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POLMIC Digital Archive website has been launched

The new POLMIC Digital Archive website was launched in January for the purpose of making archive materials and documents of the Polish Composers’ Union (PCU) / Polish Music Information Centre available to all users. The materials include selected photographs, scores, and recordings as well as books and articles.

POLMIC Digital Archive is the first archive of this kind dedicated to Polish contemporary music. Our collection includes photographs documenting the early years of PCU’s activity and the ‘Warsaw Autumn’ International Festival of Contemporary Music, as well as portrait photos of artists associated with the music world, especially after WWII. We also share scans of manuscripts and computer versions of scores by Polish composers, including works never printed by professional publishers.

On our new website you can listen to audio recordings (selected fragments or complete) of ‘Warsaw Autumn’ events as well as other festivals and concerts held by the PCU, most of which have never been commercially released, though some have come out in limited issues under PCU’s own label. We also share PCU’s / POLMIC’s own publications related to the festivals, concerts and other events we organise, including texts from ‘Warsaw Autumn’ programme books and other papers on contemporary music.

POLMIC Digital Archive has been co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the ‘Digital Culture’ programme.

The new portal is available at: http://www.archiwumcyfrowe.polmic.pl/

Materials from the "Warsaw Autumn" Festival available in the new POLMIC Digital Archive

600 archival photographs and 70 fragments of recordings from the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music have been made available on the new POLMIC Digital Archive portal as part of the "Warsaw Autumn Available!" project.

In recent years, Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC has been archiving, digitizing and sharing recordings and photographs related to the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music – the largest international Polish festival of contemporary music and one of the most important events of this type in Europe and around the world. Unique photographs and sound recordings documenting the festival in over 60 years of its existence are a true national heritage, reflecting the history of Polish musical culture in the second half of the 20th century, immortalizing its creators and presenting their most important works. The aim of our activities is to protect archival materials from inevitable degradation and to make them available to the general public.

For the purpose of presenting our digitized collections, POLMIC Digital Archive – the first digital archive devoted to Polish contemporary music was created in 2020. As part of last year's project, we shared online almost 700 records: photographs documenting festival concerts and accompanying events as captured by Andrzej Glanda – a photographer cooperating with "Warsaw Autumn" in the 1980s, as well as fragments of audio recordings from festival concerts in 1962 and 1963. Our digital collections will continue to grow as more materials are digitized.

The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund.

POLMIC Digital Archive is available at: http://www.archiwumcyfrowe.polmic.pl/

Two Regameys – father and son – on the album from the "Polish Music Today" series

The last album released in 2020 by the Polish Composers' Union as part of the "Polish Music Today – Portraits of Contemporary Polish Composers" series is completely unique. Due to the special relationship and fate of both characters, the publisher made an exception and decided to devote the album to two composers instead of one. In addition to works by the "Polish-Swiss composer" Konstanty Regamey, the CD includes pieces by his father, Konstanty Kazimierz – an almost completely unknown composer, who worked mainly in distant Ukraine, and in 1938 was sentenced to death by the Soviet regime.

The originator of the project and the author of the essay for the album is Jerzy Stankiewicz, who has devoted many years to researching the life and work of both Regamey (as well as popularizing the discovered works and contexts).

He invited two renowned artists to participate in the project – sisters Olga Pasiecznik (soprano) and Natalia Pasiecznik (piano). They performed a repertoire of songs and romances as well as piano pieces by the Regameys. The recording was made in the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of the Polish Radio in August 2020 by Ewa Guziołek.

The booklet contains essays written by musicologist Jerzy Stankiewicz and literary scholar Anna Bednarczyk (in Polish and English), as well as song lyrics in the original languages (Polish and Russian) and their translations into Polish and English prepared by Anna Bednarczyk and Marta Kaźmierczak.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Musical Trace" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance. The album was released thanks to the support of the ZAiKS Authors' Association. The project partner was Repliq Media Sp. z o.o. Co-producer of the recording and CD edition is Programme 2 of the Polish Radio.

