Celtic Connections: Górecki's 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'

A profound and deeply moving journey into the heart of human grief and consolation.

Experience a monumental work of 20th-century classical music 50 years after it’s composition, as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra performs Henryk Górecki’s intensely spiritual Symphony No. 3, 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'

This meditative and powerful masterpiece, a global phenomenon composed 50 years ago, focuses on themes of loss, motherhood, and separation. Across three slow, hypnotic movements, Górecki sets powerful folk Polish texts—from a 15th-century lament of Mary, to an inscription on a Gestapo prison wall—to music of austere beauty, using a solo soprano (performed tonight by the astonishing singer Francesca Chiejina ) - and a magnificent orchestra of strings and winds, conducted by Polish conductor Pawel Kapula. The result is an unforgettable musical requiem that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.

The concert opens with the extraordinary vocalist, violinist, and composer Alice Zawadzki. Prepare for an evening of transcendental beauty and deep emotion.

"Tender in spirit and defiantly anti-genre... A cornucopia of delights’’ ★★★★ Jazzwise Magazine