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The Polish Composers' Union invites you to the final concert of the 62nd Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers, which will take place on 18 June 2021 at 8.00 p.m. at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Live broadcast will be availbale on the PCU's YouTube channel.

Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers (formerly known as the Youth Competition of the Polish Composers' Union) has been organized annually since 1958. Its aim is to help young Polish composers launch their careers and to encourage their independent activity. Until 2008, the main prize – the Tadeusz Baird Award of USD 2500 for further composition studies – had been funded by Alina Sawicka-Baird, the Composer's wife. Currently, the main prize is sponsored by the PZU Foundation. Honourable mentions are financed by the Main Board of the Polish Composers' Union. Since 2003, the Competition has been divided into two stages. The pieces qualified by the jury for the 2nd stage are performed during a public concert, after which the final verdict is announced.

On 18 June, such concert will be held for the eighteenth time. We will hear 6 pieces: Isomorphic Reflection for 4 clarinets (Coal2 emblem), ...Breathe for 4 violins (D.502 emblem), Grand Père for 4 trumpets (Lavage de cerveaux emblem), Kanchendzong for 4 trumpets (Perseus emblem), Secco for 4 clarinets (emblem TotoXro), Co w lesie piszczy for 4 clarinets (emblem XXX12321). The final results of the Competition will be announced on 19 June in the evening.

The concert is organised as part of the "Music" programme carried out by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

The Lower Silesian Philharmonic in Jelenia Góra invites you on 17 June 2021 at 7.00 p.m. to a concert of the Meccore String Quartet as part of the "Stage for Polish Music" programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

The "Stage for Polish Music" is a project aimed at Polish music performers, organised in collaboration with the Warsaw Philharmonic and arts institutions in Poland. Selected programmes featuring Polish music are presented at the Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Hall and then repeated in other cities in Poland. The main goals of the programme are to inspire musicians to prepare concert programmes featuring Polish music and to interest the public in the works of Polish composers.

Established in 2007, the Meccore String Quartet is one of Europe’s most compelling ensembles. Since many years they have been a treat for music lovers and have performed in many prestigious concert halls such as the National Phil­harmonic Hall in Warsaw, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, Wigmore Hall in London, Bozar in Brussels, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Pollack Hall in Montreal, Frick Collection in New York. The programme of their upcoming concert includes Szymon Laks' String Quartet No. 5, Karol Szymanowski's String Quartet No.2, Op. 56, Ignacy Jan Paderewski's Variations in F major for string quartet and Grażyna Bacewicz's String Quartet No. 5.

More information: https://filharmonia.jgora.pl/ 

In the next two chamber concerts, Sinfonia Varsovia continues the dialogue with the music of Krzysztof Penderecki. The concert on 17 June 2021 will by performed by the orchestra's cello group, joined by two participants of the Sinfonia Varsovia Academy. O 23 June we will hear the Sinfonia Varsovia String Quintet and the Sinfonia Varsovia Wind Quintet. The concerts will take place at 7.00 p.m.

Krzysztof Penderecki's music accompanies the Warsaw orchestra from the very beginning. This time we will hear it alongside works by Gabriel Fauré, Johann Sebastian Bach and Artur Márquez (17 June) as well as Józef Świder and Witold Lutosławski (23 June).

The programme of the event on 17June will include compositions written by Penderecki for cello or arranged for this instrument. Musicians associated with Sinfonia Varsovia will play Chaconne from Polish Requiem (version for 6 cellos), Serenata for 3 cellos and Agnus Dei for 8 cellos.

Two chamber ensembles will perform at the concert on 23 June. Sinfonia Varsovia String Quintet consists of concertmasters and string section leaders. The musicians will present Penderecki's Quintet "Pages from an Unwritten Diary" (version of the String Quartet No. 3). Sinfonia Varsovia Wind Quintet is a group of soloists from the wind instrument section: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn. Their repertoire will include Józef Świders' Mini-Quintetto and Krzysztof Penderecki's Three Pieces in Old Style, arranged for wind quintet by Piotr Kamiński. Finally, both ensembles will join forces in Dance Preludes for 9 instruments by another outstanding Polish composer of contemporary music, Witold Lutosławski.

More information: www.sinfoniavarsovia.org 

For the sixtieth time, outstanding artists will share their work with the audience at the Music Festival in Łańcut. From 20 June to 2 July 2021, eight festival concerts will be held both in the Ballroom of the Łańcut Castle Museum and in the Concert Hall of the Subcarpathian Philharmonic, as well as outdoors, at the Municipal Cultural Center in Łańcut.

Artists of international renown will present mainly Romantic repertoire. However, there will also be music of contemporary artists, including Krzysztof Penderecki, and the masters of early and classical music.

The highlight of the Festival will be Ivo Pogorelic's recital. The concert of the Jussen Brothers piano duo and the performance of the opera Siła małżeństwa (The Power of Marriage) composed by Marcello di Capua, who lived in the castle in Łańcut, also promises to be interesting. An hour before most of the concerts, the "Da Camera" Wind Instrument Group will perform promenade concerts. The ensemble is made up of members of the Subcarphatian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, and the repertoire prepared for this year's musical celebration can be included in the category of garden music, perfect for hot summer evenings.

As emphasized by Marta Wierzbieniec (director of the Subcarpathian Philharmonic in Rzeszów and the Music Festival in Łańcut), the musical feast will "turn the time of anxiety and uncertainty into evenings filled with the joy of spending time together in spaces of art, which is also created to make the world better and more beautiful".

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme: http://festiwallancut.pl/ 

The qualifying rounds for the long-awaited 18th International Chopin Piano Competition will start soon. Therefore, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra invites you to "Saturday with Chopin"! A concert of four outstanding Polish pianists, who will compete for participation in the great competition in just a few weeks, will be held on 12 June 2021 between 3.30 and 9.30 p.m. The programme will also include interactive events for the whole family.

Who knows if this group of four promising pianists does not include the future laureate of the Competition? The chances are high as the artists, despite their young age, have already won numerous competitions. Aleksandra Świgut received, among others, the second place award at the 1st International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments. Andrzej Wierciński missed only three tenths of a point during the previous edition of the Chopin Competition to reach the final. The youngest participants, Mateusz Tomica and Joanna Goranko, are both students of the Academy of Music in Katowice, which has educated many competition winners.

The pianists will perform during the two-part concert, which will last from 6.00 to 9.00 p.m. For those who want to watch only the second part of the concert marathon, tickets will be available during the break, scheduled for around 7.30 p.m. Before the concert, at 5.00 p.m., the journalist Andrzej Sułek will talk about the Competition in the PNRSO foyer. Before the evening series of recitals begins, at 3.30 p.m., families with children will be able to take part in an interactive concert performed by Michał Dziewior. After the concert, around 4:45-5:30 pm, children are invited to participate in the workshops “Painting with sound. Around Chopin”. From 5.45 to 7.30 p.m., a common room will be available for children whose parents are at the concert.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme is available at: www.nospr.org.pl