Classical music, patriotic songs, nostalgic and sublime pieces, and jazz sounds to top it all off. This was the ‘Musical Portrait of Gdynia’. A special concert for the city's centenary took place on Saturday, 21 February, at the Z. Noskowski Primary and Secondary Music School, taking the audience on a maritime and sentimental journey full of sounds. You will have another chance to hear it on 10 March.
The celebration of Gdynia's 100th birthday continues and took on a musical form last weekend. This was thanks to a special concert. The community of the Z. Noskowski Primary and Secondary Music School, which has been operating in our city for 97 years, presented the ‘Musical Portrait of Gdynia’ as well as the achievements and diversity of the artistic community associated with the institution. The event was attended by parliamentarians, local government officials, representatives of the board of education and the Academy of Music in Gdańsk, as well as local residents.
The event was inaugurated by the Deputy Mayor of Gdynia, Oktawia Gorzeńska, and Joanna Rutkowska, the school's director. The concert opened with the solemn ‘Hymn to the Baltic Sea’.
Through the concert ‘Musical Portrait of Gdynia’, we want to show how beautifully our city has developed and how this development has been accompanied by music schools, because music schools in Gdynia have an equally impressive 97-year history. It will be nostalgic, romantic, sublime and patriotic, as this is also very important, because Gdynia was established at a time when Poland regained its independence, and so composers who composed in this spirit of maritime and nautical inspiration also included this element in their work, emphasises Joanna Rutkowska, director of the Z. Noskowski Primary and Secondary Music School in Gdynia.
The concert was divided into two parts. The first featured mainly classical music, but also patriotic songs. The audience listened to and admired the students, graduates and teachers of the school. The performers included the Symphony Orchestra of the Secondary Music School in Gdynia conducted by Leszek Gołąb, The Children's Orchestra ‘The Best Orchestra’ of the Primary Music School conducted by Katarzyna Doliwa-Dobrowolska, choirs from the Primary and Secondary Music Schools and a vocal ensemble conducted by Marta Płocka, as well as chamber ensembles and soloists. The second part was dominated by jazz. Maciej Łyszkiewicz, a graduate of the Primary and Secondary Music School, played alongside a group of jazz musicians from Gdynia.
Gdynia is quite important to us because of the music school. We are second-year students studying solo singing with Ms Bogna Forkiewicz. We will perform two songs with the vocal ensemble and two songs with the choir. In this way, we want to pay tribute to Gdynia for allowing us to study at such a wonderful school, says Barbara Trelińska, a student at the Secondary Music School in Gdynia.
It is an opportunity for us to develop our talents. There is always a little stress before a performance, but it is positive stress. We are also proud that we can present ourselves to the city and in our beautiful school with a programme where we do what we love, which is singing, adds Zbigniew Trusewicz, a student at the Secondary Music School in Gdynia.
Those who would like to listen to the concert will have the opportunity to do so on 10 March at 5 p.m. in the concert hall of the Z. Noskowski Primary and Secondary Music School at 13 A Biskupa Dominika Street, when ‘Musical Portrait of Gdynia Encore’ will take place. Free tickets will be available at the school from 5 March, starting at 2 p.m.
The concert is co-organised by the Biuro ds. Wydarzeń Miejskich (Office for Municipal Events) of the Gdynia City Hall.