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The Toruń Symphony Orchestra invites you to the next edition of the Forces of Nature Festival. The concerts on October 12-21, 2018 will prove the power of fire in music as well!

Last year's Force of Nature  Festival – "Earth, Planets, Stars" – started a project that aims to present artistic relationships that naturally occur between the elements and music. After bringing the audience closer to the magic of the forces of the earth and its impact on the work of artists, the time has come for the passionate power of fire. Forces of Nature Festival "Fire Spirit" includes a variety of concerts dedicated to music lovers, but also a repertoir for children, presenting works full of flaming temperament and frenetic pace. Some events will combine music with passionate dance, while others will provide us with realistic listening experience.

Fire has varied profiles and forms. It may conceal its dangerous profile in the form of a seemingly harmless flame of a candle; yet, it may also be an openly destructive force, which creates a new reality because of its destructiveness. Each and every of varied fires has a different melody, and emits different sounds, which will be presented to members of the audience in the course of the concert on October 19th, bearing the title of 'Fiery Worlds'. The Toruń Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Paweł Przytocki will premiere Magdalena Cynk's Dance of Fire.

Full programme available at: http://silynatury.pl/ 

The first premiere of the 2018/2019 season of the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera will be held on October 12, 2018. Ignacy Jan Paderewski's Manru, the only Polish opera staged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York over 100 years ago, returns with a new staging of director Marek Weiss.

It was not ambition, but financial trouble that brought Paderewski to the shores of America in 1891. The new continent hailed him as a wizard of the keyboard. He himself hoped at the time that the keyboard wouldn’t be the end of it and that the world would grow to appreciate him also as a composer. The draft of his first opera, based on Kraszewski’s novel The Cottage Outside the Village [Chata za wsią], was ready. The libretto was penned by the journalist and sculptor Alfred Nossig, while the composer continued to rework subsequent versions of the piece in his spare time between concerts. It took several years. In the meantime he got married, became a father, was widowed, remarried and lost his son. The handicapped boy died in 1901 – the same year that Manru premiered in Dresden. Next it opened in Lviv a few days later, and in the States in February 1902, making history as the first Polish opera ever to be staged at the Metropolitan Opera. After a brief triumph it became forgotten for many years. What will the director Marek Weiss find in this touching tale of unhappy love played out against the background of a class society – especially in our world of awakening nationalisms and growing intolerance? Without a doubt the lovers’ rapture, gypsy marches and the frenetic element of Paderewski’s only opera will impress with their superb sound world, at the same time surprising us with the piece’s timeless relevance.

The spectacle is co-produced with the Poznań Opera House. The soloists (Peter Berger, Ewa Tracz, Mikołaj Zalasiński, Anna Lubańska, Monika Ledzion-Porczyńska, Łukasz Goliński i Dariusz Machej), the Choir and Orchestra of Teatr Wielki – National Opera will be led by Grzegorz Nowak.

Information on tickets at: https://teatrwielki.pl

On October 11, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, the Surrealistic Five quintet in cooperation with invited artists will present a program composed exclusively of Polish chamber music, including a world premiere of Michał Dobrzyński's composition.

One of the main characters of the October meeting with chamber music will be the authour of Mr. Cogito, Zbigniew Herbert. His selected poems, as well as fragments of Book of Job, are included in Michał Dobrzyński's new composition 2xH for actor, piano quintet, percussive instruments and electronics. During the concert we will also hear Smokey-White for piano quintet by Hanna Kulenty-Majoor. Both works were co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the "Composition Commissions" programme realised by the Institute of Music and Dance. The programme will conclude with the last and most important wor of Juliusz Zarębski, Piano Quintet in G minor.

The project is part of Poland regaining its independence centenary celebrations.

More information at: http://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl

The project "Musical Monument of Juliusz Łuciuk" consists of three concerts (11 and 18 October and 6 December 2018) devoted to the works of Polish composer Juliusz Łuciuk and combined with the promotion of the album Juliusz Łuciuk – Choral works.

Juliusz Łuciuk (born 1927) is still an active composer. He significantly influenced the shape of Polish contemporary music. His non-schematic approach to composition contributed to the enrichment of Polish cultural heritage and his artistic achievements have to be promoted in the cultural environment.

"Musical Monument of Juliusz Łucuk" is a project promoting the album Juliusz Łuciuk – Choral works recorded by the Czestochowa Philharmonic Choir Collegium Cantorum directed by Maestro Janusz Siadlak (premiere 19/09/2018, DUX). The concerts, organised  in cooperation with the composer and his relatives, will be held in Krakow on October 11 (St. Vincent de Paul Church), in Warsaw on October 18 (St. Augustine's Church) and in Częstochowa on December 6 (Częstochowa Philharmonic).

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.collegiumcantorum.com/ 

In accordance with the regulations of the programme "filharmonia / ostrożnie, wciąga!!!" ("Philharmonic / carefully, draws in !!!"), on September 10, 2018 the Institute of Music and Dance held a meeting of the commission choosing projects to be implemented as part of the 2018/2019 edition.

The Programme Commission consists of the experts from the Institute of Music and Dance: Maximilian Bylicki – director of the Institute; specialists: Brygida Błaszczyk-Podhajska, Mateusz Cieślak, Małgorzata Kosińska, Małgorzata Lipiec-Hoppe, and Alina Święs. Five applications were submitted for the programme. The Programme Commission has decided to approve all applications. In accordance with the rules of the programme, the commission chose projects with regard to the formal correctness of applications, their substantive value, the promotion plan, the method of planning open rehearsals and the artistic level of concerts.

The following projects were qualified for co-financing: Elbląg Chamber Orchestra (co-financing: PLN 20,000), Fryderyk Chopin Polish Baltic Philharmonic (PLN 20,000), Oskar Kolberg Świętokrzyska Philharmonic (PLN 20,000), Lower Silesian Philharmonic in Jelenia Góra (PLN 20,000) and Józef Elsner Opole Philharmonic (PLN 10,650).

More information about the programme at: http://imit.org.pl/