news

Katowice | Silesian Uprisings in Memoriam

On 23 August 2020 Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship Jakub Chełstowski invites you to the Cathedral of Christ the King in Katowice to contemplate the music of the Patron of the Silesian Philharmonic. The concert will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the Second Silesian Uprising, which falls on 25 August 2020.

The evening will present one of the most famous works from the second half of the 20th century – Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, Op. 36 by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. The enormity of emotions, expressed both in the music and text of Górecki's Symphony, will fill the walls of the Katowice temple. The Symphony Orchestra of the Silesian Philharmonic will be conducted by Łukasz Borowicz – the winner of the "Polityka's" Passport, the Corypheus of Polish Music award, the Cyprian Kamil Norwid award and the Tansman award for "outstanding musical personality". The solo part will be performed by soprano Iwona Socha, soloist of the Krakow Opera who cooperates with leading opera and operetta houses in the country, performing in Poland and abroad.

The August concert will be an extremely significant event for Silesia. The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the Second Silesian Uprising will be graced by the music of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, one of the most important Polish composers of the 20th century who was a Silesian. It will be performed by the Silesian Philharmonic, for which the heritage of the region is particularly important and its promotion is one of the main goals of the institution. Thanks to live streaming, everyone will be able to listen to the concert – not only in the Cathedral, but also at home.

JOIN: Facebook Event

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu/production/powstania-slaskie-in-memoriam/

Krosno | 5th Young Arts Festival

The 5th edition of the Young Arts Festival will take place on 21-23 August 2020, focusing on Polish music – from the works of Krzysztof Penderecki and Wojciech Kilar, through film music, to interpretations of Polish traditional music.

The festival taking place during the pandemic is a new opening to the joy of listening to music together. The guitar duo of Marek Napiórkowski and Artur Lesicki and the Atom String Quartet will perform in front of the audience in Krosno. Thanks to the online broadcast, we will also hear the international star – Jacob Collier.

The Young Arts Festival programme was to a large extent unintentionally shaped by ... this year's pandemic, which presented the organizers of cultural events with new challenges. More chamber ensembles will perform in front of the audience, and the audience will be obliged to follow sanitary rules, which will ensure safety. The theme of the 5th edition of the festival is "New Operning" – for Polish music, for chamber music, for online concerts. The concerts of the Young Arts Festival will take place in unique, acoustically perfect spaces in Krosno and the surrounding area, which will allow the participants to play and listen while keeping a safe distance.

The Festival will also feature free family workshops "OKOfonia", during which large and small composers will write a piece using colorful shapes, spots, figures and lines, and the sounds will be not only heard but also seen!

The event was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the "Music" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Full programme and free admission cards are available at: https://youngarts.pl/

Meisinger Music Festival 2020

This year's edition of Meisinger Music Festival will take place on 21-30 August 2020. The main idea of this event is to invite classical music stars to Szczecin, Stargard and Barlinek.

This year, MMF will be a special festival dedicated to artists from Poland and the region. Due to the difficult situation of artists after the pandemic, the Festival director – guitarist Krzysztof Meisinger – decided to organize an edition that aims to help artists of various specialties. Actors from theatres in Szczecin – Michał Janicki and Wiesław Orłowski – will be involved in hosting the events, and local painters will prepare paintings inspired by the music played for selected concerts.

Five monographic concerts will be devoted to the works of Astor Piazzolla, Johann Sebastian Bach, Bartłomiej Marusik, Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Their compositions will be presented by Krzysztof Meisinger (guitar), Alicja Węgorzewska and Agnieszka Rehlis (mezzo-soprano), Michael Maciaszczyk and Karolina Nowotczyńska (violin), Krzysztof Baranowski (piano), Agata Igras (flute), as well as AstorArte String Quintet and Meisinger Music Festival Orchestra.

This year, the admission to the Meisinger Music Festival events is free. Instead, you can donate any amount to the fundraiser, which will be dedicated to the purchase of medical supplies and medicines for the West Pomeranian Hospice for Children and Adults.

JOIN: Facebook Event

Katowice | 14th "August of Talents" Polish National Promotional Festival

On 20-30 August 2020 Katowice will host the 14th "August of Talents" Polish National Promotion Festival. Due to the pandemic and out of concern for the safety of artists and listeners, 3 out of 4 festival concerts will take place without the audience – they will be recorded in the Concert Studio of Radio Katowice, and then made available on YouTube channel of "Katowice – City of Gardens" Krystyna Bochenek Culture Centre.

The festival will be inaugurated by the Al Pari string quartet, who will perform Claude Debussy's String Quartet in G minor, Op.10, and then, together with the clarinetist Bartłomiej Dobrowolski, will present rarely performed works by Aleksander Głazunow and Bernhard Henrik Crusell. The concert "Vocalissimo", which will be held on 25 August at 6.00 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the City of Gardens, will be the only one open to the public. Three distinguished artists of the young generation – Justyna Bujak, Paulina Horajska and Natalia Płonka, accompanied by Mirella Malorny-Konopka, will perform opera repertoire.

