Has humankind’s propensity for music been inspired by the roar of ocean waves, hum of leaves in the wind or crashing noise of avalanches? The 32nd Kraków International Festival of Composers (17-25 October) reaches for inspiration in the natural world. The festival opens with Sinfonietta Cracovia, conducted by Jurek Dybał, presenting music by composers including Krzysztof Penderecki and Marcel Chyrzyński (general and artistic director of the event), as well as Kami Kruk’s Apeiron, commissioned especially for the festival and featuring the composer himself on musical saw. During the following days, we will explore Musical Horizons of artists including Franciszek Araszkiewicz, Aleksander Janicki, Toshio Hosokawa and Grzegorz Majka, hear Sounds of the Forest composed by Otto Wanke, Olivier Messiaen and Sofia Gubaidulina, and listen to a Silesian-Galician Mix (Mikołaj Górecki, Artur Malawski, Marek Stachowski and Zbigniew Bargielski) performed by the Kraków Wind Quinet and guests. The Kraków Composition School will be represented by music by Juliusz Łuciuk, Adam Walaciński, Maciej Jabłoński, Zbigniew Bujarski and Michael Gatonski. The Messages Quartet presents Musical Mosaics of works by Paweł Szymański, Marta Ptaszyńska and Józef Rychlik; the festival closes with the Electronic Cocktail from the Electroacoustic Music Studio at the Academy of Music in Kraków. (wz)