The International Festival of Contemporary Music Warsaw Autumn has been taking place annually since 1956 when it was established by the Polish Composers' Union during the 'thaw' preceding October'56. Invented by young composers Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki and conceived as a mean of freeing Polish music from the impasse in which it had found itself as a result of long-lasting isolation from the outside world, the festival became a review of contemporary music with all its diverse styles, attitudes, means and techniques; it provided Polish composers the opportunity to confront their work with that of their foreign collegues; Polish audiences were introduced to the unfamiliar world of new music, which initially aroused much emotion and controversy. From the beginning the festival was a refuge of artistic freedom, which made it appealing to artists and listeners and a thorn in the side of adherents of socialist realism in 'fraternal countries'. For years it has been the only place of meetings of the music of the East and West. Still, being held in a country under Communist rule, the festival did not avoid its share of restrictions due to political circumstances.

Today, Warsaw Autumn continues to be one of the world's most important and biggest festivals of contemporary music. Each year the festival receives around 500 offers from interested performers and over 300 scores. It has accumulated an impressive collection of nearly four thousands live recordings of works by composers from around the world, a full set of 'sound chronicle' dating back to the first festival, an extensive collection of music scores, etc. In 1994 Warsaw Autumn put out its compact disc with a recording of Witold Lutosławski's last concert in 1993.

The festival has traditionally been sponsored by its official patron, the Ministry of Culture and Arts. In last few years, however, the festival has increasingly collaborated with other institutions like Polish Radio, Polish Television, the City Hall of Warsaw, Governor of Warsaw province, Foundation of Culture, ZaiKS Authors' Association, Stefan Batory Foundation (Open Society Fund) and many foreign organisations, who enables the participation of foreign ensembles and soloists including the British Council, French Institute, Austrian Culture Institute, Australian Council, Goethe Institut, Arts International, Gaudeamus Foundation, Association Francaise d'Action Artistique, Stuftung für Deutsch-Polnische Zusammenarbeit, the Foreign Affairs Ministries of Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Hungary, France, embassies, airlines and commercial sponsors.

At the 42 festival to date there were played about 4000 works by over 900 composers from all over the world. There is also a host of excellent Polish and foreign musicians, only a few of which will be named here, as a comprehensive list would have to comprise thousands of names...

• Pianists: Alfred Brendel, Arthur Rubinstein, Sviatoslav Richter, Krystian Zimerman, Marek Drewnowski, Ewa Pobłocka, Michael Kieran Harvey, Janusz Olejniczak, Peter and Patrik Jablonski, Rolf Hind; in 2000 we will have Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Nelson Goerner among others;
• Violinists: David Oistrakh, Wanda Wiłkomistrka, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Ivry Gitlis, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Saschko Gawriloff, Grigori Zhislin, Krzysztof Bakowski, Weronika Macchia-Kadłubkiewicz...
• Cellists: Mstislav Rostropowich, Roman Jabłoński, Ivan Monighetti, Boris Pergamenschikow
• Singers: Stefania Woytowicz, Halina Łukomska, Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter pears, John Shirley-Quirk, Bernard Ładysz, Andrzej Hiolski, ...
• Conductors: Ernest Ansermet, Evgeni Mravinsky, Kurt Masur, Ernest Bour, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Witold Rowicki, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Kazimierz Kord, Cristobál Halffter, Jan Krenz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, Antoni Wit, Reinbert de Leeuw, Anne Manson, Christoph Poppen, Jacek Kaspszyk, Mikko Franck, Christian Eggen, Peter Eötvös; in 2000 - Arturo Tamayo;
• Chamber ensembles: Ensemble InterContemporain, Schönberg Ensemble, Münchenner Kammerorchester, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Avanti!, Oslo Sinfonietta, LaSalle, Juilliard, Arditti, Kronos, Wilanów and Silesian string quartets;
• Vocal groups: Hilliard Ensemble, Electric Phoenix, BBC Singers, King's Singers, Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, Camerata Silesia, Süddeutscher Rundfunk-Chor from Stuttgart, Schola Cantorum Gedanensis;
• Orchestras: Wiener Symphoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, SWF-Orchester Baden-Baden, Kölner Rundfunk-Symphonieorchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, The London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk from Leipzig, Polish National Philharmonic, Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, Polish Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Radio Kamerorkest, Hilversum;
• Musical theatres: Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Staatsoper Berlin, Württembergisches Staatstheater Stuttgart, Niedersächsisches Staatstheater Hannover, Moscow Chamber Music Theatre, grand Theatres of Warsaw, Łódź and poznań, Wrocław Opera;

OPINIONS:

"Pleasant and breathtaking, Warsaw autumn is 'normal' festival of new music." - Irene Tungler, Frankfurter Rundschau - Nov. 25, 1991.

"Warsaw Autumn is and was the annual calling card of the Polish Composers' Union, a democratically balanced event, perhaps one of the few well-managed things in Poland. National patriotic excess is avoided by maintaining a suitable proportion of domestic and foreign compositions." - Antoni Buchner, Kultura, Paris: Instytut Literacki - Dec., 1991.

"Today the Warsaw Autumn is just one music festival among many, East and West, and hardly the richest. But it remains one of the best: open, engaged and full of judiciously chosen scores and remarkably accomplished performances." - John Rockwell, New York Times - Sept. 27, 1993.

"Warsaw autumn is probably the richest contemporary music festival in the world. Not in terms of financial resources, but of the diversity of its programme and the high performing standards." - Andrzej Panufnik (Andrzej Panufnik and his music - book by Tadeusz Kaczyński, Warsaw: PWM - 1994).

"I feel that the best feature of the festival is its broad programme, put together in an unbiased way. One of the festival's strong points is that it does not represent any specific option (...). It is in a sense an exceptional festival by virtue of its organisation. The Programme Commission which determines the nature of the festival, its artistic tendencies and ultimate form, is made up - if that's the right expression - of experts in the field of contemporary music, composers and musicologists (...) - Witold Lutosławski (Conversations with Witold Lutosławski - book by Tadeusz Kaczyński, Kraków: PWM - 1972).

"Warsaw autumn has always been one of the most important festivals for contemporary music in the world (...)" Henk Heuvelmans, Director of Gaudeamus Foundation, General Secretary of European Conference of Promoters of New Music, the Netherlands, 1996.

"What struck us was the size and enthusiasm of audiences, great acoustics in the halls, and the number of young people present at each concert" - Tim Reynish, Wind Orchestra of Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester) - about Warsaw Autumn 1999