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World Premieres of Elżbieta Sikora's Liquid Air and Concerto for Flute and Orchestra

May. 28, 2026

Last month saw the world premieres of two exciting orchestral works by Elżbieta Sikora. A pioneer whose work bridges sonic experimentation and expressive orchestral writing, Sikora represents a generation of women composers whose contributions continue to reshape the classical canon.

On April 1, the Chicago Philharmonic under Artistic Director Scott Speck presented the U.S. Premiere of Elżbieta Sikora's Liquid Air. 

Composed in 2021 and commissioned by the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Liquid Air explores uncertainty and transformation through shifting orchestral textures. Contrasting forces – density and lightness, motion and suspension – interact and evolve, leaving the work suspended between states. Sikora’s groundbreaking compositional voice illuminate the contemporary landscape of classical music.

Elżbieta Sikora has long built her music on the border between worlds: classical and experimental, form and sound. Her Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, which premiered during a concert at the Szczecin Philharmonic, fits into this trend – a piece in which a familiar instrument speaks the language of the present. It's all about seeking a new space for an old voice. The flute, guided by Ana de la Vega, an Australian who has taken the international classical music scene by storm, became a guide through this unfamiliar terrain. Sikora notes:

"I composed this work with the Belarusian flautist Maria Kalesnikova in mind, who was imprisoned in Belarus. Om the very day I placed the final double bar at the end of the score, Maria was released. An extraordinary coincidence… In the concerto I use the sonorities of three flutes – standard, piccolo, and alto flute – in order to expand the sound space of the main instrument of this piece. The opening four solo C-sharp notes are like a Morse signal sent into space, or like knocking on a door. They will reappear several times, transposed to F-sharp and returning to C-sharp.

The flute, like a captive bird, tries to rise as high as possible, only to disappear in the final crescendo of the double basses and timpani – a signal of doors slamming shut. In the middle of the second movement, which begins with a reflective, oscillating motif, the alto flute appears with its melancholic contemplation. This movement also ends with a crescendo of low sounds.

A carefree, self-confident rhythmic motif – a promise of freedom – opens the third movement. Here the piccolo flute appears, tracing the wild meanders of another bird’s flight, this time one that longs to fly even farther and higher. At any cost. The standard flute returns in an aleatoric, virtuosic cadenza, exploring the wide range of the instrument’s timbre. This time, the final flute note is accompanied by a diminuendo of the low sounds, which fade away, defeated. In both the solo and orchestral parts I used a technique dear to me – controlled aleatoricism – which is not only a reference to one of Witold Lutosławski’s compositional methods, but also introduces an element of freedom, without which one cannot live."

Concerto for Flute and Orchestra is commissioned by Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie and National Philharmonic Society of Lithuania. The concert was repeated on May 5 by Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen.

Listen to Sikora's In the Shade of an Unshed Tear (2016) from ANAKLASIS's "Polish Heroines of Music" album:

Agata Zubel/In the Shade of an Unshed Tear/Orchestre Pasdeloup/Marzena Diakun, conductor

To learn more about Elżbieta Sikora, visit pwm.co.pl.

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