Event archive

MOCAK and Spółdzielnia Muzyczna invite you to a series of five workshops for youth, adults, and seniors, aimed at introducing participants to the most important trends in 20th- and 21st-century music in relation to painting, sculpture, video art, and performance.

The workshops will be led by instrumentalists from the Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble.

• Conceptualism in Sound and Visual Arts
  16 November 2025, 2:00–3:30 p.m.
  Wesoła, Headquarters of Spółdzielnia Muzyczna
  led by: Piotr Peszat, Aleksander Wnuk
• Musical and Visual Minimalism
  7 December 2025, 2:00–3:30 p.m.
  MOCAK
  led by: Małgorzata Mikulska, Barbara Mglej

Duration of one class – 90 minutes. Tickets (15 PLN) available here >>. The ticket entitles you to visit MOCAK on the day of the event.

The event is part of this year’s collaboration between MOCAK and Spółdzielnia Muzyczna, which takes place as part of the Spółdzielnia on site project.

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Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.

A series of five meetings for youth and adults, during which we will explore the sound possibilities of everyday objects – simple musical instruments in themselves. We believe that one of the best ways to become familiar with new music – and consequently to appreciate its qualities and enjoy its unconventional sounds – is to experience it through performance.

Outline of the workshop:

1) Collective construction of instruments from everyday objects (40 minutes);

2) Creation of a graphic score (30 minutes);

3) Joint concert of participants and instructors (20 minutes).

The workshops will be conducted by instrumentalists from the Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble.

The workshops will take place on:
6 July, 16 November 2025, 12:00 p.m. – Headquarters of Spółdzielnia Muzyczna (19 Kopernika Street, Kraków)
2 August, 30 August, 7 December 2025, 12:00 p.m. – MOCAK

Duration: 90 minutes per session
Tickets (15 PLN) available here >>.

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Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.

Mroczna liryka, dźwiękowy ekspresjonizm i widmo końca świata. Szkic operowy Hansa Krausa-Hübnera „Liebesfluch opernskizze über Georg Trakl” to spotkanie poezji i muzyki tam, gdzie granice języka rozmywają się w emocjach. Utwór inspirowany życiem i twórczością austriackiego poety Georga Trakla przenosi nas w świat jego wizji: pełnych melancholii, niepokoju i piękna, które rozpada się na naszych oczach.
Twórczość Georga Trakla wielokrotnie była inspiracją w utworach między innymi T. Hosokawy, A. Weberna, czy P. Hindemitha.

Koncert realizowany we współpracy z festiwalami Trakl-Tat festival  i Opera Rara oraz Cricoteką.

Georg Trakl (1887–1914) był jednym z najwybitniejszych poetów ekspresjonizmu austriackiego. Jego poezja – nasycona symboliką rozpadu, ciszy i duchowego napięcia – stała się inspiracją dla wielu artystów XX i XXI wieku. Trakl zmarł tragicznie w Krakowie, 3 listopada 1914 roku, pozostawiając po sobie niewielki, lecz niezwykle intensywny dorobek literacki.

PROGRAM:
Hans Kraus-Hübner – Liebesfluch – Opernskizze über Georg Trakl
Tekst: Michaela Moritz

Soliści:
Anna Zawisza, Katarzyna Guran, Wojciech Kowalski
Alexander H. Heindl

Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble:
skrzypce – Paulina Woś
altówka – Barbara Mglej
flet – Małgorzata Mikulska
saksofon – Krzysztof Guńka
klarnet – Tomasz Sowa
wiolonczela – Jakub Gucik
puzon basowy – Kacper Świątek
perkusja – Aleksander Wnuk

Wydarzenie realizowane we współpracy z festiwalami Trakl-Tat festival i Opera Rara
Dofinansowano ze środków Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego pochodzących z Funduszu Promocji Kultury — państwowego funduszu celowego, w ramach programu „Muzyka” Narodowego Instytutu Muzyki i Tańca.
Projekt współfinansowany ze środków Miasta Krakowa, Konsulatu Generalnego Austrii w Krakowie, Funduszu Popierania Twórczości – Stowarzyszenia Autorów ZAiKS, 
Współorganizator: Ośrodek Dokumentacji Sztuki Tadeusza Kantora CRICOTEKA w Krakowie

📢 Projekt finansowany przez Unię Europejską w ramach Krajowego Planu Odbudowy
Sfinansowane przez Unię Europejską NextGenerationEU
#KPOdlakultury #KPO

