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Without the Polish Chamber Orchestra, and thus Jerzy Maksymiuk, the Sinfonia Varsovia would not have been founded. The album "Perfectionist" was created to celebrate the outstanding conductor's 85th birthday and the history of his long lasting friendship with the orchestra. It will premiere on 9 April 2021, on the artist's birthday. During a meeting in the Maksymiuk's salon, Maestro will talk about the album and how it was created. The event will be broadcast live on Sinfonia Varsovia's Facebook and YouTube channel.

The album includes pieces for string orchestra and soloists. In their interpretation, Jerzy Maksymiuk and Sinfonia Varsovia strive for not only performance perfection. They aim to reveal emotions which, thanks to the orchestra's precision and the performers' individual skills and sensitivity, become available to the listener.

The first two pieces are Claude Debussy's preludes arranged by Jerzy Maksymiuk: in this rendition we will hear the lightness and transparency that the conductor carefully brings out from the score. The next composition is Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Thanks to its rich texture, it is a perfect piece for a conductor who loves to delve into details and polish them, which Maksymiuk surely does. Andrzej Panufnik's Violin Concerto, another piece on the album, was written in 1972. With its very characteristic sound, it allows both the soloist (Jakub Haufa, concertmaster of Sinfonia Varsovia) and the orchestra to demonstrate different technical skills and slightly different sensitivity in each movement. Leaves Falling Here and Now, number 7 on the album, is a piece composed in 2011 for piano and chamber orchestra by Jerzy Maksymiuk himself, who also performed the piano part. Finally, Wojciech Kilar's Orawa. Despite its simplicity, it is not an easy piece to conduct. Maksymiuk has conducted it over a hundred times, and on the album Perfectionist we have the opportunity to listen to his last rehearsal.

The album will be available in Empik stores (also for preorder), on the website www.sinfoniavarsovia.org and on selected streaming services.

A symphonic concert of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Paweł Kowalski under the baton of Monika Wolińska will be held online on 9 April 2021 at 7.00 on the Philharmonic's YouTube channel.

Krzysztof Penderecki's Paradise Lost: Sacra Rappresentazione based on John Milton's poem was written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the United States. The concert will begin with the lyrical Adagietto, which functions as an orchestral intermezzo. Mieczysław Tomaszewski described it as an example of 'retroversive' art: of music “looking back, but undoubtedly his own, personal and experienced, without the quotation marks that are associated with a stylisation".

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor No. 20 KV 466 will be a dialogue with the past. The captivating dramaturgy of the score, the impeccable form and the beauty of the themes made it one of the audience favourites all over the world. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 "Scottish" reflectes composer's impressions from his trip to Scotland in 1829. We will hear a reminiscence of a visit to the ruined chapel of the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, echoes of lively folk melodies in a joyful scherzo and a moving "prayer of Queen Maria Stuart" in a quote from Mendelssohn's own arrangement of Ave Maria. Te composer dedicated the symphony to Princess Victoria, the future queen of the United Kingdom.

More information at: https://www.oifp.eu/repertuar/koncert-symfoniczny-8/ 

The International Conference "Trombone in the 20th and 21st Century Polish Music – Inspirations and Perspectives" will take place at the Academy of Music in Łódź on 9-10 April 2021. All lectures, concerts and master classes with foreign guests will be held online; the recordings will be made available on the Academy's YouTube channel.

The conference was initiated by two teachers from the Academy of Music in Łódź: Robert Żelazko and Dariusz Sprawka. The guests of the conference will be world-class trombonists from Sweden, Germany and Poland: Hakan Björkman (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Yamaha Artist), Tomer Maschkowski (Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Yamaha Artist), Maciej Łakomy (I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań), Tomasz Hajda (K. Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, NOSPR in Katowice), Dariusz Sprawka (G. and K. Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź) and Robert Żelazko (the G. and K. Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź ).

The conference programme includes workshops, lectures, concerts and online master classes, which are currently very popular among students who are not able to attend foreign courses. The event is devoted to the 20th and 21st century Polish music for trombone. The topic will be widely discussed during panel discussions and lectures and the 20th- and 21st-century trombone pieces will be performed during a conference concert. The programme will include compositions for both solo trombone and trombone ensembles. Each teacher, apart from the lecture, will give open master classes, during which one will learn more about the performance technique, ways of self-improvement, psychological aspects of playing an instrument and dealing with stress.

