Polish orchestra on first US tour looks for great achievements
WORCESTER — The Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic Orchestra in Lublin, Poland, is widely acclaimed by music critics and the public and has gone on many international concert tours.
Wojciech Rodek, director and principal conductor of the orchestra, born in 1977, has been called "one of the most prominent conductors of his generation."
However, neither the orchestra nor Rodek had visited the United States until they flew out on a plane flew from Warsaw, Poland, to Miami, Florida on Jan. 12.
On Jan. 15, Rodek led the orchestra for its first concert on U.S. soil at Daytona Beach. The tour will run into early March. "So it's a long tour. Fifty-five days," Rodek said.
The tour will include a concert at Mechanics Hall at 8 p.m. Feb. 11 presented by Music Worcester.
The program includes Rossini's Gazza Ladra Overture, Grieg's Piano Concerto, and Schubert's Symphony No. 9 “Great.”
The guest pianist is Tomasz Ritter, who won the first International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments.
Rodek said he looked up Mechanics Hall ahead of time.
"I saw this concert hall only in photos, but it's a great venue and in Worcester I hope we will play a very great concert," he said.
Pandemic a challenge
The orchestra has chosen quite a challenging time to make its first visit to the U.S. as the Omicron variant has continued to fuel the COVID pandemic and other individuals or performing groups have been canceling concerts (including The Knights & Aaron Diehl who had been scheduled to perform at Mechanics Hall Jan. 14).
"The tour is very, very interesting. Sometimes stressing. A big chance to play very good halls with fantastic audiences," Rodek said during a recent telephone interview from South Carolina where the orchestra was going to perform that night at The Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center.
Arranging a concert tour is something that is done months in advance.
"Our planning, I thought it would be the end of this catastrophic time," Rodek said of the pandemic.
However, once Rodek and the orchestra committed to coming, there was no backing down.
"It was very difficult to do it. But for us it's important. It's our first (U.S.) tour. I think we are the first symphonic orchestra that comes to the United States (since the pandemic). I think it's very important in this difficult time to make live music and hope for the future that the end of the pandemic is very close," he said.
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
So this could end up being a victory tour for the Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic Orchestra.
Rodek noted that one of the works it is performing on its U.S. tour (although not in Worcester) is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
"It's a symphony of fight. The first notes are symbol of the letter 'V' (for Victory)."
In the Second World War the Allies played the opening of the symphony on radio broadcasts symbolizing ultimate victory.
"I hope it's the symbol of our victory over COVID 19," Rodek said.
The Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic Orchestra previously celebrated victory when it was the first to perform a symphony concert in post- World War II Poland on May 18, 1945. It had just been formed a few months earlier.
The orchestra's home is Lublin, a city of about 350,000 people in Eastern Poland that had suffered considerably under the Nazi occupation.
Lublin has a long cultural history, and the orchestra is named after Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880), a violinist and composer who is regarded as among the greatest violinists of all time.
"We are very close to his music," Rodek said.
Worldwide tour
The orchestra stays close to its community. "Our hall is very nice. Our orchestra is very popular in Poland. I am very lucky to be the principal conductor. The audience always welcomes us," Rodek said.
Tours have included performances in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Germany, South Korea, Denmark and Ukraine.
Rodek, who is from in Brzeg, Poland, began studying piano at the age of 8 and then turned to conducting at the Music Academy in Wroclaw, Poland. He also studied conducting in Moscow.
In 2015, he was awarded the Medal of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for “Merit to Culture-Gloria Artis.”
On his initiative, the Youth Orchestra of the Wieniawski Philharmonic was established, which brings together the most talented young musicians from across Eastern Poland.
Pre-pandemic the orchestra was putting on about four to five symphonic programs a month.
Currently, "we have chamber concerts with limited orchestra," Rodek said. Seating capacity in the concert hall is about 30% at present.
The Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic Orchestra is "a state orchestra," Rodek said. "It's a little different than in the United States."
The orchestra receives government support, although that is not the be all and end all, especially in these difficult times.
As orchestra director "I have to work very hard not only in music but in business," Rodek said.
Tomasz Ritter, who is originally from Lublin, won the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments playing on pianos from the composer's era in the 1840s. The orchestra isn't carrying around an 1842 piano on its U.S. tour, Rodek said.
Worcester to hear piano concerto
Not much else will be missing from Ritter's prize-winning renditions.
"His (Ritter's) phrasing, his construction of music is very extraordinary. I think he is one of the most important pianists in the world. He was born in Lublin, so we know him well," Rodek said.
In Worcester, Ritter will be playing Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor (1868), the only piano concerto the Norwegian composer completed.
Nevertheless, it is such a masterpiece that Grieg is called "the Chopin of the North," Rodek said in reference to the shared brilliance with Polish composer Frédéric Chopin.
"So the music of Grieg and Chopin are very close," Rodek said.
The "Great" Symphony (1825-26), is the the final symphony completed by the German composer Franz Schubert. It is a lengthy work, but mesmerizingly so, that builds music and then is rhythmically relentless at the end.
"It's very close to my heart. Our history (Poland and Germany) was so close. Not only tragical history, the music is so close to our folk melodies," Rodek said.
The "Great" Symphony can be a great way to conclude a successful visit.
"The symphony is so long. The last movement plays very fast notes. It's very difficult from a physical point of view," Rodek said.
"It is for us, every time we play this symphony, a great achievement."
The Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic Orchestra — presented by Music Worcester
When: 8 p.m., Feb. 11
Where: Mechanics Hall, 321 Main St., Worcester
How much: $55; students $17.50; youth $7.50. Proof of vaccination and wearing of masks required. musicworcester.org
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Polish orchestra on first U.S. tour looks for great achievements
