The originator, initiator and administrator of the festival and many other musical events is Magdalena Hudzieczek-Cieślar – a soprano and graduate of the vocal and acting department of the Academy of Music in Katowice.
In 1996, she arrived in Pabianice and for the first time saw the little rotunda of its evangelical church. That sight inspired her to let that charming neoclassical temple resound with music for all the citizens of Pabianice. She began by organizing seasonal concerts in the spring and summer, followed by a cycle of classical music concerts that came to fruition in 2002, after the thermorenovation and general repairs of the historic church were completed. Since that year, the first of a series of concerts called „Musical Sunday in Pabianice” was hosted in the Evangelical-Augsburg church of St. Peter and St. Paul. It was the first event to mark the city’s cultural calendar that offered free, regular encounters with classical music. They attracted a loyal crowd of music lovers, who awaited each monthly evening with joy and enthusiasm.
The success of „Musical Sunday” inspired a bolder dream, which she realized in 2007 by transforming it into the International Festival „Music of the World”. The festival concerts are an excellent opportunity for music lovers both local and foreign to meet famous musicians from across the world and hear their performances live in Pabianice. Held in October, the concerts attract an ever-growing audience eager to experience the full variety of the world’s music.
„(…) I remember my dreams and the first attempts to realize them, eg. „Musical Sunday in Pabianice”, the first cyclical event to mark the city’s calendar. The beginnings weren’t easy, realizing my dream required a lot of work, but it bore fruit in the form of regular meetings with classical music, lasting many years. They inspired the International Festival „Music of the World”, which attracts music lovers even from outside Pabianice, steadily growing since the last 6 years.The festival offers not just music and aesthetic stimuli, but also a bond with other people on an artistic level. The meeting and conversations about one’s impressions of the concert bring joy and may even foster new relations. This lets music be the trigger and connection for many other positive responses and activities.”
[source:] „Kołowrotek Kulturalny” magazine / 2014
„(…) The artists introduced the audience to some of the finest music from all around the world. Mrs. M. Hudzieczek – Cieślar said: ‘I’m sure that all music lovers shall find something that stirs their soul to the core, until it also starts singing… Pabianice shall become our little musical homeland, where various languages and nationalities connect, where we all feel we’re brothers and sisters. We’d like to feel that the world and Pabianice have connected this way (…).”
[source:] Harry Heckert, „Weg und Ziel” / Germany, 2009 (trans. Piotr Kirsch)