Bydgoszcz Musical Impressions
Website of the Youth Center in Bydgoszcz


Some history...

Bydgoszcz Musical Impressions or, if you prefer, International Meetings of Young Musicians, were held for the first time in 1977.
Polish and foreign groups of varied character started to arrive in Bydgoszcz. These were groups from: Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Brasilia, Bulgaria, Croatia, China, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia,  Macedonia, Mexico,  Portugal, Romania, Russia,  RPA, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America and Poland. No kind of music seems to be omitted. The atmosphere was varied: there were choirs, orchestras, jazz, rock and folk - everything mixed in a unique way.
It soon turned out that all those people coming from  different countries feel great in the town on the river Brda and making music together is an interesting way to spend free time actively. Moreover, statues - Strings - and other prizes were waiting for the best performers.
There were different images of BIMs. Some of them were in winter and some in summer. Some were for 250 people and some for 1500. It generally depended on two things: money and the weather. The first had to be gained, organized, sometimes even begged for. The other couldn’t be booked even if we had the first one, so the traditional march often changed into running across the city, and carefully designed schedules of concerts disappeared into streams of pouring rain.
Nevertheless, Impressions have always had ”something” that made the groups come back, sometimes after many years, for subsequent editions of BIM.
BIM was present in the Concert Hall and the Opera, in the Academy of Music, Polish Theatre and in the Old Market Square, in churches and clubs. There were contests and prizes, concerts, common trips, national meetings, bonfires, discos. There was little free time and a lot of fun, the fever of preparations, festival excitement, late homecomings and regret that everything is just over.
Why do we still feel like doing it?

We are sure - as long as young musicians will want to come to us, we are going to wait for them to share the happiness and get to know new shades of music.


topicality 14.11.2018   ©  Youth Center in Bydgoszcz