1.08 – Friday – 7:00 pm

/ the tower of St. Catherine’s Church /

A Literary and Musical Evening for Children

Annie Gao (USA) i Boudewijn Zwart (the Netherlands)

Czyta Laura Haras (Poland)

Active concert combined with the reading of the book „Jowanka i Pierścień Kurantów” by Katarzyna Wasilkowska, meeting with the author after the concert.

Improwizacja

Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz (*1978)
Jowanka (premiera)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Bolero (opr. B. Zwart)

Beniamin Baczewski (*1991)
Płynna materia (2016) na carillon, elektronikę i Fontannę Heweliusza

is a carillonist and software engineer from the sunny suburbs of Southern California. She first met the carillon in 2017 as a member of the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs, completed her GCNA Carillonneur exam in 2020, and graduated from Yale in 2021 with a combined B.S./M.S. in Computer Science. She then had the tremendous privilege of continuing her carillon studies internationally with Geert D’hollander, Boudewijn Zwart, and Eddy Marien, and along the way, was selected for the quinquennial Kors Monster Festival Performance Nomination (2024), as well as The Diapason’s „20 Under 30” list (2025). She has taught carillon performance masterclasses all over the United States, and currently serves the GCNA as chair of the Emerging Artists Grant committee and jury member of the Carillonneur Exam. In her free time, Annie enjoys competitive ping pong, puzzles and brainteasers, good reads, and opportunities to explore and improve her fascinatingly bad sense of direction.

studied piano at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and carillon at the Dutch Carillon School in Amersfoort. He is also trained in orchestral conducting and organ performance, and has extensive experience serving as choir conductor. He currently holds the position of City Carillonneur in Amsterdam, Apeldoorn, Barneveld, Bergambacht, Den Helder, Dordrecht, Ede, Gouda, IJsselstein, Nijkerk, Schoonhoven, Wageningen and Zeewolde. He is also the organist of the Reformed Church in Lutjegast. In 2021, he published a best-selling chorale book containing harmonizations and compositions based on the melodies of all 150 Psalms of the Genevan Psalter. Boudewijn has also advised many carillon restoration projects internationally, and has taken the lead in driving new innovations, including the Do-It-Yourself carillon (‘Doe-Beiaard’) for elementary school classrooms and the Glass Carillon in Utrecht-Leidsche Rijn. He travels throughout Europe with his self-designed travelling concert carillon, under the name ‘Bell Moods,’ and performs in both solo and ensemble settings with all sorts of music groups. Last but not least, he is the proud grandfather of twelve beautiful grandchildren.

LAURA HARAS

a graduate of the Vocal and Acting Department of the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk. She made her debut with the role of Griletta in the opera „The Apothecary” by Joseph Haydn, and immediately afterwards the Countess in „The Marriage of Figaro” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Actress, singer, commercial and dubbing actress. She sings actor’s song, classical and musical music, and sung poetry. Laura is the author of a series of musical-theater performances for children which she successfully performs in many cultural institutions such as the Polish Baltic Philharmonic, the State Art Gallery in Sopot and the Sopot Museum. She performs at home and abroad, i.e. in Germany, Finland or Denmark. From June 2019 to December 2024 Laura worked as manager of the Theater of the Gdańsk Archipelago of Culture.

(born in 1970 in Gdansk) has written more than twenty popular books for children and young people, including Już, już!, Świat Mundka, the Gdansk adventure dylogy about Jowanka, and Niebajka o Mikołaju, dedicated to the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Gdansk. She has won prestigious literary awards: the Gulliver, K. Makuszynski, IBBY, Astrid Lindgren, and Hestia Literary Journey. Her works are characterized by a direct style, humor, believably drawn personalities of characters, and above all, a deep understanding of the psyche of a child.
Although she has lived in Mazovia for more than a dozen years, she remains closely connected to her hometown.

(b. 26.01.1978 in Głogów) – composer and translator. Graduated in composition (Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań under Prof. Mirosław Bukowski) and applied linguistics. She also studied film music, computer music and audiovisual creation at the Grazyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Lodz and art therapy at the Karol Marcinkowski Medical University in Poznan. She has been awarded prizes in composition competitions at home and abroad, including Reinl Preis 2003 (Austria), Suoni di fiaba (Italy), Alfredo Casella (Italy), Vera Passio (Warsaw, Poland), Silver Fast (Krakow, Poland), Fontannie bije ten dzwon (Gdansk, Poland). Her works have been repeatedly performed throughout Poland and abroad (in Europe, Vietnam, Argentina, Canada, Australia and the USA), as part of contemporary music festivals and carillon festivals. She has received scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and the Arts, the State of Brandenburg and the German Music Council. She received her doctoral degree in 2012 and her postdoctoral degree in 2019. She is a member of the Association of Polish Composers and the Polish Society for Contemporary Music. She is also a translator of German, and in this capacity cooperates with music publishers and magazines. Since 2005, she has worked at the Institute of Music at the University of Zielona Góra. She currently serves as dean of the Faculty of Arts and head of the Department of Composition and Music Theory. In previous years, she also served as deputy director of the Institute of Music (2016-2020) and associate dean of the Faculty of Arts (2020-2024).