While everyone else was on the road, eight members of the BPO spent the past two days in Lusalwice at the stunning Krzysztof Penderecki Center for Music. There, they taught the next generation of students and gave a recital featuring music by Brahms and Mozart.
It’s an especially meaningful stop given the way this tour came about. Elzbieta Penderecka, music director of the Beethoven Easter Festival, is the wife of Krzysztof Penderecki. Because of their support and friendship, we were able to do this tour. Maestro Penderecki conducted in Buffalo in December 2016, a weekend that will forever represent a highlight of the orchestra’s history. Just as modern audiences are in awe of the fact that the BPO has been led in the past by Aaron Copland, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Igor Stravinsky, so too will future audiences be astonished by Penderecki’s appearance on our roster of esteemed guest conductors. During that week, we got to know the Pendereckis as not only towering figures in the modern classical music world, but as kind, genuine people.
If all of that weren’t enough, the octet also got to teach some phenomenal wind students. The students also had a chance to get to know our musicians, and we hope the experience will help them in all of their future endeavors. Tomorrow, the octet plays in Buffalo’s sister city, Rzeszow.
 An exterior view of the Penderecki Center in Luslawice. Most of the concert halls we’ll visit on this tour were built within the past 15 years. |
 Solo: Daniel Kerdelewicz practicing on the stage of the cutting-edge Penderecki Center. |
 Oboe present and future: Oboe students show off their diplomas received from Anna Mattix (L) and Henry Ward. |
 Daniel (L) and Jacek Muzyk with their French Horn students. |
 Two students (opposite ends) pose with bassonist Max Pipinich, JoAnn Falletta and Glenn Einschlag on the Penderecki Center stage. |
 Dinner together: members of the octet share a backstage meal with their students at the Penderecki Center. |
 The students received genuine diplomas for their participation in the masterclass. |
 The octet performed music by Mozart and Brahms in their recital. The program repeats in Rzeszow. |
 Programs for the evening. |
Sculptures in the Center. |
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Colorful benches at the Penderecki Center. |
It’s slightly jarring to see the bust of someone you consider a friend, who is very much alive. The man for whom the Center was named. |