our projects

11 concerts during 9 days in 5 concert halls. World-famous soloists and European orchestras. The Polish Composers' Union invites to the 1st International Festival of Central-Eastern Music 'Euphonie', which will take place from November 23 to December 1, 2018 in Warsaw.

"Eufonie" is a new music festival, referring to the tradition of the regional community of most countries today referred to as Central and Eastern Europe, stretching from the Balkans, through Romania and Austria, the Visegrad Group countries, the Ukraine and Belarus, to the Baltic countries, sometimes extended to Scandinavia. This area is a fascinating melting pot of influences from the East and the West, boiling with cultural energy which often determined the identity of nations deprived of their own countries.

During this year's edition – organized in the special year of the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence – we will hear, among others, works by Karol Szymanowski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Béla Bartók, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Antonín Dvořák, and Arvo Pärt. There will be two premieres of works commissioned by the organizers: Catalog of Trees by Michał Jacaszek, Virpi Pahkinen and Thomas Strønen, and DoubleCelloConcerto by Hanna Kulenty. Among the performers: Zoltán Fejérvári, Laurence Foster, Aleksandra Kurzak, Félix Lajkó, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Leonard Slatkin, Akiko Suwanai, and outstanding orchestras: National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra. The Festival will be accompanied by the International Musicological Conference "National identities – European universality. Music and musical life in Central and Eastern Europe (1918-2018). "

The festival is organized by the National Center for Culture thanks to funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The partner of the Festival is the Polish Composers' Union. President of the Polish Composers' Union and director of POLMIC Mieczysław Kominek is the chairman of the programme board.

More information at: https://nck.pl/en/activities/i-international-music-festival-of-central-eastern-europe-eufonie

On September 21, 2018 at 4.00 p.m., in the Warsaw branch of the Polish Music Publishers (8 Fredry St.), the presentation of a new website dedicated to Grażyna Bacewicz will take place as part of the 61st International Festival of Contemporary Music "Warsaw Autumn".

"For people, I always have a cheerful face" – this sentence taken from a letter of Grażyna Bacewicz to brother Vytautas is almost a signature of the personality of the Polish composer, violinist, teacher and ... writer. This is how Bacewicz remained in the memory of people who knew her: a woman full of warmth and openness, but also completely absorbed in creative passion. In her music she unite idiomatic style features with new means of expression. As a violinist she amazed with technical ease, expressive temperament and purity of sound. She gave concerts, composed, traveled, held responsible positions in the Polish Composers' Uniion, and at the same time was a wife, mother, friend ... The ability to efficiently combine various activities she jokingly explained by having "a tiny, invisible motor" allowing her to do everything much faster than others.

All these faces of Grażyna Bacewicz – "the first lady of music" – will be revealed on the new portal, which is part of the POLMIC website. The presentation of the portal will be led by: the chairwoman of the Musicologists Section of the Polish Composers' Union dr Beata Bolesławska-Lewandowska and musicologist Lech Dzierżanowski. During the presentation, rarely performed songs by Grażyna Bacewicz will be performed by a wonderful duo of outstanding musicians: Joanna Freszel and Bartłomiej Kominek.

Admission free!

The event is organised by the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The website is available at: https://bacewicz.polmic.pl/

We encourage you to get acquainted with the report on the music market in Poland, prepared by Aleksandra Jagiełło-Skupińska. The report concentrates on the music record industry, with particular emphasis on classical music. It contains data related to digital music online, the download of music files to mobile phones, radio and television broadcasters, copyright organizations, music life and score publishers.

„The Polish music market is of little significance to the world or European markets. In comparison with leading world markets, such as the USA, Japan, the UK, Germany or France, the value of the Polish market is small. In the World Ranking run by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Poland is 24th with regard to physical sales value, 36th as far as digital sales are concerned, and 28th with respect to performance rights. (…)

The Polish music record market is dominated by four main music corporations (majors), whose combined share in the market totals approximately 75%. These are: Universal Music Poland, EMI Music Poland, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Poland. In this respect, the Polish market mirrors the world music market. The competitors of these corporations are several hundred small local record labels with limited budget for promotion and small catalogues of performers. Many of these small labels do not possess their own system of distribution, and are therefore dependent on distribution by the majors, which allows the latter to take control over the distribution of many independent labels. Only a few of the Polish record companies can boast markets shares exceeding 1%. It is a characteristic feature of the Polish market that record sales are increasing, which is contrary to the global trend. Worldwide, record sales are continually falling, while digital music sales are rising. (…)

