With the assistance of the RA ESCS Ministry, the Penderecki Contemporary Classics’ 3^rd Festival, which this year is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the great Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, has been launched in Yerevan. RA ESCS Minister Zhanna Andreasyan and the widow of the composer Elzbieta Penderecka attended the concert.

The festival is organized by the State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia. The concert featured Penderecki Symphony No.2 “Christmas Symphony”, a concerto written for flute and chamber orchestra, as well as a work by Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa “Time Goes By: Passacaglia” dedicated to Elzbieta Penderecki. Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, by the way, studied conducting and composition under Krzysztof Penderecki. Ioanna Wnuk-Nazarowa also came to Yerevan and attended the opening of the festival.

Famous flautist Noemi Gyori performed with the State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia during the evening. The concert was conducted by conductor Sergey Smbatyan.

The mission of the festival is to introduce Armenian music lovers to modern-world classical music, introduce contemporary composers, as well as to preserve the name of Krzysztof Penderecki.

According to Sergey Smbatyan, Penderecki created a new musical language with his compositional art and remained in history. It is a great responsibility to hold a festival named after the legendary composer. According to him, for many years of close cooperation with Penderecki, both he and the State Symphony Orchestra of Armenia were inspired by his art, and communication with the great maestro enriched everyone.

It is the second time the Hungarian flautist Noemi Gyori has performed in Armenia. She said she was glad to present Penderecki's concert in Armenia. According to the musician, the flute is a melodic instrument, it can be mystical, powerful, at the same time soft and very unexpected, and these qualities of a musical instrument are fully revealed in Penderecki's beautiful, melodic concert. By the way, the flautist performed this concert a few years ago in Krakow, where Penderecki lived.

It should be noted that in the coming days, within the framework of the Penderecki Contemporary Classics' 3^rd Festival, three more chamber and symphony concerts will be held, during which works by modern Armenian and foreign composers will be performed, most of which are performed in Armenia for the first time.