The concert entitled "Gitariada" will be performed Jakub Moroziński, Przemysław Religa and Julia Żarnowska – three graduates of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, who will be introduced by prof. Marek Nosal, guitar teacher and the Artistic Director of the Silesian Guitar Autumn. The artists will present a wide range of guitar repertoire, including compositions by John Dowland, Ferdynard Sor, Darius Milhaud, as well as Polish composer Alexander Tansman (Cavatina Suite).

The final concert of this year's "August of Talents" will belong to outstanding pianists of the young generation. Piano recitals recorded at the Katowice Radio Studio will be given by Kamil Pacholec, who, in addition to the works of Fryderyk Chopin, will also perform works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Andrzej Wierciński, who will play Chopin's pieces.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

DOWNLOAD: Festival Programme

More information at: http://www.silesia.art.pl/strona/sierpientalentow2020

"With classics through Poland": Waldszenen Ensemble

The Polish Music Management invites you to the last concerts as part of the current edition of the "With classics through Poland" series, which will take place at the Museum of the Błonie Region in Błonie (20 August, 5 p.m.), Educational and Museum Centre of the Casimir Pulaski Museum in Warka (21 August, 6 p.m.) and the House of Creative Work in Radziejowice (22 August, 7 p.m.)

The aim of the project, which began in the second half of 2019, is to bring music performed by the most outstanding Polish artists to smaller community centres, cities, towns and villages; to reach audiences who have difficult access to classical music. Through contact with the great art and artists, new audiences are being introduced to the world of classical chamber music, having a chance to become its new enthusiasts.

The three final concerts of this year's edition will be performed by Waldszenen Ensemble composed of: Maurycy Stawujak – piano, Katarzyna Denkiewicz – violin, Tomasz Rosiński – viola, Mateusz Błaszczak – cello. The programme will include chamber compositions by 18th, 19th and 20th-century composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Quartet in E-flat Major KV 493, Józef Władysław Krogulski's Piano Quartet in D major, Op. 2 and Aleksander Tansmann's Suite-divertissement for piano quartet.

The project is implemented thanks to the support of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, prof. Piotr Gliński and under his patronage.

More information at: http://muzycznyimpresariat.pl/

Warsaw | "Experimental Tuesdays": Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble

Kraków-based Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble will perform on the stage at Grochowska 272 on 18 August 2020 at 8.00 p.m. Artists famous for their unconventional interpretations of the greatest avant-garde musicians will premiere Plants Concerto with Pianosong by Piotr Peszat, a composer associated with the ensemble.

The piece inspired by Jonathan Harvey's work, Bird Concerto with Pianosong, will metaphorically give voice to plants – the bioelectric activity of flowers measured during the concert will shape the entire work. The repertoire of the evening will also include Jagoda Szmytka's Electrified memories of bloody cherries, Carola Bauckholt's Laufwerk – inspired by the works of Czesław Miłosz, Øyvind Torvunda's Neon Forest Space – peculiarly referring to the primeval forest, and Matthew Shlomowitz's Jazz in the Park from the Popular Contexts 7: Public Domain Music series – combining street sounds with music.

Experimental Tuesdays, a new series of contemporary music concerts, examine the relationship between music and nature as well as respond to the challenges of modernity, including man’s influence on the environment, the climate crisis, the progressing digitization of life, the lack of algorithmic transparency, and the lack of internet privacy. The series features four ensembles: Ensemble Garage, Hashtag Ensemble, Spółdzielnia Muzyczna, and Small Instruments. Concerts are held as a part of the 20th edition of the Sinfonia Varsovia’s Festival to Its City Festival.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.sinfoniavarsovia.org/

Warsaw | 16th "Chopin and His Europe" International Music Festival

The 16th edition of the "Chopin and his Europe" International Music Festival will run from 15 August to 1 September 2020. Apart from Polish music, this year's programme will present works by Ludwig van Beethoven in masterful interpretations as part of the celebration of the composer's 250th birth anniversary. Most concerts will be available on YouTube and social media of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.

Despite these difficult times, which pose major challenges to all and sundry, we invite you once again to take part in the celebration of music that is the “Chopin and His Europe” Festival. Nearly 30 concerts will be held this year. Most will be solo recitals by great masters of piano playing, both on contemporary and historical instruments. We will listen to a number of pianists associated with the Chopin Competition, including two of its winners – Yulianna Avdeeva and Kevin Kenner. World-renowned orchestras and chamber ensembles will present 10 concerts, featuring, among others, Karol Szymanowski's Myths, and Krzysztof Penderecki's String Quartet No. 3. Beethoven's string quartets will be performed during four evenings by the Belcea Quartet. In addition to vocal recitals by outstanding soloists, a special gem for music lovers will be a concert performance of Stanisław Moniuszko’s The Countess, the first on period instruments. The work will be conducted by Fabio Biondi, with an international group of soloists, Europa Galante and the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Choir.

