Poland’s veteran avant-garde composer and playwright, Boguslaw Schaeffer, who is 81 this year, is honoured with a series of events at the Edinburgh Fringe this weekend.

These include an interactive, audio-visual, multi-media performance featuring Schaeffer himself on the piano,  Polish Radio’s Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, jazz vocalist Urszula Dudziak, the Olga Szwajgier Jazz Quartet and a group of  Polish actors.

Known as ‘the father of new music in Poland’, Schaeffer has over 530 compositions to his credit, from symphonic and chamber to sacred music, jazz and electronics. His Klavier Konzert was used in the soundtrack to David Lynch’s Inland Empire. Schaeffer’s plays have been translated into 17 languages. (mk)