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A benefit concert of an extraordinary man – accordionist and composer Krzysztof Olczak, who has been active in the musical field for 40 years, will take place on 6 December 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Baltic Sea Culture Center (Gdańsk Old Town Hall).

Krzysztof Olczak studied accordion at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and composition at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk, where he is currently a professor. He educated many excellent musicians, including accordionists Mirosław Tybora, Paweł Zagańczyk, Cezary Paciorek, Paweł Nowak, Szymon Jabłoński, and composers Agnieszka Stulgińska, Agata Krawczyk, Kamil Cieślik and Piotr Jędrzejczyk. During the upocoming concert, we will listen to the works by Krzysztof Olczak performed by a group of Gdańsk musicians. Admission to the event is free!

Marta Korga-Bistram

More information at: http://www.nck.org.pl/pl/wydarzenie/4455/benefis-krzysztofa-olczaka 

The Warsaw Philharmonic plans to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth and the 50th of the death of Grażyna Bacewicz with three concerts showcasing a selection of her works for solo instrument and orchestra. The first concert will take place on 6 December 2019 at 7.30 p.m.

The series will open with an extraordinary event: the world premiere of Violin Concerto No. 6. Bacewicz had quite a critical (often too critical) approach to her compositions – to the extent that she decided to leave this piece on the shelf and never allowed it to be performed or published. We do not know much about this mysterious work, except that the author went on to use some of its musical material in her Viola Concerto a year later. Therefore, we might conjecture that Grażyna Bacewicz did not regard Concerto No. 6 as a complete write-off. Thanks to the initiative of Maestro Andrzej Boreyko, the score will be given a new lease of life in these December concerts after fifty years of gathering dust in the archives of the National Library.

The most expanded of Strauss’ symphonic poems, Ein Heldenleben unquestionably brought him success; however, it had to run the gauntlet of severe criticism before it finally began to be appreciated. Many believed that the work was too long, its autobiographical subtext not fully comprehensible for the listener, and, most importantly, that the music was too bizarre. And then of course there was the difficulty of playing the piece live. Currently, Ein Heldenleben is a popular choice for every symphony orchestra and an audience favourite. It was performed on this stage for the first time under the baton of its composer, in December 1903, and returns to the repertoire of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra after an absence of almost twenty-five years.

Piotr Maculewicz

More information at: http://www.filharmonia.pl/koncerty-i-bilety/repertuar/koncert-symfoniczny184 

Professor Krzysztof Penderecki – the patron and founder of the Lusławice centre – celebrated his 86th birthday on 23 November 2019 at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Music Center. In addition to the concert, a multimedia exhibition "Krzysztof Penderecki – Heritage of Polish Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries" was inaugurated on Maestro's birthday, presenting the achievements of Polish contemporary music using modern audiovisual technologies and multimedia systems.

The exhibition emphasizes the special role of Krzysztof Penderecki and his impressive contribution to the development of Polish and world culture, and also reveals the richness of Polish contemporary music and its creators. The substantive layer of the exhibition is largely based on the private collections and archives of Elżbieta and Krzysztof Penderecki. The exhibition space is divided into three parts: the Artist, Meetings and the Work, each of which is a whole that can be viewed independently, in any order.

The exhibition materials were prepared by the Lusławice Center's substantive team and extended with audio and video materials obtained under license from concert, performance and recording producers, including: PWM Edition, Polish Television, Grand Theater – National Opera, Baltic Opera, Wrocław Opera, Krakow Opera, Silesian Opera, Animated Film Studio in Bielsko Biała, Miniature Film Studio in Warsaw, National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute, and DUX.

The exhibition can be visited free of charge during concerts held at the European Music Center in Lusławice.

Axel Dörner and Michał Górczyński  will perform in the series of master performances organised by the MÓZG club in Warsaw in cooperation with the House of Fun and Culture DZiK on 5 December 2019 at 8 p.m. (DZiK, 44 Belwederska St.).

“Supersam + 1” focuses mainly on music, however, it also includes other forms of expression such as: performance, multimedia, monodrama. “Supersam + 1” will present respected Polish and foreign artists whose work is original, experimental and innovative. “SUPER” in the title means that the programme will be based on renowned artists – masters. “SAM” (from Polish, means „alone”, "by himself/herself") refers to the solo performances as well as the creative loneliness. “+ 1” in the title means that each evening will be crowned with a duo performance. During the upcoming concert, Axel Dörner and Michał Górczyński will meet on stage for the first time.

Axel Dörner studied trumpet with Jon Eardley in Köln and piano at the conservatory in Arnhem, the Netherlands, then from 1989–1994 piano and trumpet (with Malte Burba) at the Musikhochschule in Köln. He is one of the most unique voices in free improvisation. He developed a completely different language for the trumpet in the late 1990s. Most of the ensembles he is part of are characterized by a non-hierarchical collaboration of the musicians involved. He is mainly associated with musicians and communities of Berlin, London, Chicago as well as New York. At this time his discography consists of more than 150 CDs / LPs. Since 2000 has has been playing extended concert tours on all five continents which led to a worldwide genre-comprehensive musical network with the most distinguished musicians of our time.

Michał Górzyński is a clarinettist, composer and music teacher, a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. Since 1998, he has been composing music for various instrumental ensembles as well as theatre music. Since 2002, he has been a member of Kwartludium ensemble, specialising in modern music performance. Since 2008, he has worked on extending the sound of the bass clarinet, inspired by beatbox and in cooperation with one of the leading Polish beatboxers, Patryk Matela a.k.a. Tik Tak. He has coined the term of “composed education.” He received grants for the creation of alternative educational manuals. Since 2013, he has been running a project entitled Music for Languages, writing original music for the Yiddish language (CD published by Multikulti Records), Japanese poetry (CD published by Fortune Records), and Persian poetry by Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://supersam.mozg.pl/ 

A concert of Częstochowa Philharmonic Choir on Thursday evening, 5 December 2019 at 7 p.m., was titled by the performers a "Christmas Prelude".

Time goes by very quickly. We do not notice as day by day passes, and soon it is almost the end of the next year. But at the end of the year, magical and joyful Christmas comes to the rescue – a time of peace and rest from everyday life. The "Christmas Prelude" in the series of Thursday Evenings with the Czestochowa Philharmonic Choir Collegium Cantorum is a unique journey through Christmas melodies.

In the programme of this December concert, the audience will find compositions by Gustav Holst, Charles Wood, and Edward Pałłasz, as well as Latin carols and excellent arrangements of Christmas hits from radio stations. Because Christmas is a time of many shades of joy, the Collegium Cantorum Choir will present works that reflect happiness and peace. The concert will be conducted by Janusz Siadlak.

Infomation on tickets at: https://www.filharmonia.com.pl/repertuar/1381-Swiateczne-preludium