Coincidence is the title of the album released last year by Paweł Tomaszewski – a composer, pianist and arranger active on the Polish jazz music scene. The artist included two extended suites on this album – Three Crowns and Coincidence – recorded in collaboration with, among others, musicians from the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Szymon Bywalec. At the NFM, the musicians will present them together with excellent Polish jazz instrumentalists.

The concert will begin with the sounds of Three Crowns – a suite for symphony orchestra, jazz sextet and solo voice. The inspiration was the medieval legend of Saint Kinga – a princess who, fleeing from the Tatars, threw off her crown, and in the place where it fell three rocky peaks grew, stopping the brutal invaders. To commemorate this miracle, the highest peaks of the Pieniny Mountains were called The Three Crowns. According to local accounts, this was indeed an area that provided shelter for the local population during the Mongol invasions. Many fragments of the composition contain references to number three: from various solutions in terms of rhythm and melodies to the precise selection of instruments.

Coincidence is a work that refers to the 1981 film Przypadek (Coincidence) directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. The main theme of the suite was taken from the soundtrack by Wojciech Kilar. The first performance of Coincidence took place as part of the fortieth anniversary of the introduction of martial law in Poland. As the composer emphasises, the greatest inspiration for the creation of his music was the plot of the film, which perfectly fits the historic events that were its context.