CONCERT PROGRAM:
Luciano Berio – Naturale,
Luciano Berio – Folk Songs
Hommage a Luciano Berio – collective composition

Soloist: Anna Zawisza

An evening dedicated to Luciano Berio is an encounter with one of the most rebellious and, at the same time, most poetic voices of the 20th century. His music balances between tradition and experiment, between what is rooted in folklore and what opens up to new sounds and forms.
In “Naturale”, Berio juxtaposes the raw, deeply expressive sound of the viola with recordings of Sicilian folk singers, creating a fascinating dialogue – between the artist and tradition, between living memory and theatrical creation. It is music in which one can hear the earth, the scent of the sea, and the echo of voices that were never written down in notes.
“Folk Songs”, in turn, is a song cycle — a tribute to the folk melodies of various cultures. Berio does not quote them naively; instead, he transforms and arranges them, giving them new life. In this music, one can hear shared human emotions: longing, joy, anger, and tenderness.
To conclude the evening, we will hear “Hommage à Luciano Berio” — a collective composition in which Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble engages in a creative dialogue with the legacy of Luciano Berio.

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Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund – under the “Music” programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
The project is also co-financed by the City of Kraków and the Fund for the Promotion of Creativity of the Society of Authors ZAiKS.

📢 Project funded by the European Union under the National Recovery Plan.
Financed by the European Union NextGenerationEU.
#KPOdlakultury #KPO

Program:
Karlheinz Stockhausen Vibra-Elufa (2003) for vibraphone solo
Aleksander Wnuk Fangor M82 (2025) for percussion object, microphone and voice
Hanna Hartman Message from the Lighthouse (2009) for percussion and electronics solo

Performer:
Aleksander Wnuk, sounds

Seemingly completely different compositions are united by the play of movement and perspective in space. Sounds are taken out of their original contexts, and thanks to this, they can be perceived in their purity before they once again unfold into the landscape.

Free admission!

CONCERT PROGRAM:
Zygmunt Krauze (1938) – Listen and Think (Polish premiere)
Monika Szpyrka (1993) – self-(un)winding (2021)
Krzysztof Penderecki – Zwei frühe Lieder (1955–60)
Juan Allende-Blin (1928) – Zwei Lieder aus: Fünf jiddische Lieder aus dem Ghetto (1979)
Eres Holz (1977) – Waisengarten (Polish premiere)
Karol Szymanowski – Masks op. 34 – reinstrumentation: Paweł Malinowski (Polish premiere)

In conversation: Zygmunt Krauze and Eres Holz

The concert guides the listener through various facets of the 20th and 21st centuries: from Krauze’s reflective philosophy, through Szpyrka’s meditative minimalism, to the youthful but already poignant songs of Penderecki. Memories of historical tragedies emerge in the songs of Allende-Blin and in Holz’s moving composition. The evening concludes with Szymanowski’s Masks — music with a face and a counter-face, reminding us that art is also play, irony, and a mirror of the world.
Krauze provokes thought — both literally and figuratively. This piece is not an illustration, but an invitation to active participation. Its title is a manifesto: listen and think. The music unfolds on the edge of silence and tension, drawing the listener into a process in which they become a co-creator of meaning.
The composition by the young Polish composer Monika Szpyrka is a kind of musical meditation on time and its spiral nature. The title suggests a process in which the form continuously evolves but never reaches a final resolution. The sounds twist, retreat, and loop — like thoughts from which it is impossible to escape.
Two early songs by the master Krzysztof Penderecki, composed before Threnody and his fame as an avant-gardist: Silence (1955) and A Request for Happy Isles (1958). These are youthful works, yet already imbued with gravity and melancholy. In these miniatures, one can hear a fascination with poetry that juxtaposes hope with the experience of inevitable passing.
s’brent and Dort bajmberg fun weldl are songs that Allende-Blin preserved and transposed into the concert hall. This is not just music — it is a testimony to memory, tragedy, and the power of culture. Their drama requires no pathos — it is raw and truthful.
Finally, the master of Polish modernism. Masks is an ironic play with theatricality, gesture, and convention. In the new orchestration for the ensemble, prepared by Paweł Malinowski, Szymanowski’s Scheherazade and Tantris shine like musical kaleidoscopes. This is the concert’s finale — full of expression, subversiveness, and grotesque charm.

