4.08 – Friday – 8:30 pm

/ the tower of St Catherine’s Church /

Jewish Weekend – Goldwasser Muzik

Mathieu Daniël Polak – carillon (The Netherlands) & Mikołaj Trzaska – saxophones (Poland)

Program:

I carillon solo

Shalom Alechem

Lecha Dodi

II klarnet & carillon

Trzy Witze (żarty) na klarnet i dzwony

Te’amim in C

III klarnet solo

Improwizacja na temat obrazu

Improwizacja na temat historii

IV klarnet & carillon

The Seder Plate

Purim Spiel

Goldwasser Waterfalls

MATHIEU DANIEL POLAK  

attended the Dutch Carillon School in Amersfoort. He obtained his Master’s degree in 2000 with a specialisation in carillon education. Since graduation in 2000, he has been a teacher at the Netherlands Carillon Center in Amersfoort. Mathieu won prizes for carillon playing at international carillon competitions in Hamburg (Germany) and Enkhuizen (the Netherlands). He gave carillon recitals in Japan, Denmark, Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and the USA.

Since 2008, he has been a carillonneur of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Moreover, since 2003 Mathieu Polak has been a carillonneur of Spakenburg. In May 2022 he was appointed a carillonneur of the Plein 40-45 carillon in Amsterdam.

Mathieu Daniel Polak holds two master’s degrees in composition, namely from the Lemmens Institute Leuven (2013) and from the Utrecht School of the Arts (2010).

Polak’s composition Fleurs de Cerisier (Cherry Blossom) for wind quintet was awarded the third prize at the Coma Maastricht composition competition in 2011 and Puppy Love for horn was awarded the third prize at the composition competition IVME Antwerp 2011. His carillon piece Dandelion Field was awarded the second prize at the Johan Franco composition competition 2017. His composition A Butterfly’s Dance was awarded the first prize at the Johan Franco composition competition 2019. In 2019 he obtained a scholarship by the Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten to compose and arrange Jewish Music for carillon named Chag Sameach. On May 7, 2019, Boudewijn Zwart premiered these pieces at the Westertoren in Amsterdam. On 1 February 2020, Mathieu was awarded the prestigious Visser Neerlandia Award for his composition Chag Sameach. Last year, Mathieu Daniel Polak studied carillon composition at the Royal Carillon School Mechelen (Belgium). In 2021, Mathieu composed a book named Mazzeltov (Good luck) which was premiered by carillonneur Frank Steijns at the carillons of the City Hall and Servaas Basilica in Maastricht.

Polak studied piano with Alwin Bar and Ton Hartsuiker at the Conservatory of Utrecht and graduated in 1997. He teaches the piano at the Music School Amersfoort and is pianist of the Liberal Jewish Community Amsterdam.

MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA  

saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and film score composer, rooted in yass – a socio-artistic movement that brazenly challenged the rigidity of the institutionalised mainstream Polish jazz environment during the 1980s and 1990s. Free from any specific doctrine and open to all forms of artistic expression, they successfully impacted the jazz scene in the country. Trzaska was the co-founder of the most important yass bands – the celebrated Miłość ensemble that lasted, off and on, from 1988 to 2002, and the of the equally creative Łoskot, founded in 1993. Although the impetus of yass faded away many years ago, his status remained and he went on to become one of the main leaders of the Polish scene, but also working with the top tier of international improvisors. After the yass period, he recorded a few more focused and quieter albums with the renowned Oleś brothers bass/drum duo. He has also accompanied poets such as Marcin Świetlicki and Jurii Andrukhovych and created musical–literary projects with the renowned Polish writer/journalist/critic Andrzej Stasiuk.

Today, he works with many ensembles, including his own international trio Volumen, Ken Vandermark’s Resonance Ensemble, Magic with Joe McPhee, or the unique trio Shofar with Raphael Rogiński and Macio Moretti that explores unique new improvisational perspectives on traditional Jewish music. He has also established himself as a major award-winning film music composer, working with the director Wojciech Smarzowski. But his main focus of self-realization is grounded in radical free jazz: he travels the world cooperating with some of the world’s major improvisors such as Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, or Ken Vandermark.