Warsaw Autumn

The Warsaw Autumn (Polish: Warszawska Jesień ) is the biggest festival for contemporary music in Poland.

The Festival is also the only one that could claim an international reputation over decades away, as it continuously presented as the only festival in Europe, the contemporary music of these countries, thus the countless premieres in over 50 years of festival history can be at a glance as a sounding music history of Eastern Europe understand.

The festival takes place since 1956 instead of the end of September and lasts for 8 days. Although it has always been subsidized by the state, it has also preserved during the Cold War, its content, artistic freedom. Thus, it was possible not only to present new creations by Polish composers, but to get above all the music of Western countries in the Eastern Bloc. In addition to the music of the second Viennese school were Western avant-garde composer listen to that made at the Darmstadt Summer Courses and the Donaueschingen Music Festival sensation, such as Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, Bruno Maderna and John Cage. The internationality but was also given by the eastern side, many Polish and Russian composers were premiered at the Warsaw Autumn, soon experienced an international career, such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, Tadeusz Baird and Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov and Sofia Gubaidulina.

The Polish composer Augustyn Bloch initiated even over several years, the festival passes since 1999 Tadeusz Wielecki, also a composer, the Warsaw Autumn.