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Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund – under the “Music” programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
The project is also co-financed by the City of Kraków and the Fund for the Promotion of Creativity of the Society of Authors ZAiKS.
Co-organiser of the event: The Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor CRICOTEKA in Kraków. Funded by the Polish-German Cooperation Foundation.

📢 Project funded by the European Union under the National Recovery Plan.
Financed by the European Union NextGenerationEU.
#KPOdlakultury #KPO

As part of its celebration, the National Museum in Kraków is organizing concerts and recitals in the Main Building, XX + XXI Polish Art Gallery.

Access to the recitals, taking place in various locations within the Polish Art Gallery, will be available between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM.

Artists from the Spółdzielnia Muzyczna ensemble — Aleksandra Wnuk, Aleksandra Płaczek, and Barbara Mglej — will present 20th-century music inspired by works of art, freed from traditional frameworks and opening new sonic territories.

Concert in collaboration with the E-MEX Ensemble and Künstlerinitiative DAFNE

Concert Program:

Zygmunt Krauze (*1938) – Listen and Think (2025)

Eres Holz (*1977) – Waisengarten (2025)

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Co-financed by the Polish-German Cooperation Foundation.

Concert in collaboration with the E-MEX Ensemble

Concert Program:

Zygmunt Krauze (*1938) – Listen and Think (2025) – world premiere

Monika Szpyrka (*1993) — self-(un)winding (2021)

Olga Neuwirth – Fondamenta (1998)

Krzysztof Penderecki – Zwei frühe Lieder (1955-60)

o Cisza (1955)

o Prośba o wyspy szczęśliwe (1958)

Juan Allende-Blin (*1928) – Zwei Lieder E-MEX aus: Fünf jiddische Lieder aus dem Ghetto (1979)

o „s’brent“

o „Dort bajmberg fun weldl“

Eres Holz (*1977) – Waisengarten (2025) – world premiere

***

Co-financed by the Polish-German Cooperation Foundation.

SPÓŁDZIELNIA ON SITE is a workshop and educational series featuring RHYTHMIC RHYMES — sessions for children where we bring well-known Polish poems to life through sound. We tap into the natural improvisational potential of our youngest participants, making music together using elements of “body music,” and conclude the activity with a shared mini-concert.

RHYTHMIC RHYMES is designed for children aged 3–7, accompanied by a guardian:

• 1 June – Julian Tuwim: Okulary

• 19 July – Julian Tuwim: O panu Tralalinskim

• 29 August – Julian Tuwim: Słoń Trąbalski

• 27 September – Julian Tuwim: Pstryk

Group 1: 10:30 AM
Group 2: 12:00 PM
Duration: 45 minutes

One ticket covers one child and their guardian.
Co-financed by the City of Kraków.

SPÓŁDZIELNIA ON SITE is a workshop and educational series featuring RHYTHMIC RHYMES — sessions for children where we bring well-known Polish poems to life through sound. We tap into the natural improvisational potential of our youngest participants, making music together using elements of “body music,” and conclude the activity with a shared mini-concert.

RHYTHMIC RHYMES is designed for children aged 3–7, accompanied by a guardian:

• 1 June – Julian Tuwim: Okulary

• 19 July – Julian Tuwim: O panu Tralalinskim

• 29 August – Julian Tuwim: Słoń Trąbalski

• 27 September – Julian Tuwim: Pstryk

Group 1: 10:30 AM
Group 2: 12:00 PM
Duration: 45 minutes

One ticket covers one child and their guardian.
Co-financed by the City of Kraków.

Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble concert as part of their residency at the Musica Festival in Strasbourg.

Produced with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the “Polish Culture in the World” program.

Musica invites you to a new concert format for those who enjoy starting the day immersed in sound and resonance.

For the inauguration — a unique experience by Wojtek Blecharz.
Musicians from the Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble are dispersed throughout the temple, with sounds filling every corner — from delicate, sustained tones to pulsating rhythms. The audience can sit, lie down, or move freely, allowing the music to take over both space and body.

Wojtek Blecharz
Field 7. Delta (2021)

School Session
Monday, September 22nd at 2:15 PM

Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble concert as part of their residency at the Musica Festival in Strasbourg.

Produced with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the “Polish Culture in the World” program.

