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The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdańsk and the Gdańsk Academy of Music invite you to a meeting and a concert entitled "Paweł Szymański's music", which will take place at the Gdańsk Old Town Hall on January 22, 2019 at 6.00 p.m.

Many contemporary composers write truly beautiful music, which deserves not only to be performed and recorded, but also to be included in musicological works. One of them is Paweł Szymański, whose music, according to critics, evokes a "fell-at-home" impression and acts simultaneously on the "intellect and senses".

The meeting will include the promotion of Violetta Kostka's book entitled Paweł Szymański's music in the light of post-modern poetry of intertextuality, published by the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk and Musica Iagellonica in Krakow in 2018. The conversation with the author will be led by dr hab. Anna Chęćka, prof. UG.

In addition, a chamber concert of Szymański's works will take place. The excellent Gdańsk musicians will play his well-known compositions, including Compartment 2, Car 7 for vibraphone, violin, viola and cello (Paweł Nowicki and members of Neoquartet), A Kaleidoscope for M.C.E. for cello, Gigue for cello (Maciej Kułakowski), Singletrack for piano and Sonat(in)a for piano (Igor Torbicki).

Admission to the event is free!

Dazzling La Bayadere with music by Leon Minkus and libretto after Marius Petipa in HD LIVE broadcast from the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre on Sunday, January 20th, 2019. At the Warsaw Cinema "Praha", you can watch at 4.00 p.m.

La Bayadere is one of the greatest works in classical ballet history – a story of love, death and vengeful judgement set in India. Dazzling sets, costumes, and one of the most iconic scenes in ballet, the “Kingdom of the Shades,” illuminate the tragic tale of the temple dancer Nikiya’s doomed love for the warrior Solor, and their ulimate redemption.

List of places in Poland, where you can watch broadcasts from the Bolshoi Theater, is available here.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.kinopraha.pl

Jerzy Semkow Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus under the direction of Marek Wroniszewski will perform the works of Bacewicz, Szymanowski, Różycki and Karłowicz on January 19, 2019 at 7.00 p.m. at the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw. Piotr Pławner will perform as a soloist.

The favourite theme of Polish music criticism at the turn of the 19th and 20th century was the search for “influences of Wagner and Strauss” in Polish music – which was both praise and reprimand, depending on the preferences of the critic; these comparisons were often completely misguided, but in the case of Ludomir Różycki and Mieczysław Karłowicz, they were justified. Both great Polish Neo-Romantics owed much especially to the colourful style of Richard Strauss and his concept of “programme music” realised in brilliant symphonic poems. Różycki’s symphonic scherzo Stańczyk from 1900 refers to Matejko’s famous painting and the history of the royal jester (with the motif of a krakowiak introducing the Krakow milieu), and the contrasting, vividly instrumented poem allegorically outlines the idyllic and dramatic episodes of national history, seen through the prism of the philosophical jokes of this legendary character. Mieczysław Karłowicz’s Eternal Songs are one of the most personal compositional statements of the prematurely deceased Polish Neo-Romantic, a testimony to the enormous scale and originality of his talent.

Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (dedicated to Paweł Kochański) was written in Zarudzie in the Eastern Borderlands during World War I. The brilliant work stands as the creative apogee of this period and still inspires admiration with its original form and texture, subtlety of sound, and an unusual oneiric aura. All these advantages will be revealed by the performance of the excellent violinist Piotr Pławner, winner of the 10th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, today one of the leading Polish violinists. Motoric, full of energy, sparking with spectacular sounds, Grażyna Bacewicz’s Overture for Symphonic Orchestra was created during the difficult time of German occupation, and its premiere took place during one of the first major post-war music events – the Festival of Polish Contemporary Music in Krakow – under the baton of Mieczysław Mierzejewski.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.sinfoniaiuventus.pl 

On January 16-20, 2019, the 9th Days of New Music festival will take place at the Żak Club in Gdańsk.

Days of New Music, organized by the Żak Club, aims to present unconventional music. The festival's objective is to show the broad spectrum of the experimental scene, contemporary and avant-garde music. It defines new music as music which seeks new solutions in terms of form and content, through the specificity of compositions, instruments used, but also ideas on how to combine different, often incompatible styles. The 9th Days of New Music programme is a selection of the most interesting, according to the organizers, phenomena that fit in with these criteria. 

During this year's edition, Neoquartet will present pieces for string quartet, grand piano, piano and electronics by Sebastian Zawadzki, written in minimalist, tonal style. A concert on January 18 will feature Ensemble Kompopolex – a group founded by Wrocław composer Jacek Sotomski, experimenting with form, concepts and multimedia. Cellist, composer and arranger Resina (Karolina Rec), a graduate of the Gdańsk Academy of Music, will present her chamber works on January 19. Japanese vocalist Hatis Noit, German pianist Martin Kohlstedt and Italian duo Luton will perform for the first time in Poland at the Gdańsk festival .

Full programme available at: https://klubzak.com.pl/koncerty.html 

Polish premiere of Epitaph for Paweł Adamowicz composed by Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz will take place on January 18, 2019 at 2:45 p.m.. Monika Kaźmierczak will perform the piece on the carillon of the St. Catherine's Church in Gdańsk.

Gdańsk is the only Polish city where there are three active concert carillons: two are located in the towers of St. Catherine's Church (50 bells) and the Main Town Hall (37 bells), the third – Carillon Mobile Gdańsk – has 48 bells. These exceptional instruments are under the supervision and care of the Gdańsk Museum. Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz wrote her latest work for this exceptional instrument, which sound is associated with Gdańsk.

The composer dedicated the Epitaph to the tragically deceased Gdańsk President. The work contains references to Gdańsk and Paweł Adamowicz (the themes are based on the a-d-a and g-d-a notes). Monika Kaźmierczak, acting as a city carillonist, encouraged prformances of this unusual piece by carillonists from around the world to solidify with the citizens of Gdańsk. They will pay homage to the President by performing the Epitaph on their instruments. The work in memory of President Paweł Adamowicz has already been played on the Belgian Carillon of Peace. On January 19 at 11.00 a.m., as part of the concert from the Dom Tower in Utrecht, the composition will be played by Gdańsk instrumentalist Małgorzata Fiebig.

In Gdańsk, the piece will be played during a weekly concert in the tower of the St. Catherine's Church at approx. 2.45 p.m. The carillonist will be joined by trumpeters from the band Tubicinatores Gedanenses. Musicians will also perform historical chorales.