news

The fourth edition of the Intergenerational Music Academy in Krakow is a music and art university of the third age. A series of artistic and educational meetings, including classical recitals, chamber concerts of contemporary music, as well as lectures, meetings with artists and workshops, will take place between 26 September and 19 December 2021 at the Villa Decius in Kraków.

The concerts will feature masterpieces of Polish chamber music for reed trio, works by Apolinary Kątski, August Fryderyk Duranowski, Stanisław Szczepanowski, Władysław Żeleński, Aleksander Tansman, Witold Lutosławski, Antoni Szałowski, Benedykt Konowalski, as well as English, French, Argentinian and Spanish music.

Among the performers will be: LLLeggioero Woodwind Trio, clarinetists Agnieszka Dąbrowska-Kras and Piotr Lato, pianists Wioletta Fluda-Tkaczyk and Ewelina Panocha, violinists Paweł Wajrak and Justyna Dybek-Boczek, violist Anna Migdał-Chojecka, cellist Korrabasek Pallusz and cellist Franciszek Pallusz.

The final extraordinary Christmas concert entitled the "Faces of pianism" will be held on 19 December. Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler, Anna Duda, Monika Gardoń-Preinl, Ireneusz Boczek, Grzegorz Mania and Piotr Różański will present Christmas carols arranged for piano four- and six-hands.

Admission to the concerts is free!

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information: https://spmk.com.pl/ 

"Great Composers – Great Anniversaries" is a Toruń Symphony Orchestra's project to commemorate artists who celebrate important anniversaries in 2021. The concert on 26 September at 5 p.m. in the CKK Jordanki Concert Hall will be devoted to Giuseppe Verdi.

The project celebrates the following anniversaries: the 280th anniversary of the death of A. Vivaldi, the 100th anniversary of the death of C. Saint-Saëns, the 50th anniversary of the death of I. Stravinsky, the 230th anniversary of the death of W.A. Mozart, the 110th anniversary of the death of G. Mahler, the 100th anniversary of the death of W. Żeleński, and the 120th anniversary of the death of G. Verdi.

Giuseppe Verdi, as a precursor of musical verism, assumed that opera should talk about matters affecting ordinary people, with their weaknesses, flaws and immersion in everyday life, but also, as a passionate patriot, he reflected patriotic and national ideals in his works. The "Verdi Gala" concert will feature a selection of arias, duets and overtures from the most popular operas of the "king of opera" performed by the soloists Gabriela Gołaszewska and Piotr Buszewski alongside the Toruń Symphony Orchestra led by its first guest conductor Adam Banaszak.

All audience members are invited to the half-hour introductory meeting with an opera expert Jerzy Snakowski. The meeting will start at 4 p.m. in the Chamber Hall of CKK Jordanki.

Co-financed under the "Music" programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information: https://tos.art.pl/ 

The second musical evening in the "Old & Modern" concert series, organised by Elżbieta Chojnacka Centre for Contemporary Harpsichord Music, will take place on 26 September 2021 at 6.00 p.m. in the Palace in Rybna.

The "Gajeckie Sisters" duo is composed of twins – harpsichordists and pianists: Hanna Balcerzak and Aleksandra Gajecka-Antosiewicz. The artists debuted in 1992, performing W. A. Mozart's Double Concerto in E flat major. Since then, they have successfully performed at prestigious festivals in Poland and abroad. The duo's repertoire includes a series of pieces for harpsichord and piano for four hands, as well as for two harpsichords and two pianos.

In the programme of the "Old & Modern" concert, the artists will present an extremely interesting and rarely performed repertoire consisting of pieces of early and contemporary music. The harpsichord returned to concert halls not only as a symbol of the past, but also as a harbinger of what is new and unknown, because... forgotten. The juxtaposition of two harpsichords (a copy by Pascal Taskin from the 18th century and a modern model built especially for Elżbieta Chojnacka by Antony Sidey) will allow the audience to familiarize themselves with the wealth of tonal and expressive possibilities of these instruments.

Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Francois Couperin and Girolamo Frescobaldi will intertwine with the music of the 20th and 21st centuries: computer music by Piotr Klimek, instrumental and electronic music by Stephen Montague, experimental music by Bronisław Kazimierz Przybylski, Marcin Tadeusz Łukaszewski and John Cage, minimalist and repetitive music by Artur Zagajewski and Pierre-Adrien Charpy. Thus the concert will combine tradition with modernity.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information: https://bit.ly/2X67PM5 

On 24-26 September 2021, the mezzo-soprano Urszula Kryger and pianist Paweł Cłapiński will present Polish music at the Culture Centre and Library in Przytyk, at the Municipal and Communal Culture Centre and Local Government Library in Mogielnica and at the Sanctuary of St. Anne in Smardzewice. The concerts will be held as part of the series "Classics Across Poland", organised by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

One of the most recognised Polish singers, Urszula Kryger, is a professor at the Academy of Music in Łódź. She has participated in many international music competitions, receiving high awards. In 1995 she performed at La Scala with a recital of Fryderyk Chopin's songs. A year later, she made her debut on the stage of the Semper Oper in Dresden as Angelina in G. Rossini's Cinderella. She has performed with such outstanding conductors as Jan Krenz, Jerzy Semkow, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Colin Davis, and Armin Jordan. She pays special attention to chamber music – its art of song interpretation combines perfection with extraordinary naturalness. Urszula Kryger has made many recordings for radio stations and record companies. Paweł Cłapiński, associated with the Academy of Music in Łódź, also collaborates with the Grand Theater in Łódź. He has won numerous prizes at national and international piano competitions, both as a soloist and as an accompanist of famous singers. In 2016-2018 he was a member of the Opera Academy at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in the piano class of Eytan Pessen.

During the upcoming concerts, the artists will perform the most beautiful songs of Fryderyk Chopin and Władysław Żeleński, as well as Vincenzo Bellini, Gioacchino Rossini and Giacomo Puccini.

Admission is free! Information about invitations: https://nimit.pl/ 

The 'Mundus Cantat' International Choir Festival is coming back to Sopot! 15 choirs from all over the world will take part in the 17th edition of the festival on 22-26 September 2021. The festival’s guest will be this year’s Fryderyk award winner – the Art’n’Voices vocal ensemble.

Due to the global situation, the festival competition will take place in a hybrid form. The organisers invited Polish choirs to live auditions at the Our Lady, Star of the Sea Church in Sopot, but they also invited choirs from around the world to participate in the virtual edition of the festival. The live competition will include choirs from Płock, Wągrowiec, Grudziądz, Wejherowo and representatives of the Tri-City. Eight choirs from all over the world have joined the on-line competition: from Belarus, Brazil, China, Philippines, Mexico, Slovakia, and for the first time in the history of the festival – a choir from Indonesia.

The festival will also feature concerts in Sopot churches, Sopot Centrum and in the Social Welfare Center in Sopot, as well as two concerts dedicated to Sopot on the 120th anniversary of granting city rights, performed by the Mundus Cantat Festival Choir and students of the Sopot Music School. The Final Concert on 25 September in the auditorium of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk will feature Art’n’Voices vocal ensemble – winner of the Fryderyk 2021 Award in the contemporary music category for the album Midnight Stories. The ensemble was the Grand Prix winner at the 'Mundus Cantat' Festival in 2015.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Programme details: https://munduscantat.pl/