Fontana opening concert successfully bridges East and West

CRACOW, Poland

6 September 2006

Krzysztof Klima, the creator of Cracow's Clarinet Festival talks with Anika Ochotnicka.

This is the 14th annual Clarinet Festival in Cracow, which bears your name as its sole creator. There aren't many such events that are conceived by a single artist, even one as popular as yourself.
It was a challenge to undertake such a huge project, and the name underlines the fact that the festival is indeed my creation from beginning to end. I wanted an event that would bring the music scene together with things that I consider to be the great in music.

Taking responsibility for the entire festival means taking responsibility for Mozart as well as the good mood of performers...
I take full responsibility for the artistic program. Next year the festival will celebrate its 15th anniversary. It will be a great celebration and a great surprise. I wanted to create something that didn't exist when I was a student. Thanks to a scholarship to the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, under professor Guy Deplus, I realized the huge difference between performances at home and abroad. I wondered what to do with my experiences. An event was needed to concentrate the attention of musicians and audiences on the presentation of the best examples of music.

I thought up this festival in order to create fascinating concerts, something I really missed. That's the reason for the festival's three main sections present every year: classical, jazz and klezmer, as well as the reason we have the best musicians playing the best repertoire. In cooperation with world-famous musicians, I want to present the best of what we have. A large part of the audience are people who come to Cracow as one of the cultural capitals of Europe.

That's probably also the reason for contemporary works created specially for you or the festival.
Yes. I try to make the repertoire as varied as possible. I make sure to include world premieres, for example Nicole Younes's work. Pieces written for specific musicians as well, like the experimental concerts of Bogusław Schaeffer, give me a great chance to display my skills.

Which event do you think is best remembered by the festival's audience?
We've had great events every year and in every section of the festival. One that sticks out is the performance by the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields with Michael Collins, who is a great clarinet player. There were many great performers but rarely with such a wonderful orchestra. I was personally pleased with the presence of Germany's Melos-Quartett, with whom I had the pleasure of performing at Wawel castle.

As far as jazz is concerned, it would be Buddy de Franco, who was the first to play bebop on the clarinet. He worked with all the great jazz musicians, and was number one among clarinet players on Down Beat Magazine's list for 17 years. We really understood each other. It was a great dream of mine, for Możdżer, Wegehaupt and Konrad, the best Polish section, to play with him.

Giora Feidman, the king of klezmer music also performed in Cracow-the Jewish Culture Festival could be envious of that.

And this year?
I have the pleasure and honor of celebrating Mozart's music. On Sept. 16, we will perform Serenade in E Flat Major KV 375 and an arrangement of The Magic Flute. There is also an anniversary which is particularly important to me-Benny Goodman died 20 years ago. That will be commemorated by a concert on Sept. 9, performed by the best Polish jazz musicians.


Krzysztof Klima (born 1959) studied at the Cracow Music Academy and at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. He is the creator and artistic director of the International Clarinet Festival and the International Clarinet Competition in Cracow. He is the founder and artistic director of the Polish Chamber Ensemble (formerly known as Polish Wind and String Players), and co-founder and artistic director of the European Music Center Foundation.

Klima has toured the world over, performing in the most prestigious music halls, from Carnegie Hall to Tonhalle in Zurich. Since 1996 he has represented Poland at the International Clarinet Association, and since 1997 at the EuroCass federation of individual musicians' associations.