The Polish Composers' Union own releases are intended solely for promotional, educational and research purposes. They are not intended for sale. They are provided free of charge to interested institutions and individuals, but due to the very small circulation and large interest, priority is given to music libraries, where a broad audience can benefit from each set. If you are interested, please contact the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC (contact: Izabela Zymer, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Presentation of new websites of the Polish Composers' Union: "POLMIC Digital Archive" and "Roman Maciejewski"

The Polish Composers' Union launches new websites: "POLMIC Digital Archive" and the portal dedicated to "Roman Maciejewski". The presentation of both sites (open to public) will take place on the Zoom platform on Thursday, 28 January 2021 at 2 p.m.

The PCU's Music Library collection of recordings, photographs, scores and documents will be published at www.archiwumcyfrowe.polmic.pl. A significant part of the collection is related to the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music, organised since 1956 by the Polish Composers' Union. The portal will also feature scores, many of which have not yet been published, publications related to the festivals, concerts and other events organised by the PCU, as well as articles on contemporary music. We will also make available extremely interesting archival documents concerning the functioning of the PCU in the political reality of the People's Republic of Poland. All spheres of life were permeated by politics at that time, the best example of which was the famous Conference of Composers and Music Critics in Łagów Lubulski.

The series of monographic websites devoted to Polish contemporary composers is also growing. At www.maciejewski.polmic.pl you can find a detailed biography of Roman Maciejewski (1910–1998) presented in an attractive audio-visual form with many illustrations and a comprehensive presentation of his work with sample recordings. Roman Maciejewski spread his musical wings in the interwar period, gaining the recognition of such authorities as Karol Szymanowski, and after emigration, due to the political situation in the world and his own philosophy of life, he gradually disappeared from the consciousness of music lovers. Thus, Maciejewski became part of a larger phenomenon – a "piece" of a puzzle composed of a whole generation of intellectuals and artists, often outstanding, yet forgotten. A generation that musicologist Tadeusz Kaczyński called with the term "lost generation". Fortunately, from around 1989, the work of émigré composers gradually began to be included in the general history of Polish music, which also contributed to the growing interest in Maciejewski. Currently, his works are more and more appreciated by performers, musicologists and music lovers.

The projects were co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Digital Culture" programme.

Both portals will be presented on the zoom platform: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76732024573?pwd=V2ZJa1hBdmJGK0JqZVdyQWNIUzRaUT09 (Meeting ID: 767 3202 4573, Passcode: 93s1jH)

"Roman Berger in memoriam" – a meeting in memory of the Honorary Member of the Polish Composers' Union

The Polish Composers' Union invites you to a virtual meeting in memory of Roman Berger, an outstanding composer and philosopher of music, Honorary Member of the Polish Composers' Union. The meeting and promotion of the album with his music will take place on the Zoom platform on Thursday, 27 May 2021 at 4.00 p.m. Each meeting participant will receive a copy of the CD as a gift.

The event dedicated to the memory of the artist, who died on 22 December 2020 at the age of 90, will be attended by his relatives and close collaborators. One of the highlights of the meeting will be the promotion of the album with Roman Berger's monumental Missa pro nobis, published just before the composer's death by the Polish Composers' Union together with the National Centre for Culture and co-financed by the Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.

The link to the zoom platform will be made available on Wednesday, 26 May 2021.

In the album essay, the composer wrote: "The (confidential) message that the Polish Composers’ Union was going to release my Missa pro nobis on CD moved me greatly, [...] Classical (and even more pop) music, especially sacred compositions, are not written for our own pleasure (“so that it feels nice,” as stated in Sławomir Mrożek’s Émigré). I therefore took this message as an expression of the PCU management (presided over by Mieczysław Kominek) solidarity with the message of my work, intended as a response to St John Paul II’s ‘commandment’ which the Holy Father put forward in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Holocaust (let me quote from memory): 'Let people dare to sing today, as long as their song will be a lament, a protest, or a sign of hope'".

JOIN: Facebook Event

Krzysztof Penderecki: Europe in tribute to the Master

“Krzysztof Penderecki: Europe in tribute to the Master” is a series of two concerts organised in 2021 by the Polish Composers’ Union in collaboration with foreign partners from Lithuania and Ireland as part of the "Promotion of Polish Culture Abroad" programme of the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport of the Republic of Poland.

We want to commemorate the world-famous composer, conductor and teacher, a longtime Honorary Member and the Honorary President of the Polish Composers’ Union, who passed away on 29 March 2020. The programme of each concert includes Krzysztof Penderecki’s compositions alongside corresponding works by other contemporary composers from Poland and our partner’s countries. We will hear pieces by peers and students of the Maestro, as well as winners of the composers’ competitions under his name, including Marek Stachowski, Maciej Bałenkowski, Wojciech Kostrzewa, Andrzej Ojczenasz or Paweł Siek.

