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Grand master's instrument and grand masters of the instrument. These words should be enough to encourage you to spend summer evenings with music. Masterpieces of organ and chamber music will be performed by famous Polish and foreign virtuosos in Poznań Fara on Thursdays at 8.30 p.m. until 20 August 2020.

Built in 1876 by the famous Friedrich Ladegast, a Saxon organist from Weissenfels, the monumental organs are an inexhaustible source of colors and individual interpretations. For over 20 years during the "Old Town Organ Concerts" series held in Poznań Farna, organists have been marveling at the unusual instrument, searching for the most appropriate, the most beautiful and the most surprising sounds, colors and ideas for performing their recitals.

The artists invited to participate in this year's edition of the concert series are European virtuosos of the organ, professors of music academies, as well as artists of the young generation: Łukasz Kołakowski, Adam Tański, Marek Stefański, Jakub Kapała and Jan Mroczek. They will present works by, among others, Mikołaj of Kraków, Fryderyk Chopin, Feliks Nowowiejski, Mieczysław Karłowicz, as well as their own improvisations. The variety of repertoire and artistic personalities will allow to present the instrument in a very broad spectrum.

Due to the epidemic situation, a maximum of 150 people will be able to participate in the live concert. Listeners are asked to cover their mouths and nose and keep a proper distance.

Online broadcasts will be available on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skofara/ 

Full programme is available at: http://www.farapoznanska.pl/staromiejskie-koncerty-organowe-2020/ 

Thanks to the collaboration of the Silesian Philharmonic with the Silesian Museum and their joint mission to disseminate culture, both institutions invite you to musical meetings, which will be held every Saturday at 7.00 p.m., starting from 4 July 2020.

In the Silesian Museum's space, away from the hustle and bustle of the streets, the Silesian Philharmonic will present an ideal summer programme, composed of well-known works of composers such as Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven as well as music of Silesian artists. The concerts will feature both the Silesian Chamber Orchestra, the Choir and Symphony Orchestra of the Silesian Philharmonic, as well as smaller instrumental ensembles. The summer season will be also a preview of the next artistic season of the Silesian Philharmonic. The last concerts in the series – on 15 and 22 August – will be devoted to the Second Silesian Uprising, which 100th anniversary falls in August 2020.

All concerts will be held with recommended restrictions, so that each participant can feel safe and comfortable. Tickets are available at the Silesian Museum ticket office and at http://bilety.muzeumslaskie.pl/ 

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu/uslysz-nas-w-muzeum-slaskim-sezon-letni-filharmonii-slaskiej/ 

Reverend Professor Ireneusz Pawlak, musicologist, composer, teacher, expert in Gregorian chant associated with the Catholic University of Lublin, died on 15 July 2020 in Lubartów. In the years 1989-2017 he was the vice-president of the Lublin Branch of the Polish Composers' Union.

Reverend Professor Ireneusz Pawlak was born on 22 March 1935 in Września. In 1954-60 he studied philosophy and theology at the Archbishop's Ecclesiastical Seminary in Gniezno. In 1960 he was ordained a priest. In the same year, he began studies at the Institute of Church Musicology of the Catholic University of Lublin, which he completed in 1964 with his master's thesis Pallographic and musical analysis of the gradual of Poor Clares in Gniezno 1418 written under the supervision of Reverend Professor Hieronim Feicht. He also received a bachelor’s degree in theology.

After graduation, in 1965, he took over as the head of the Cathedral Choir at the Primate's Basilica in Gniezno. He also lectured at the seminary in the field of church singing. From 1970 to 2008, he was permanently associated with the Institute of Church Musicology at the Catholic University of Lublin. In 1976 he obtained a doctoral degree in humanities, presenting the work Hallelujah chants in the Maciej Drzewicki gradual of 1536, prepared under the supervision of Reverend Professor Karol Mrowiec. In 1989 he received the habilitation degree based on the dissertation Piotrków Graduates as a source of the Gregorian chant in Poland after the Council of Trent. In 2001 he received the title of associate professor on the basis of the dissertation Liturgical Music after the Second Vatican Council in the Light of Church Documents. In 2002 he was awarded the title of professor.

In 1974 he founded the "Schola Gregoriana KUL" ensemble, which he led until 2002. In the years 1989-1991 and 2003-2005 he was the director of the Institute of Musicology at the Catholic University of Lublin and in the years 1995-2002 he was the head of its Department of Gregorian Chant. From 1990, he headed the Department of Liturgical Monody. He belonged to renowned associations and scientific bodies: in 1970-1995 he was a member of the Subcommittee of the Polish Episcopate for Church Music, in 1988-1991 vice-president of the Musicologists’ Section of the Polish Composers’ Union, in 1989-2017 vice-president of the Lublin Branch of the Polish Composers' Union, in 2000-2007 president of the Association of Polish Church Musicians, and in 2003-2006 a member of the Committee of Theological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He initiated the creation of the yearbook “Anales Lublinenses pro Musica Sacra” (2010). From 2001 he was the president of the Association of Polish Church Musicians. From 1977 he was a member-associate, and from 1995 a member-correspondent of the Scientific Society of the Catholic University of Lublin, from 2001 a member of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae and from 2003 a member of the Committee of Theological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

In 2003, he received the Primate of Poland "Silver Pipe" award for his contribution to the development of church music in Poland, and in 2014, the honorary award of the Association of Polish Church Musicians "Per musicam ad fidem".

He specialized in the history of Gregorian chant in Poland. In his research work, he dealt with the Gregorian chant in Poland after the Council of Trent and the contemporary liturgical monody. He was the author of over 300 scientific and popular science publications. As a composer, he wrote around 100 church songs, vespers, hymns, psalms and 3 liturgical masses in Polish.

The Funeral Mass was celebrated by bishop Mieczysław Cisło on 17 July 2020 in the Academic Church of the Catholic University of Lublin. The Funeral Service took place on 18 July 2020 in Września in the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Stanislaus BM.

(zkpl)

Maciej Kułakowski – an excellent cellist of the young generation – will perform on 18 and 19 July 2020 during the next two concerts of the 8th Emanacje Music Festival in Lusławice.

The first concert will take place on 18 July at 7.15 p.m. in the Basilica of St. Florian in Krakow, where the urn with Krzysztof Penderecki's ashes is located. This concert will be a way to commemorate the recently deceased composer. Admission to the event is free, however, advance seat reservation is required. The concert on 19 July at 7.00 p.m. will be the first one to take place in the recently opened Elżbieta and Krzysztof Penderecki Arboretum in Lusławice.

The programme of both evenings will include music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Krzysztof Penderecki as interpreted by Maciej Kułakowski. The musician is a laureate of the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels and the winner of the first prize and a special prize at the 10th Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw. Since 2017, he has studied with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Kronberg Academy. He represents the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) based in London.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Detailed programme available at: www.emanacje.pl