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Jerzy Kornowicz and Michał Rusinek's Album Rodzinny [A Family Album] Released by ANAKLASIS

Jul. 21, 2024

On June 21, ANAKLASIS released Jerzy Kornowicz and Michał Rusinek's Album Rodzinny [A Family Album], a premiere album of extraordinary activities. Their target audience is expanding, as ANAKLASIS explains, "This time, the record brand is expanding its audience to include the youngest listeners."

Memory brings an image to life. Photographs from family albums, which document events important to us, moments captured in frames and portraits of our loved ones evoke memories, encourage reflections, and bring back to life what has passed. At the same time, they also uncover what is forgotten and often interesting and funny.

"I made up my mind to go gaga for a few weeks and write some verse loosely based on the bios of my family members," explains Michał Rusinek, otherwise a serious and reputable literary scholar, translator, and writer. "My ancestors were apparently rather ordinary. Still, I am convinced that even a very ordinary family can be viewed from an unusual perspective. Every one of us has their eccentricities, as well as some adventures or anecdotes from their biographies to recount."

These anecdotes added up to form the libretto of an opera, set to music by another extremely serious artist – the composer Jerzy Kornowicz, who is also an improvising pianist, educator and music life organizer, as well as the director of the ‘Warsaw Autumn’ International Festival of Contemporary Music. He too, nevertheless, allowed himself to be guided by Rusinek’s text into the carefree, magical land of childhood. "Ours is a time in which we occupy several worlds at the same time. We are probably the least present in the real world since we have no clue what it is all about," says the composer. The music perfectly reflects this state. Singers Ewa Biegas and Jan Jakub Monowid are accompanied by AUKSO – Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy under Marek Moś.

Kornowicz and Rusinek's opera encourages listeners to look in their own family albums, not only to consider their genealogy but also to find many amusing stories worth remembering. Album Rodzinny [A Family Album] also provides a simple and attractive way to discuss difficult and complex topics with children, such as identity, and gender or cultural differences.

The opera was staged for the first time on March 11, 2023 in Katowice at the NOSPR Festival of Premiers. At the end of the same year, it was preformed and very well received in Kiev and Lviv in Ukrainian translation.

The album, with a recording of the work and illustrations by Joanna Rusinek, was released on June 21, 2024. It is available on CD in the PWM bookstore and online here, in the best music stores, on the virtual shelves of Empik and on streaming services.


Behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Album Rodzinny [A Family Album]

To learn more about Jerzy Kornowicz, visit pwm.com.pl.

Jerzy Kornowicz
Album Rodzinny [A Family Album] (2022)
a children's opera
libretto by Michał Rusinek
S.CT.str
60'

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