Szymon Kaca, the extraordinarily talented Polish clarinettist living in Paris, gave another performance of Simoum for clarinet solo, written in 2011 and dedicated to the artist. The performance took place on 28 June 2014, Salle Saint Just, Paris, France as part of the ensemble ECCE programme Synergie/Synergy.
The piece was commissioned by the soloist as a selected work for a New Music competition in which he participated. The creation of Simoum was made possible by a generous grant awarded by the Alberta Creative Development Initiative/The Canada Council for the Arts. The title refers to a strong, very dry and violent wind, blowing in Sahara, Arabian Peninsula, and the Near East. Reportedly, the veterans of Alexander the Great suffered the simoum (also spelled simoun, simoon, simoom, semoun, samoum etc.) on their way back from the Indian campaign. Without a shadow of a doubt Szymon Kaca has by now established himself as one of Europe’s most adventurous and accomplished clarinettists. He is a soloist modern composers dream about: superbly endowed intellectually and technically, he can handle practically any interpretive and technical challenge. His performances of Simoum confirm this, as the piece is likely among the most demanding ever written. The very act of accepting this horrendous test speaks volumes about the soloist, his attitude, his courage, his commitment to reaching out towards the–seemingly–impossible.
Related links: Szymon Kaca