Piotr Peszat – Vie et Passion du Christ

On screen — a masterpiece of silent cinema from 1903:
La Vie et la Passion de Jésus-Christ, directed by Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca — one of the first feature-length films in history, hand-colored.
Live — music by Piotr Peszat and the Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble.
This is an unusual concert in which the film takes on a new dimension. Surprising editorial cuts make the main character — familiar to everyone — suddenly disappear from the frame. Yet there is no blasphemy or provocation here. So what lies within this absence?

Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble concert as part of their residency at the Musica Festival in Strasbourg.

Produced with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the “Polish Culture in the World” program.

Concert Program:
Anna Sowa – Nach dem Foto feiern wir weiter! (2023)
Rafał Ryterski – Disco Bloodbath (Got to be real) (2018)
Alex Vaughan – Idol Factory (2022)

Reality – virtuality, authenticity – illusion, sincerity – concealment. Value judgments arise instinctively, suggesting which option to choose. Yet when we take concrete examples – such as a family celebration dinner or the expression of identity by non-heteronormative individuals – those apparent certainties begin to blur.

Anna Sowa (b. 1987) is an experimental artist whose work centers on exploring electronic music and the performing arts. She is particularly interested in combining dance, movement, gesture, and theatricality with electronic and instrumental music. In Nach dem Foto feiern wir weiter! — a continuation of Z rodziną najlepiej wychodzi się na zdjęciu / Auf Fotos sieht die Familie am besten aus — the composer revisits the theme of family relationships portrayed in a stereotypical way. Is the game played among family members a familiar necessity, a seemingly safe surface that protects peace at the expense of truth, or perhaps a bitter warning?

Disco Bloodbath (Got to be real) is a rich musical collage by composer, activist, and interdisciplinary artist Rafał Ryterski (b. 1992), known for his fondness for combining diverse genres – a practice he himself describes as genrebending. The piece is inspired by two seemingly different phenomena: ballroom culture – vividly portrayed in the documentary Paris is Burning (which world should be considered authentic? The one that provokes escape and misunderstanding, or the hidden one, full of fascination and liberating acts of creation?) – and the virtual reality of video games. What connects these two environments is the freedom of identity, especially in relation to gender. For drag queens and the LGBTQ+ community, gender is fluid and ambiguous; in the world of gaming, by contrast, it becomes irrelevant — what matters are the skills and mastery of the player.

Idol Factory is one of six pieces created as part of the first edition of our project PLAYGROUND: Call for Collaborations in 2022 – a project to which Spółdzielnia Muzyczna is delighted to return. Themes of desire, life motivation, and the driving force behind human action were central to Australian composer Alex Vaughan (b. 1987) during the creation of this work. His reflections were also shaped by readings of Calvin’s Institutio religionis christianae and the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes, as well as – perhaps surprisingly in this context – the need for fun and for lifting the weight off contemporary music, which is often perceived as overly serious and pretentious.

FREE ADMISSION – tickets guaranteeing a seat available for download.
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Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund – under the “Music” programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
The project is also co-financed by the City of Kraków and the Fund for the Promotion of Creativity of the Society of Authors ZAiKS.
Co-organiser of the event: The Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor CRICOTEKA in Kraków.

📢 Project funded by the European Union under the National Recovery Plan.
Financed by the European Union NextGenerationEU.
#KPOdlakultury #KPO

Encounters between nature and art have fascinated people for centuries. The genealogy of connections between nature and music can be traced back to the wonder at the world’s marvels, which composers of various eras translated into the language of sound. Today, the Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble explores diverse artistic territories, emphasizing broadly understood interaction — with the living world, including theater, literature, and popular art, ecological themes, as well as unconventional texts, visual materials, and electronic sounds. The artists are unafraid to perform in new spaces, seeking what the musical horizon will reveal next. In search of compelling solutions, they turn to the repertoire of contemporary composers known for their sonoristic explorations and inspiration from nature.

Programme:
Alex Vaughan (b. 1987) – Idol Factory for flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano, violin, viola, saxophone, and percussion
Artur Zagajewski (b. 1978) – Liście for flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, harp, piano, viola, cello, and tape
Brigitta Muntendorf (b. 1982) – Shivers on Speed for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano

Olga Neuwirth (1968) Fondamenta for bass clarinet, baritone saxophone and cello
Rafał Ryterski (1992) Birdsongs for enasamble and electronics

At 12:00, we invite you to the “Conversations at the Summit” Club at Astoria – Willa Literatów.