About Festival
FESTIVAL
WODECKI TWIST is a festival of energy — the kind of energy that Zbigniew Wodecki brought to the stage throughout his entire life. Since 2018, the festival has combined spectacular concert productions with songwriting in its most sincere and intimate form. The programme includes large-scale television productions created to world-class standards (in cooperation with Telewizja Polska, Polsat and TVN), as well as intimate concerts, often avant-garde performances, educational projects, and events for young audiences.
The stages of WODECKI TWIST in Kraków have hosted and continue to host stars of Polish entertainment, numerous international artists, orchestras, and ensembles. Concerts take place across a variety of venues throughout the city — from ICE Kraków Congress Centre and the Main Market Square to the Jagiellonian University Botanical Garden and historic courtyards — giving each event its own distinctive atmosphere.
An integral part of WODECKI TWIST is the “W” Award, presented for versatility, artistic excellence, and creative integrity. Previous recipients include Wojciech Trzciński, Irena Santor, Alicja Majewska, Wojciech Mann, Ewa Bem and Andrzej Mleczko.
TWIST means: to turn, to spin, to set things in motion. That is exactly what this festival is — rooted in the tradition of Polish entertainment, yet always looking toward its future.
Zbigniew Wodecki (1950-2017)
Multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer, actor. Violinist and trumpeter, one of the most versatile Polish artists, winner of numerous competitions and festivals. Author and co-author of dozens of albums and music publications. Since the late 1960s, he was associated with the legendary Piwnica pod Baranami in Cracow and the band Anawa. He was a musician with the Polish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra and the Cracow Chamber Orchestra. He made his debut as a singer in the 1970s, authoring and performing some of the most popular Polish songs (including “Start with Bach,” “Chałupy,” “I like to go back where I was,” and “Tell me so”). He became immensely popular when he performed a song from the opening credits of the animated cartoon “Pszczółka Maja.”
He has worked with some of the greatest artists of the Polish stage, including Ewa Demarczyk, Marek Grechuta, Zdzislawa Sosnicka, Alicja Majewska, Włodzimierz Korcz, Grzegorz Turnau, Andrzej Sikorowski, Krystyna Prońko, Ewa Bem. In 2013 – for a concert at the OFF Festival – Zbigniew Wodecki and his alternative band Mitch&Mitch revisited material from his 1976 album, performing it with a new lineup and arrangements. In 2015, the album “1976: A Space Odyssey” was released, which brought numerous concerts and is still wildly popular with fans of all ages. The album is breaking sales records.
Award “W”
For versatility, excellence and… artistic perseverance. The “W” Award is presented to people who have made a special appearance in Zbigniew Wodecki’s life. The winner of the first edition of the award was composer Wojciech Trzcinski, the second – Irena Santor and Alicja Majewska. In 2023, it was received by Wojciech Mann, who is an accomplished music journalist and author of the lyrics of the song You’ll Find Me Again, or the popular Shell. In 2024, the award winner was Ewa Bem, an artistic friend of Zbigniew Wodecki.