Classical music recordings constitute 10% of the total value of all recordings sold in Poland. In comparison with the general situation on the Polish record market, the classical music sales are less concentrated. For the majors, it is the weakest segment of the market. Despite the domination of the market by the majors, local producers in the classical segment offer strong competition, unlike in the popular Polish and foreign music segment, or in the market for medleys and soundtracks. (…)

In recent years, the digital music market in Poland has gradually gained more importance, but this growth is very slow in comparison with Western European markets and the USA. This difference results, on the one hand, from less universal access to the Internet, particularly – broadband, and, on the other, by a high level of Internet piracy. (…)

Polish classical music is extremely poorly represented online. The opportunities created by the Internet are used by classical music authors and performers only to a very small extent. In the above listed Internet shops, one can buy Polish classical music, less commonly – contemporary works, but a successful search for a specific composition to purchase as a music file is virtually impossible. (…)

Downloading music to mobile telephones is definitely on the increase. This refers to TrueTones / RealTones, or, in other words, music and ringtones in mp3, WMA and other formats (while the download of mono- and polyphonic ringtones is systematically falling). The market share of sales in these categories has soared in the last two years. According to research conducted by Telecom Media on a representative sample of 32 thousand persons, women download more music than men (57%), and most music is downloaded by persons aged 20-30 (49%), with secondary education (63%), living in the country (34%). Most classical music is downloaded by consumers aged 30 to 40 (36%), with tertiary education (50%). ”

More: Report on the Music Market in Poland 2008 - PDF file

 The Polish Music Information Centre organises the first RE:NEW MUSIC workshop and open rehearsal  in Poland. The workshop will take place on Thursday, 17th September 2009, at 2 pm in the State Music Schools No. 1 in Warsaw (22d, Miodowa St., 'Mala Miodowa'). It will be open to the public and free of charge.

The workshop, conducted by Gilles Gobert, is entitled Some thoughts about contemporary notation, especially in electronic music and it will “combine” theory with practice. The composer’s lecture about new notation - when and why he uses it in his works, what its possibilities and what the limitations of the conventional notation are – will be combined with a presentation of the modes of performing chosen "signs" and an invitation to the realisation of selected fragments of scores by learners. The workshop is addressed to young composers and performers.

The open rehearsal of the Pièce pour piano, percussions et électronique (the composition selected from the RE:NEW MUSIC by KWARTLUDIUM+) will be held by the composer on Friday, 18th September 2009, at 9 am in the Chamber Music Hall of Warsaw Philharmonic.

download pdf file

The CD series Polish Music Today - Portraits of Contemporary Polish Composers was inaugurated in 2013 by Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC in co-operation with Polish Radio SA, thanks to the generous support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Ten audio CDs have been released, each dedicated to one contemporary Polish composer. Different generations of composers, living in both Poland and abroad, are represented in this series. They are:

The composers were actively involved in the project, which made it possible to select works representative of their output in interpretations most valued by the composers themselves. The CD booklets contain texts by authors who were recommended by the composers. Most of the recordings come from the collection of the Library of the Polish Composers Union (live concert recordings from the festivals “Warsaw Autumn' and “Warsaw Music Encounters', the series “Generations', “Composer Portraits”, “Music Now”, and others) and the Polish Radio Archive (including the greatest historical radio recordings), as well as the composers’ private collections (mostly – their own electroacoustic music productions). Moreover, thanks to the kind support of many persons and institutions, we have been able to include studio and concert recordings highly appreciated by the composers, but produced by other institutions and labels (e.g. selections from a concert organised by Polish Music Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA, as well as a studio recording by DUX Recording Producers), and even make new recordings specially for this series: of Tadeusz Wielecki’s piano pieces performed by Małgorzata Walentynowicz (produced by Anna Kasprzycka and Musicon) and a composition for violin and electronics by Magdalena Długosz (Dagna Sadkowska – violin, prod. Ewa Guziołek-Tubelewicz).

The CD series has also been designed so as to promote the performers, who willingly agreed to take part in this project. The CDs contain excellent interpretations by the PNRSO, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, as well as many other outstanding Polish and foreign ensembles, conductors and soloists.

POLMIC plans to continue this project, as well as launching a parallel CD series dedicated to eminent performers and entitled Portraits of Contemporary Music Performers. Demand for this kind of series has become evident during work on the current project and conversations with both the composers and performers.