A large portion of the festival concerts will be streamed free of charge on the Chopin Institute’s YouTube channel and on its social media page. Selected concerts will also be broadcast by Polish Radio. Nonetheless, the organisers invite you to experience the concerts in person, in the concert hall, where all safety rules are followed (limited number of seats, the obligation to cover your nose and mouth and disinfect your hands).

Tickets for festival concerts scheduled for 15 to 23 August are currently available online at www.bilety.nifc.pl and at the ticket offices of the Chopin Museum in Warsaw (11 a.m.– 7 p.m., Tuesday thru Sunday). Ticket sales for concerts planned for 24–31 August will begin on 14 August.

Full programme is available at: https://festiwal.nifc.pl/pl

Warsaw | 4th WarszeMuzik

As part of the fourth edition of WarszeMuzik, on 1-29 August 2020, chamber music will return to Warsaw Ghetto's remaining buldings. We will visit a tenement house at 20 Chłodna Street (the Clock House), the house of Mieczysław Weinberg at 66 Żelazna Street, and an old tenement house at 41 Chłodna Street.

In 2020, the repertoire will expand to include forgotten works of great composers of the pre-war Warsaw, and add some new contexts. For the first time the programme will feature music by Józef Koffler, probably the first enthusiast of the dodecaphonic technique in Poland and an active member of the Board of the Polish Composers' Union, whose life was brutally interrupted by the Second World War. During the inaugural concert, Hashtag Strings will perform his String Trio.
We will also get to know the work of the composer-in-residence at this year's festival – Yair Klartag, who combines musical "archeology" with modernity. His Half Tiger, Half Poet for solo violin will be performed from the upper window, symbolically referring to the figure of the greatest poet of the Warsaw Ghetto – Władysław Szlengel.

During the final concert of the festival, at the POLIN Museum, musicians from the Hashtag Ensemble will premiere Yair Klartag's Voglio e non vorrei, in which the composer raises the subject of "the work of memory", referring to the story of his grandfather, the pre-war chorister of the Great Synagogue in Tłomackie. The work was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

For the second time, the backyard concerts of WarszeMuzik will feature music by Franz Schubert, the first composer in the history of classical music, who worked closely with the synagogue and wrote liturgical music to Hebrew texts. Mieczysław Weinberg, the patron of the WarszeMuzik festival, was also a great admirer of Schubert's music. Since the very first WarszeMuzik concert in 2017, the festival is also inspired by the figure of Władysław Szpilman. His unpretentious, simple and nostalgic Mazurka convinces us of the deep bond with Poland of so many Warsaw Jews from the North District, the forever lost, outstanding figures of culture and art.

Despite the imposed distance due to the COVID19 pandemic, you will be able to listen to music from the balconies, windows and staircases.

Full programme of the Festival is availabe at: http://warszemuzik.org/pl/program

Poznań | "Contemporary chamber miniature in the times of pandemic. First performances": Barbara Kaszuba

The third premiere as part of the series “Contemporary chamber miniature in the times of pandemic. First performances” will take place on 20 August 2020 at 12.00 p.m. on the Academy of Music in Poznań's website, Facebook profile and YouTube channel. We will hear Splashing Sounds by Barbara Kaszuba.

As Barbara Kaszuba points out, "The composition is intended for the Roland FR X7 digital accordion with electronics. The musical material consists of samples recorded by Łukasz Nowakowski, then electronically transformed by the composer. The work was inspired by the composer's audiovisual impressions taken from the TV show Celebrity Splash, which took place at the Termy Maltańskie swimming pool in Poznań in 2015 – the sounds of a body hitting the water, cascades of water rising and falling, clearly visible circles on water surface. Splashing sounds is an open form; the performance is based on a different variant each time. Anna Kokocińska prepared a movement interpretation of the composition as a choreographic premiere of the piece. "

The series “Contemporary chamber miniature in the times of pandemic. First performances ” presents first performances of works by composers associated with the Academy of Music in Poznań. On subsequent Thursdays we will hear miniatures composed by the Academy's teachers: Radosław Mateja, PhD (27 August), Prof. Monika Kędziora (3 September), Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska, PhD (10 September), Michał Janocha, PhD (17 September), Prof. Artur Kroschel (24 September), Prof. Zbigniew Kozub (1 October).

Link to the online premiere: https://youtu.be/RpB5lM1mmaI

news

Katowice | Silesian Uprisings in Memoriam

Krosno | 5th Young Arts Festival

Meisinger Music Festival 2020

Katowice | 14th "August of Talents" Polish National Promotional Festival

"With classics through Poland": Waldszenen Ensemble

Warsaw | "Experimental Tuesdays": Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble

Warsaw | 16th "Chopin and His Europe" International Music Festival

Warsaw | 4th WarszeMuzik

Poznań | "Contemporary chamber miniature in the times of pandemic. First performances": Barbara Kaszuba

More Articles ...

POLMIC recommends

our sponsors