Concerts / Festivals

 

GlassDuo in SingaporeGlassDuo in Singapore

GlassDuo have created an exceptional musical instrument from a set of ordinary wine glasses.  As a result, we can listen to music which we are not accustomed to, and which can amaze the listener.

GlassDuo concerts are always a chance to experience unusual tones, uniquely arranged musical pieces, and above all the presence of the artists themselves, as they pursue their dreams and passions in such an unconventional way.

The glass music of GlassDuo reverberates just as well in a typical concert hall as in industrial spaces, churches, and the ruins of old castles or palaces.  It is just as wonderful in modern interiors where, thanks to amplification, it’s much more sonorous than you might expect from such a delicate instrument.

glassharp after the concertAfter the concert, it’s difficult to resist the temptation to take a closer look at the glass harp and share immediate impressions.

GlassDuo have taken their glass harp (the largest in the world) to the farthest corners of the globe. They’ve played for audiences of all sizes, numbering from the tens to the thousands, for residents of small towns to dignitaries and heads of state.

The originality of GlassDuo concerts attracts not only music lovers but also those looking for a new experience.  Which is why the duo are invited to play for all sorts of people with a wide variety of interests at all kinds of events, from the strictly musical to cultural festivals.

GlassDuo has performed at:

  • Singapore Festival of Arts - Singapore
  • Busan Chamber Music Festival - South Korea
  • Festival de Musica de Morelia - Mexico
  • Visegrad Music Festival - South Korea
  • Ohrid Summer Festival - Macedonia
  • Panorama Percussivo Mundial - Brasil
  • altstadtherbst kulturfestival duesseldorf - Germany
  • Internationaal Festival van Vlaanderen Gent - Belgium
  • International Music Festival, Mood Indigo - Bombai, India
  • Warsaw Autumn - Poland
  • Polish Harmonies Chopin & Beyond - Austin, USA
  • Klaipeda Music Spring - Lithuania
  • International Festival Round About Chopin - Viena, Austria
  • Festival di Santo Stefano - Bologna, Italy
  • La Folle Journee - Warsaw, Poland
  • International Chopin Festival - Duszniki, Poland
  • International Music Festival "RESUREXIT" - Siauliai, Lithuania
  • Automne Musical de Marchienne - Belgium
  • International Mozart Festival "Mozartiana" - Gdansk, Poland
  • International Classical Music Festival of Mažeikiai - Lithuania
  • International Bach Festival "Bakhosluzheniye" - Kaliningrad, Russia
  • Days of Karol Szymanovsky's Music - Zakopane, Poland
  • Christopher Summer Festival - Vilnius, Lithuania
  • Royal Concerts Chamber Ensemble Festival - Warsaw, Poland
  • Musik i Glasriket - Sweden
  • International Mozart Festival "Chopiniana" - Warsaw, Poland
and many others...

Collaboration

GlassDuo and Sinfonia VarsoviaGlassDuo and Sinfonia Varsovia

Concert performances with an orchestra are a chance to enjoy the exceptional tones of the glass harp and on the other hand to experience the power of orchestral sound.

There is a wide range of repertoire, both classical and modern, for glass harp and orchestra. As a result, GlassDuo are just as at home with philharmonic concerts, contemporary events, and New Year’s Eve performances.

GlassDuo have worked together with the majority of Polish orchestras, as well as with orchestras from outside Poland.

GlassDuo has collaborated with following orchestras:

  • Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Sinfonia Varsovia 
  • Zbigniewa Górnego Orchestra in Poznań
  • Sinfonia Baltica 
  • Warsaw Camerata 
  • Elbląg Chamber Orchestra 
  • Capella Bydgostiensis
  • Płock Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Toruń Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Kielce Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Opole Philharmonic Orchestra 
  • Zielona Góra Philharmonic Orchestra 
  • Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra 
  • Polish Baltic Frédéric Chopin Philharmonic
  • Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Zabrze Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Olsztyn Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Lower Silesia Philharmonic
  • Podlasie Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Łomża Philharmonic Orchestra 
  • Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Sudety Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Inowrocław Symphonic Orchestra „Pro Arte” 

and:

  • Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra, Lithuania
  • Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, Heilbronn, Germany
  • Bursa State Symphony Orchestra, Turkey
  • Macedonian Virtuoso, Macedonia
  • Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra in Eskisehir, Turkey
  • St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra in Vilnius, Lithuania
  • Symphony Orchestra of Musikkonservatorium
    Winterthur, Switzerland
  • Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, Turkey
GlassDuo and stringsGlassDuo, accompanied by a string quartet, entrance the public
in Elblag, Poland.

