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Gdańsk | 12th New Music Days

Between the 21^st and 24^th of April the Gdańsk Żak Club will be hosting the 12^th edition of the New Music Days.

It will be a journey towards the latest and surprising stylistic connections, where the world of contemporary music establishes electrifying contact with electronic experiments, avant-garde and broadly understood jazz improvisation. It is a maneuver between the depth of acoustic instruments and the synthetics of electronic sounds, between a duet and a quartet.

This year's edition of the Festival will present string ensembles from Poland and abroad.

NeoQuartet, Arditti Quartet, Cikada String Quartet, Pamirt Trio, Zima Stulecia, Wood Organization will be among the performers of the Festival.

Press release

More at the Festival's website: https://www.facebook.com/DniMuzykiNowej/

Read more: Gdańsk | 12th New Music Days

Warsaw | Premiere of Walentyn Sylwestrow's 'Psalm' in Warsaw Philharmonic

On the 26^th of April 2022 at 7.00 p.m. at the Warsaw Philharmonic a premiere performance of a work by a Ukrainian composer - Walentyn Sylwestrow will take place. Composition is a commission of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport as part of the 'Niepodległa' programme for the years 2017-2022.

In time of the war in Ukraine the artist found shelter in Berlin. Sylwestrow accepted Andrzej Boreyko's invitation and confirmed his arrival in Warsaw. The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir conducted by Bartosz Michałowski will present the composer's latest composition - Psalm for a mixed choir a cappella. The composition has the form of eight variations on the theme of the Ukrainian folk song Oj z'za gori kam'janoj... . In the face of the war tragedy of Ukraine, Walentyn Sylwestrow's appearance in Warsaw will have a special symbolic meaning.

The concert programme will also include Paul Hindemith's Apparebit repentina dies and Aaron Copland's In the Beginning.

Press release

More: https://filharmonia.pl/repertuar/koncert-choralny-736721830

Works of Polish Composers performed by international artists

The 3rd International Polish Music Competition will take place on July 2-9, 2023 at the Artur Malawski Podkarpacie Philharmonic Hall in Rzeszów. The event is one of the flagship projects of the National Institute of Music and Dance. The competition strives to promote Polish music and its composers internationally.

- The National Institute of Music and Dance is pleased to invite musicians of all nationalities to participate in the 3^rd edition of the International Polish Music Competition. This unique event, addressed to pianists and chamber ensembles, with no age limits, showcases the diversity and richness of Polish music - says Lech Dzierżanowski, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Music and Dance and Artistic Director of the Competition. - Participants may only present the works by 60 Polish composers included in the program, such as: Grażyna Bacewicz, Roman Maciejewski, Henryk Pachulski, Zygmunt Stojowski, and Maria Szymanowska. We hope that the Competition will help broaden the international audience's knowledge of Polish music, especially that written in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century.

More: https://konkursmuzykipolskiej.pl/

2022 Golden Fryderk Laureates - classical music

The Phonographic Academy has announced the laureates of the Golden Fryderyk 2022 in classical music. This special award for lifetime artistic achievements in 2022 was awarded to: Janusz Olejniczak - one of the most outstanding contemporary pianists and Stanisław Gałoński - a recognized conductor and popularizer of early music.

The prize-giving ceremony will take place on the 22^nd of April during the Classical Music Gala.

The Golden Fryderyk is awarded for lifetime achievements to artists who contributed to Polish music culture in a special way. Every year, the Council of the Phonographic Academy present awards in the categories of popular, jazz and classical music.

The Golden Fryderyk award in the classical music category has been so far awarded to: Agnieszka Duczmal, Jan Ekier, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Jacek Kaspszyk, Wojciech Kilar, Kazimierz Kord, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, Bernard Ładysz, Jan Łukaszewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Ewa Michnik , Piotr Paleczny, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jadwiga Rappé, Władysław Szpilman, Antoni Wit and Krystian Zimerman.

The organizers of the event are the Union of Audio Video Producers and the Phonographic Academy.

After the note of Katarzyna Kowalewska

More: https://fryderyki.prowly.com/186301-laureaci-zlotych-fryderykow-2022-muzyka-powazna

Warsaw | Extraordinary symphonic concert: Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, Luigi Gaggero and Janusz Wawrowski

The Concert Hall of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw will become the venue for an extraordinary symphonic concert on the 21^stof April 2022 at 7 p.m.: the musicians of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra begin their European tour. The orchestra conducted by Luigi Gagger will perform works by Ukrainian composers: Maksim Berezowski, Myrosław Skoryk and Borys Latoszynski. The evening will be graced by the reknown Polish violinist Janusz Wawrowski as a soloist. The concert will be broadcasted by Programme 2 of the Polish Radio.