Local chamber ensembles will present this repertoire to the international audience. The Vilnius City Municipality St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra conducted by Modestas Barkauskas will perform on 15 July at 7 p.m. at the St. Catherine Church in Vilnius and the Hard Rain Soloists Ensemble under the artistic direction of Greg Caffrey will play on 10th October at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin as part of The Sundays @ Noon Concert Series. Both events will be live streamed on YouTube and made available to watch later.

More detailed information will be soon available on the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC website and Facebook page.

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport from the Culture Promotion Fund.

Roman Maciejewski – for two pianos

As part of the "Polish Music Today – Portraits of Contemporary Polish Composers" series, initiated in 2013, the Polish Composers' Union released three more albums last year. The first of them, containing Roman Berger's monumental Missa pro nobis, was very important to the composer who wrote a text summarizing his work and philosophy especially for the booklet and fortunately received the album before his death in December 2020. The next two albums are devoted to two great figures whose work started already in the interwar period: Roman Maciejewski and Konstanty Regamey.

The album with Maciejewski's music (catalog number: polmic 161) contains a set of "minor" pieces for two pianos by this composer: Oberek (1943), four Negro Spirituals (1943), Mazurka (1948), Lullaby (1938), Tarantella (1938) and Swedish dances (six miniatures from 1940-1942). All of them were performed by Chopin Piano Duo composed of Anna Boczar and Bartłomiej Kominek; the recording was made by DUX Recording Producers at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice between 29 September and 1 October and on 24-25 November 2020. The essay for the album was written by Marlena Wieczorek – the author of the composer's monograph, published in Poznań (PTPN Publishing House) in 2008.

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC: HERE

Vilnius | St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra in tribute to Krzysztof Penderecki

The Vilnius City Municipality St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra conducted by Modestas Barkauskas will perform a concert devoted to Krzysztof Penderecki on 15 July 2021 at 7 p.m. at the St. Catherine Church in Vilnius. The event with live broadcast by LRT Klasika is a part of the project “Krzysztof Penderecki: Europe in tribute to the Master” carried out by the Polish Composers’ Union in collaboration with foreign partners.

With this concert, we want to commemorate the world-famous composer, conductor and teacher, a long-time Honorary Member and the Honorary President of the Polish Composers’ Union, who passed away on 29 March 2020. The programme includes Penderecki’s Sinfonietta per archi alongside corresponding works by other composers from Poland, including students of the Maestro and winners of the composers’ competitions under his name, as well as a piece by one of the most famous contemporary Lithuanian composers, Raminta Šerkšnytė.

Penderecki’s Sinfonietta is the orchestral equivalent of his String Trio (1990/91). It is a perfect example of a neo-classical work influenced by the Baroque form of concerto grosso with clear references to Bartók’s music. The piece will be juxtaposed with Sinfonietta – Time is ticking written by Penderecki’s student, Maciej Bałenkowski. This motoric piece inspired by the concept of time received the 1st prize in the "Sinfonietta per Sinfonietta" Composition Competition (2018) held under the honorary patronage of Krzysztof Penderecki. The programme will also include Wojciech Kostrzewa’s Novelette (2018, 1st prize in the 3rd Krzysztof Penderecki International Composers’ Competition “Arboretum”), and Andrzej Ojczenasz’s Tech-uniques (2019, 1st prize in the 5th Krzysztof Penderecki Composers’ Competition as part of the 9th NDI Sopot Classic Festival). The concert will be completed by Raminta Šerkšnytė’s early work De profundis (1998), which aims at displaying a wide range of sound possibilities in various orchestral textures.

The project is realised by the Polish Composers’ Union / Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC in partnership with the Vilnius City Municipality St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra with the support of the Polish Institute in Vilnius. Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport from the Culture Promotion Fund.

JOIN: Facebook Event.