GlassDuo plays not only in duo. They often perform accompanied by other musicians.
When ‘glassy’ sounds are enriched with string or other classical instruments tones, they have a special power.

The juxtaposition of the delicate music which exudes from the wine glasses together with a classical quartet achieves a special finesse.  At the same time, we have a chance to appreciate the glass harp in a slightly wider musical context.

In glass harp and string quartet arrangements, we can enjoy classical hits such as Peter Tchaikovski’s Swan Lake or Dvorak’s Slavoic Dances, as well as Sting’s ‘Fragile’ or Astor Piazolla’s ‘Adios Nonino’.

GlassDuo has cooperated with following chamber ensembles:

  • Krakow Philharmonic String Quartet
  • Mucha Quartet
  • Rubinstein Quartet
  • Yossif Radionov Quartet
  • Kaliningrad Philharmonic String Quartet
  • Baltic Quartet
  • Elbląg String Quartet
  • String Quartet Cztery Kolory
  • Hanseatica Quartet
  • Primo Incontro
  • KV617 Ensemble

scoreWe are often asked if you can play notes on a glass harp. The answer is simple: the glass harp is an instrument like any other and the notation is also similar.As well as composing their own material, GlassDuo play music written for other instruments which has been arranged for glass harp, and cooperate with composers who have realised how much inspirational potential there is in an instrument created from wine glasses.
The results of such collaborations are pieces written especially for the duo, sometimes with other musical accompaniment for the glass harp, and sometimes incidental music created for theatre or film productions.

Composers who has collaborated with GlassDuo:

  • Zbigniew Preisner
  • Mieczysław Litwiński
  • Garry Eister
  • Zbigniew Pniewski
  • Piotr Salaber
  • Tom Smail
  • Anna Pęcherzewska
  • Aleksander Przeradowski
  • Jean Chatillon
  • Daniele Furlati

‘Glassy’ music also inspires artists from the realm of theatre.

Music was formerly perceived as means of expressing very concrete meanings.  Whereas today, although the symbolic dimension of the instruments themselves has lost its expressiveness, composers for theatre or opera discern in glass instruments elements which reflect conflicting forces: good with evil, light with darkness, godliness with satanic powers. In the ‘Mad scene’ in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, the appearance of a glass harmonica adds drama to the situation and provokes an absolute eruption of insanity.

theatre and glass harpDubai:  GlassDuo find collaborating with other artists on stage projects to be a source of great satisfaction.

To date, music recorded by GlassDuo has appeared in the following Polish theatre performances:

  • A. Mickiewicz "Forefathers’ Eve" (music by Monika Zytke, New Theatre, Słupsk, 2007)
  • W. Gombrowicz "The Marriage" (arrangements by GlassDuo, Stefan Jaracz Theatre, Łódź, 2007)
  • M. Sałtykow-Szczedrin "Judas", based on the story "Mr. & Mrs. Gołowlew" (music by Piotr Salaber, Ateneum Theatre, Warsaw, 2010)
ruch muzyczny twoja muza

Articles written by GlassDuo have been published in two respected musical periodicals: Ruch Muzyczny and Twoja Muza.

Recordings by GlassDuo and information from our team about the glass harp have appeared in music textbooks for schools published by Nowa Era and Young Digital Poland.

 

Television, Radio and Advertising

The GlassDuo's instrument is inspiring and spectacular.  It’s always a singularly unique event when an instrument made from wine glasses appears on the scene.

GlassDuo happily demonstrate their ‘tools of the trade’, and talk about their experiences, concerts and world travels.  Reuters and Associated Press, amongst others, have reported on the duet, and Deutche Welle and Public Radio International have interviewed the artists.

However, GlassDuo avoid the so-called media circus.  As a genuinely unique act, they have been invited to take part in talent shows (e.g. Britain’s Got Talent) across the world, but… - they consistently refuse.

They have set themselves a different target.  They promote the exceptional character of the glass harp, stress its tonal qualities and the huge potential of this unusual instrument.  The moment when someone stops spellbound by this exceptional music – that’s the greatest satisfaction for GlassDuo.

GlassDuo has cooperated with, amongst others:

  • Arte TV
  • Discovery Chanel
  • BBC
  • TVN
  • TVP1
  • TVP2
  • TVP Gdańsk
  • TVP Polonia
  • Polsat
  • PR1
  • ANTENA 3
  • Deutsche Welle
  • Public Radio International
  • Reuters
  • Turkish TRT
  • Olay TV
  • Globo TV
  • LRytas TV
  • Associated Press
Helping to prepare this advert was a real challenge for the GlassDuo!studioIn their studio, GlassDuo record discs as well as pieces they have composed to order, for instance for adverts.

