Polish composer Paweł Mykietyn was given a standing ovation at the Solidarity of Arts Festival in Gdańsk last night after the premiere of his work written for the 30th anniversary of Solidarity.

Entitled ‘VIVO XXX’, it is a 70-minute-long oratorio for choir and large. It was performed by the Baltic Philharmonic and the BVChoir of the State Philharmonic in Minsk (Belarus), under the Dutch conductor Reinbert de Leeuw.

Among those attending the concert were Prime Minister Donald Tusk and former President Lech Wałęsa, who was the honorary patron of the premiere of Mykietyn’s work.

Thirty nine year-old Mykietyn is Poland’s most interesting and innovative composer of his generation. He made his debut at the ‘Warsaw Autumn’ Festival at the age of twenty two. In 1995, his Polish Radio commission  3 for 13 ¬ was placed first in the under-30s category at the International Composers’ Rostrum in Paris.

His commissions include a piece for the famous Kronos Quartet.

In recent years he has scored numerous successes in the field of film music and incidental music for the theatre. His CD Speechless Song (2009) won him three ‘Fryderyk’ Awards of the Polish recording industry, in the ‘composer of the year’, ‘best contemporary music recording’ and ‘best Polish music recording’ categories. (mk)