A group of over 100 musicians, orchestra employees and their families came to Poland in cooperation with the National Philharmonic and the National Institute of Music and Dance to prepare here to perform for the first time since the beginning of the war. Meeting with the audience of the European Union, the musicians will talk about their struggle for independence and the tragedy of those who died. The musicians, who served in the Territorial Defense Forces and worked as volunteers, obtained special permission from the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and the Ministry of Defense to leave the country. Thanks to the decision both women and men set off on a journey during which they will play, among others in Łódź, Berlin, Hamburg and Dresden.

They will perform under the direction of Luigi Gagger, who has been running the Kiev Symphony Orchestra as the main conductor since 2018. The concert will feature works presenting Ukrainian orchestral music - from its beginnings in the 1770s to 20th century masterpieces and will include some Polish accents. Janusz Wawrowski will perform Fantaisie Brillante sur des Motifs de L’opéra "Faust" de Gounod, Op. 20 by Henryk Wieniawski for violin and orchestra.

The stay of the musicians in Poland is organized by the National Philharmonic and the National Institute of Music and Dance, and financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
The National Institute of Music and Dance also provides the musicians with psychological support.

Tickets for the concerts can be purchased at the box offices and online on the websites of the National Philharmonic and the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź.

More: https://nimit.pl/aktualnosci/muzycy-z-kijowa-sa-juz-w-polsce/

Wroclaw | For the beginning and the end of time

During the concert on the 21^th April 2022 at 7 p.m. two quartets by Zygmunt Krauze and Olivier Messiaen will be performed at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław by instrumentalists: Annelien Van Wauwe, Radosław Pujanek, Benedict Klöckner and José Gallardo. Works related to deep personal experiences take a special place both in the biographies of composers and in the entire history of music.

Quatuor pour la naissance for clarinet, violin, cello and piano by Zygmunt Krauze was written in special circumstances - its composition was inspired by the birth of the son of the composer. The premiere of the work took place in 1985 in Paris. Since then the work has appeared frequently in the repertoire alongside the Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time created over forty years earlier.

Quatuor pour la fin du temps is one of the greatest musical works of the twentieth century and at the same time it is one of the most important achievements of Messiaen who composed the quartet in the winter of 1940 and 1941, while being imprisoned in the German Stalag VIII A camp in Görlitz.

Press release

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Center POLMIC.

More: https://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl

Warsaw | Meeting with Teresa Bochwic, author of the book 'In the rhythm of Poland. Witold Rudziński - the artist's life (1913-2004)'

The Department of Music Theory at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music and the Polish Music Edition cordially invite you to a promotional meeting with Teresa Bochwic, author of the book In the rhythm of Poland. Witold Rudziński - the artist's life (1913-2004) which will take place on the 23^rd of April 2022 in the Karol Szymanowski Hall in the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music at 12.00 o’clock.

The meeting will be chaired by Prof. Maria Pokrzywińska, Prof. Alicja Gronau-Osińska and Agnieszka Muszyńska-Andrejczyk.

In the artistic part of the meeting compositions by Witold Rudziński will be performed: 1^st movement of the Polish Suite for piano by Prof. Marcin Łukaszewski and Variations and Fugue for percussion performed by Leszek Lorent.

During the meeting the book will be available at a promotional price!

'Wanda' - premiere of music play of Radio Cracow and Polish Music Edition

On the 18th of April n Easter Monday at 19.05 p.m. premiere a premiere of music play Wanda, based on the opera by Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa will take place. The director of the play is Anna Wieczur, and Jerzy Trela will perform the main role. Wanda is a joint production of Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne and Radio Kraków.

The premiere of Wanda is one of the most important events of the Norwid Year at Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne. The award-winning director Anna Wieczur uses opera music composed by Wnuk-Nazarowa, but tells her own story based on the original Norwid text.

Extremely important for play’s radio concept was the combination of Norwid's original text with music. The sound space relates to the setting of the action and creates a realistic layer of the story. The play was acoustically produced by Wojciech Gruszka, co-creator of many radio plays awarded at the Two Theaters Festival.

After the note of Karolina Grysiak

Warsaw | 'Polish Music Scene': Cracow Golden Quintet

On the 19^th of April 2022 at 10 a.m. at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the Cracow Golden Quintet will perform as part of the ‘Polish Music Scene’ programme, co-organized by the National Institute of Music and Dance and Philharmonics throughout Poland.

The programme of the concert will include Mini-Quintetto of Józef Świder for flute, oboe, clarnet, bassoon and horn, Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz’s Quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, quintets for wind instruments by Grażyna Bacewicz and Tadeusz Szeligowski.

More: https://nimit.pl/wydarzenia/cracow-golden-quintet-scena-muzyki-polskiej-2/