Workshops

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Apart from concert performances, GlassDuo’s musicians also run workshops.  Depending on the circumstances, participation can either be open to all or by invitation only.  There are workshops for adults, young people and children.  They offer a great opportunity to learn and have fun at the same time.  For many of our participants, it’s a chance to look at wine glasses from a completely new perspective.

The GlassDuo has run workshops for firms, cultural institutions and for various festivals.  The public have a chance to try their hand at playing on wine glasses and other glass instruments, and sometimes create their own simple melodies on our specially created mini instruments.

The GlassDuo has organized their workshops in many Polish towns, the USA, Great Britain, Hong-Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

 

Projects

Drops of water for South Sudan is a joint project between the Polish Humanitarian Organisation, GlassDuo and Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, the result of which was the building of wells in South Sudan.
The concert was recorded thanks to the help of thirty thousand followers of the Polish Humanitarian Organisation on Facebook.
The final concert, during which GlassDuo and Simfonia Varsovia Orchestra performed Sting's "Fragile".
Report on "Water for South Sudan"

lady in the moon - GlassDuoAccording to legend, the herb of immortality separated the lovers. The wife went away from her husband and travelled to the moon, where she lives in the Palace of Cold. Her beloved tried to follow her there, but without success…In 2014, as a part of the celebrations for the Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore,  the GlassDuo, alongside artists from Germany, Israel, Italy and Spain,  created a kind of super-production inspired by the traditional Chinese fairy tale, The Lady in the Moon.

A glass harp, a four-metre-high puppet, dancers flying in balloons 25 metres above the ground and actors in fairy-tale costumes – this was the spectacle that met the thousands of people who gathered to experience a new interpretation of the well-known story!

Reportage

GlassDuo in ZilinaGlassDuo and KV617 Ensemble play concert in Zilina, Slovakia

The GlassDuo couldn't resist the temptation to create a project inspired by the music of Chopin. Four other instruments: flute, oboe, viola and cello joined in. Glass harp, in combination with strings and wind instruments, offered a highly original sound and a completely new interpretation of Chopin's music. And although in the Romantic era glass instruments were silenced by the domination of the piano, their sound uniquely emphasizes the nostalgic aura of Chopin’s compositions.

In addition, GlassDuo present works by Polish and overseas artists who have also found inspiration both in our great countryman and in the exceptional tonal possibilities of the glass harp.

The project has been recorded on the CD choPINcode.

Official site of CHOPIN2010.PL

choPINcode performences:

  • „Chopin Non Stop”, Wrocław, Poland 2006,
  • Chamber Music Festival, Jarocin, Poland 2007
  • Chopiniana, Warsaw, Poland 2008
  • Chopin Open, Warsaw, Poland 2010
  • Round About Chopin - Vienna, Austria 2010
  • II Festival Polish Music in Żylina, Slovakia 2010
poemaPoem XXI The World of Miłosz is an interdisciplinary project combining elements of music and poetry with fine art.  The project is a result of cooperation between artists from Poland and Japan.
 
In accompaniment to a work by Mieczysław Litwiński, a contemporary composition for voice, harmonium, cello and glass harp, sung in a number of languages: Japanese, Lithuanian, English and Polish. The music is recorded on the CD, IKI.
 

DSC 7804 smallInstructions To Four Walls - concert premiere in LondonInstructions to Four Walls is a setting of words by W.S. Merwin to music from the London composer Tom Smail.

Arranged for four voices, glass harp and classical harp.

The premiere and recording took place in London in January 2013.

Events

eventyLights, ballet and music from GlassDuo. A sophisticated artistic setting can turn a business meeting into an unforgettable event.
GlassDuo have performed at events including:

  • a presentation of a project from the European Solidarity Centre under the auspices of the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union in Brussels
  • the Abu Dhabi Medical Distinction Award Ceremony, 2011, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates  
  • grand finale of the opening ceremony for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London 2013, United Kingdom
  • at the Asia Cup group draw, AFC Asian Cup 2011 Finals, Doha, Qatar
  • Grand Prix Formula1, Singapore, 2014

GlassDuo performed for:

  • Sony
  • Philips
  • Swarovski
  • Maserati
  • Volkswagen
  • Volvo
  • Renault
  • Citi Bank
  • Raiffeisen Bank
  • Huawei
  • BlackBerry
  • McDonald's
  • Coca-Cola
  • Nestle

and many others...

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