Live broadcast: LRT Klasika website, Šv. Kristoforo Kamerinis Orkestras’ Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Dublin | Concert in Tribute to Krzysztof Penderecki

Krzysztof Penderecki's music will be heard on 10 October 2021 at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin as part of the popular Sundays@Noon series. The concert performed by Hard Rain Soloists Ensemble conducted by Sinead Hayes will be held as part of the "Krzysztof Penderecki: Europe in Tribute to the Master" project, organised by the Polish Composers' Union in collaboration with foreign partners.

The concert will begin and end with early compositions by the world-famous composer, conductor and teacher, a long-time Honorary Member and the Honorary President of the Polish Composers' Union, who passed away in March 2020. His Three Miniatures for clarinet and piano, showing no traces of later radicalism, were composed in 1956 when Penderecki was still a student of the State Higher School of Music in Krakow. Three years later he wrote Three Miniatures for violin and piano which heralds the 'sonoristic' period in his work. It was on the threshold of the 1960s that his career took off due to winning all three awards in the 2nd PCU's Competition for Young Composers. At the time he was also teaching at the Krakow academy and among his students was Marek Stachowski, whose Audition for flute, cello and piano (1970) we will hear at the concert.

Throughout his life Krzysztof Penderecki was an ardent promoter of the latest contemporary music. The programme will therefore include the works of Polish composers of the young generation: ReVerse 4 (2014) by Adam Porębski, Dance with my Breath (2015) by Agnieszka Stulgińska, and Lignes d'hauntologie / 1949? (2017) by Paweł Siek. The compositions will be performed by Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble (HRSE) – a contemporary music group from Belfast, whose remit is to present music by local composers in the context of works by leading exponents of contemporary music from around the world. The concert programme will be complemented by two contemporary Irish works: Blunt Instrument (2008-09) by Greg Caffrey and LUCA (2017) by Gráinne Mulvey.

The project is carried out by the Polish Composers’ Union / Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Dublin. Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport from the Culture Promotion Fund.

More information: https://www.cmc.ie/

Warsaw | Resurrection of Music: The Forgotten Composer Konstanty Gorski. The Lost Opera "Margier" and the full reconstruction of its score by conductor Ivan Kostyakhin

The Polish Composers' Union, PWM Edition and the Konstanty Gorski Music Society on the 26th of April, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. invite you to a music and art gathering 'Resurrection of Music: The Forgotten Composer Konstanty Gorski. The Lost Opera "Margier" and the full reconstruction of its score by conductor Ivan Kostyakhin'. The event, featuring Maestro Kostyakhin, as well as the Polish Composers Union President Mieczysław Kominek, Grzegorz Seroczyński - the head of the recently established Konstanty Gorski Music Society - and artists who will present excerpts from the work, will take place at the Polish Music Edition office in the center of Warsaw (Fredry 8 street). Admission is free!

WHO WAS THE AUTHOR OF "MARGIER"?

This remarkable artist, active and significant on the map of musical culture of his time, lived the life of an "eternal migrant" and, probably, for this reason he is almost completely forgotten today. Composer, violinist, and teacher Konstanty Gorski was born in 1859 in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in Lida, now a city in Belarus), died in 1924 in Poznań, studied in Grodno, Vilnius, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg, worked in Georgia, Ukraine, and in the reborn Second Polish Republic. His beautiful music deserves to be popularized especially since next year marks the 100th anniversary of Konstanty Gorski's death.

FIRST RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SCORE OF "MARGIER"

The content of Konstanty Gorski's three-act opera "Margier" based on the poem by Vladislav Syrokomla provides examples of dramatic, sacrificial patriotism. The action takes place in the 14th century on the Neman River and at Malbork Castle: legend has it that Lithuanian prince Margier, together with the garrison of his castle in Punah and the surrounding population, heroically resisted a Teutonic siege. Gorski created his first opera during his Kharkiv period, as evidenced by the piano score released in 1905, which is kept in the University Library in Poznań. The handwritten score of the work, staged in 1927 at the Grand Theater in Poznań (already after the composer's death), burned down during World War II.

Only this year, as part of the InBelKult 2.0 project, opera conductor and choirmaster Ivan Kostyakhin became the first to reconstruct the full score. The cast is impressive: a large symphony orchestra, choir, and soloists.

We invite you to participate in a meeting and discussion dedicated to the presentation of the reconstructed score. As a treat for music lovers, young artists will perform excerpts of the opera, accompanied on the piano by the maestro himself.

https://www.facebook.com/events/6913350662014379

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