We celebrate the 10th anniversary of Little Warsaw Autumn in unusual circumstances. Since the beginning of our festival, direct contact with audience has always been central to what we do. We have always prepared events thinking of how to draw children into the world of contemporary music, how to engage them, give a chance to experience the music, ask questions, and improvise. These are obvious fundamentals for all those who work with children and for children. This year, this approach has been put into question, and Little Warsaw Autumn has faced the challenge of featuring online events. We have composed our programme to also allow our audiences to experience live music. We hope to see you at the Sculpture Park in Królikarnia and the Museum of Warsaw. This year, music at our festival will come to the help of teachers, too. We shall feature gymnastics at our musical performance Musical Olympics by the Kwartludium ensemble, outdoors in the Królikarnia Park. Exhibits at the Museum of Warsaw and the unusual instruments from the Little Instruments collection will merge into Paweł Romańczuk’s Exhibitones. The Museum of Warsaw’s “Siren” cinema will feature a show of riddles, based on the book Basements. Mysteries from under the floor published by Dwie Siostry Editions. Book author Aleksandra Cieślak and composer Edward Sielicki have worked with musicians, sound engineers, and animators to create an extraordinary radio feature opera, with an important role played by sign language. At every moment, you can take a break and pop into the Królikarnia to play (safely, with social distancing and other precautions) table football in sound: this is Michał Silski’s Trambambula, based on the idea of one little Kazik, who has followed Little Warsaw Autumn since its beginnings.
This year, we also meet online: for Kwartludium ensemble’s warmups, a web version of the radio feature opera Basements. Mysteries from under the floor and the Exhibitones concert.

Paulina Celińska
Curator of Little Warsaw Autumn