Presidential Concert

Presidential concerts have already become a tradition at the Szczecin Philharmonic. As every year, together with the President of Szczecin, we are pleased to invite you to an extraordinary evening, this time with the music of two outstanding composers of symphonic dance music.

He was the undisputed king of the waltz and, in his time, of all musical Vienna, although his path to the top as a composer was not strewn with roses. Johann Strauss (son) was born as the first of five children of the famous Johann Strauss (father). However, the latter decided that one composer in the family was far enough and did everything he could to discourage his sons from pursuing music (ironically, three of them became composers). With his mother's support, Strauss (son) learned to play the violin in secret, and when he was only six years old, he created sketches of his first waltz. Expelled from polytechnic studies, driven by a great passion for music, he became increasingly successful as a conductor. A long and unhealthy musical competition soon developed between father and son. However, the son soon surpassed his father, taking the Viennese waltz to the heights of compositional perfection.

A similar master of symphonic dance music in Poland was Edward Czerny – a real orchestra man. A great conductor, festival manager, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, hailed as the "precursor and creator of Polish jazz orchestral music", who recorded over 300 albums. The individual style of his arrangements, both for symphonic and for brass ensembles, had a significant impact on Polish popular music.