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Details
Foyle Suite - British Library
96 Eustone Road
Kings Cross
London
NW1 2DB
England
Tickets
Prices: £6/£3
Book Tickets
Programme
Roxanna Panufnik – Memories of My Father: I. O tu, Andrzej
Andrzej Panufnik – String Quartet no.3, 'Wycinanki'
Performers
Olga Topol – Speaker
Roxanna Panufnik – Composer / Speaker
Programme Note
Join us for this afternoon event as part of the British Council's UK/Poland Season 2025, focusing on Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik’s String Quartet No. 3 and the art of Wycinanki (‘paper-cuts’) that inspired it.
Panufnik composed the quartet in 1990, following his first visit back to Poland since leaving the country in 1954. Writing before the premiere of the piece, he said:
'My Quartet No. 3 emerged from my lifelong attachment to the rustic art of Poland – especially the paper-cuts, ('Wycinanki' in Polish) – symmetrical designs of magical abstract beauty and naive charm'.
This lifelong engagement with Polish culture, as well as a fascination with the relationship between shape and sound, are threads of inspiration that run throughout Panufnik’s music. We will explore these themes more through the manuscripts and other documentary evidence at the British Library – and, of course, the music itself.
We’re delighted to welcome the Fiora Quartet and Roxanna Panufnik for this afternoon of live music and discussion. Alongside, Olga Topol (Curator of Slavonic and Eastern European Collections) and Chris Scobie (Curator of Music Manuscripts & Archives) will delve into the British Library’s collections, highlighting examples that reveal more about both the tradition of Wycinanki and Panufnik’s music.
Music programme
Andrzej Panufnik: String Quartet No. 3 Roxanna Panufnik: ‘O tu Andrzej’, from Memories of My Father.