More information at: http://www.amuz.lodz.pl/pl/wydarzenia/puzon-w-muzyce-polskiej-xx-i-xxi-wieku 

Professor Marcin Błażewicz, composer, lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, member of the Polish Composers' Union died on 5 April 2021 in Podkowa Leśna at the age of 68.

He studied philosophy at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw (now the Cardinal Wyszyński University), and later composition with Marian Borkowski at the Academy of Music in Warsaw (now Fryderyk Chopin University of Music), from which he graduated with honours. In 1999-2002 and 2005-2008, he was vice-dean of the FCUM Department of Composition, Conducting and Theory of Music, and in 2008-2012 dean of this department. In 2012-2016, he was head of the Department of Composition. He supervised doctoral dissertations of Dariusz Przybylski, Eunho Chang, Krzesimir Dębski and Ignacy Zalewski.

For many years he was engaged in the promotion of musical culture. In 1983-87 he was organiser and artistic director of the International New Music Forum in Warsaw. In 1990-92 he was president of the Jeunesses Musicales de Pologne, and in 1990-94 – vice-president of Percussive Arts Society Poland. Simultaneously, in 1986-98 he was music director of the Polish Radio Theatre and an editor in the Polish Radio "BIS" Programme. In 2000 he founded a periodical about music and related arts – "Muzyka21" – of which he was editor-in-chief until 2001. He was also chairman of the classical music section of ZAiKS Association of Authors (2006-2013) and its treasurer (since 2006).

Marcin Błażewicz received the Stanisław Wyspiański Award for lifetime achievement as a composer (1988) and – twice – the Prix Italia (1989, 1990). In 2018, he received the 100th Anniversary Award of the ZAiKS Association of Authors.

Marcin Błażewicz's works are performed in many countries around the world: from China through Europe to the United States – his music will stay with us forever.

The second edition of the Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music will be held between 11 and 18 September 2021. The juries will be headed by Jarosław Drzewiecki and Andrzej Tatarski. The musicians can submit their applications for the competition until 14 May 2021 on the dedicated website polishmusiccompetition.pl. The event is organised by the Institute of Music and Dance in collaboration with the Artur Malawski Podkarpacka Philharmonic in Rzeszów and funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.

The competition is exceptional in that it allows the participants to prepare their own individual programmes. Compiling them for performance during the auditions of the competition, they can choose from amongst a pool of works written by 56 Polish composers, who were mostly active in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Alongside the likes of Chopin and Penderecki, there are some less familiar names representing a variety of styles and musical epochs, e.g. Antoni Kątski and Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz as well as outstanding Polish women composers: Maria Szymanowska and Grażyna Bacewicz.

The jury in both categories consists of distinguished Polish and foreign musicians and musical personalities. In the category addressed to pianists, the jury will consist of: Andrzej Jasiński (Poland), a pianist and one of the most distinguished teachers of piano around the world; Koji Shimoda (Japan), a music critic, pianist and teacher; Pavel Dombrovsky (Russia), a pianist and teacher, winner of the 1st Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music; Lidia Grychtołówna (Poland), a doyenne of Polish piano music and a teacher; Aleksandros Jusakos (Greece/Chile), a pianist; Sergey Osokins (Latvia), a pianist and one of the most distinguished teachers of piano in Latvia; and, acting as secretary, Witold Kawalec (Poland), a pianist and teacher.

In the category of chamber ensembles, the participants will be judged by: Gary Guthman (USA/Poland), a trumpeter, composer, arranger, conductor and music producer; Krzysztof Meyer (Poland), a composer, pianist and teacher; Pedro Pablo Cámara (Spain), a saxophone soloist and recitalist, a teacher and an author of publications dedicated to music; Igor Pylatyuk (Ukraine), a violinist, conductor, teacher and musicologist; Zdzisław Supierz (Poland/Netherlands), a music impresario and opera producer; Tadeusz Wojciechowski (Poland), a cello recitalist and conductor; and, acting as secretary, Janusz Ostrowski (Poland), a cultural activist, educator and pianist.

The rulebook, framework schedule of the competition, application forms, information on the repertoire, composers and sheet music, as well as all the updates, can be found on the dedicated website: www.polishmusiccompetition.pl.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.