as well as Roxanna Panufnik\u2019s<\/strong> moving tribute „O tu Andrzej”<\/em> from Memories of My Father<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside the performances, curators Olga Topol<\/strong> (Slavonic and Eastern European Collections) and Chris Scobie<\/strong> (Music Manuscripts & Archives) will share manuscripts, archival documents, and rare examples of the wycinanki<\/em> tradition, offering a deeper look at the cultural world that shaped Panufnik\u2019s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Programme<\/strong>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n