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The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra invites you on 29 December 2020 at 7.30 p.m. to an online premiere of a concert by Tomasz Skweres and New Music Orchestra conducted by Szymon Bywalec. The programme includes works by composers associated with Wrocław.

New Music Orchestra will present Marcin Rupociński's Sensitivity for chamber orchestra and video and Mateusz Ryczek's Cello Concerto 'Apparitions', inspired by the phenomenon of emergence and dedicated to Tomasz Skweres. These will be online premieres of works created as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme carried out by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Founded in 1996, New Music Orchestra is the oldest Polish ensemble specialising in contemporary music performance, with intense activity now spanning over 20 years. Working first under the direction of the ensemble’s founder Aleksander Lasoń, and since 2006 under Artistic Director Szymon Bywalec, the OMN has gradually morphed from a group of enthusiastic students into a professional ensemble able to tackle the most complex scores. The orchestra premiered over 150 works at Polish and international festivals. Since 2014, the OMN runs its own concert cycle at the NOSPR orchestra home venue in Katowice. 

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://nospr.org.pl/pl/kalendarz/orkiestra-muzyki-nowej-2 

The Open Theater (Teatr Otwarty) celebrates the 100th birth anniversary of Karol Wojtyła with a "Special gala of Christmas carols to close the Year of John Paul 2nd". The concert recorded in the Artus Court in Gdańsk will be broadcast online on 27 December 2020 at 6.00 p.m. on YouTube channel (Dariusz Wojcik – Teatr Otwarty).

Christmas atmosphere, very unique climate and traditions are the beauty that keeps us together. Polish Christmas carols are filled with spirituality, sarmatian temper, slavic pensiveness and longing, tenderness, feeling, merriness and melancholy. These elements can be found in activities and writings of St. John Paul 2nd. His merits for Poland and the world are not to be missed. Family life as a part of tradition was also of a great importance for John Paul 2nd. Festivities such as sharing wafer and singing Christmas carols are are the best example of family traditions that integrate all members in one place at the same time. Polish national poet – Adam Mickiewicz – said during one of his lectures at the Sorbone University in Paris: "Polish Christmas carols are so unique and one of the kind. I haven’t heard of any country that would have such a treasure as Poland has".

The upcoming concert will be performed by Joanna Nawrot (soprano), Jacek Szymański (tenor), Dariusz S. Wójcik (bass), Andrzej Wojciechowski (clarinet) and Rafał Lewandowski (piano). The artists will present music related to John Paul 2nd, such as Nocturne in E flat major and Scherzo in B minor by Frederic Chopin, Moje Miasto Wadowice with music by Adam Dec and Paweł Jarosz, an old Polish song Góralu czy ci nie żal, arias by Johann Sebastian Bach, and Benedictus from Christmas Oratorium by Camille Saint-Saëns. We will also hear Polish Christmas carols and pastorals such as Witaj gwiazdko złota by Zygmunt Noskowski, Nad stajenką gwiazda płonie by Jan Maklakiewicz, W nocy narodzony by Tadeusz Trojanowski, Oj maluśki maluśki and Jezusa naorodzonego, as well as carols of other nations.

The Honorary Patronate: Secretary of State of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage – Jarosław Sellin; the Voivod of Pomorze Dariusz Drelich.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.teatrotwarty.pl 

The aim of the project "Mirecki, Stolpe, Żeleński – forgotten masterpieces of Polish chamber music" is to present to the widest possible audience the forgotten Polish chamber music of the 19th century, in particular the piano trio genre. The project will be premiered on 27 December 2020 at 6:00 p.m. on Tadeusz Szeligowski Society page.

Program of the concert includes 3 forgotten piano trios: Trio in F-dur, op. 22 by Franciszek Mirecki (1823), Romance. Duettino for violin, cello and piano by Antoni Stolpe (1866) and Trio in E-dur pp. 22 by Władysław Żeleński (1870). These works are of significant aesthetic, compositional and artistic value, which deserve to be permanently included in the repertoire of musicians all over the world. The choice of the repertoire is not accidental – the composers lived and wrote in the 19th century, and all the trios were written over the course of around 50 years; so they show the history of the development of the piano trio genre, which significantly evolved in the Romantic era. Moreover, young Władysław Żeleński completed his first composition studies with Franciszek Mirecki. For years, the works of Mirecki, Stolpe and Żeleński were only available in libraries in the form of manuscripts, some of them were lost or never found. There are also very few published works by these composers.

The concert will be performed by Apeiron Trio – a titled ensemble composed of young and passionate musicians, one of the most important areas of artistic activity is promoting the work of Polish composers.

The project is implemented as part of a creative scholarship and a scholarship in the field of promoting culture awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://towarzystwo-szeligowskiego.pl/ 

The premiere of a performative concert based on selected poems by Chaim Nachman Bialik – an outstanding Israeli poet of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the creator of the modern Hebrew language, called Israel's "prophet" – will be held on 27 December 2020 at 7.00 p.m. on the Hashtag Ensamble YouTube channel and at 8.00 p.m. on the POLIN Radio. Wojciech Błażejczyk's music will be performed by the Hashtag Ensemble and a children's choir.

The main idea of ​​the concert, organized by the 'Sfera Harmonii' Foundation, is to tell the poetic vision of Chaim Nachman Bialik through a combination of words and music. The poem Blask (Radiance) is a story about the main character's journey into childhood. He experienced the mystery of transcendence and he is recalling this memory, returning to it, describing it and indicating the presence of God in the world – the delightful beauty of nature. The title of this poem refers to the Jewish mystical Book of Radiance.

The authors of the performance refer to the original connection of music with the word, here acting as an additional instrument in a musical ensemble. Music is an integral part of the performance, responsible for the development of drama by creating and resolving tensions. During the concert, we will hear: string trio, ethnic instruments (duduk, cymbals) and guitars (classical prepared, electric and bass), as well as the electronics and the children's choir of the Oskar Kolberg State Primary Music School No. 1 in Warsaw. Actor Adam Woronowicz will also take part in the concert.

More information at: https://polin.pl/pl/wydarzenie/chaim-nachman-bialik-blask-premiera-koncertu-performatywnego 

Grand carolling with the artists of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic will be broadcast on the first day of Christmas, 25 December 2020 at 7.10 p.m. on TVP3 Białystok. The concert will be also available on 6 January 2021 at 7.30 p.m. on the Philharmonic's YouTube Channel.

Christmas is a time of wishes, wonderful meetings and truly emotional moments. On this special holiday, the artists of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic will bring a lot of joy to their audience's homes. They will perform an extraordinary concert together with the music lovers who have accepted the invitation to participate in joint carolling and sent their recordings of the most famous Polish Christmas carols.

The evening will start with a traditional carol Dzisiaj w Betlejem (Today in Bethlehem), which has a characteristic melody, combining elements of Polish culture with traditions of our eastern neighbors. To emphasize the unity of Christians, the opera artists will perform Ukrainian carols. They will sing the most beautiful Christmas melodies, including Mizerna cicha (Poor and Quiet) by Jan Karol Gall (1856-1912), together with the audience. The concert will end with a joyful and majestic performance of the 18th-century Pieśń o narodzeniu Pańskim (Song on the Birth of Our Lord) by Franciszek Karpiński, commonly known as Bóg się rodzi (God is born).

More information at: https://www.oifp.eu/repertuar/wielkie-koledowanie-z-artystami-opery-i-filharmonii-podlaskiej/