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Warsaw | "Tell me a Story" – free improvisation workshops for children

The Polish Society for Contemporary Music invite you to the free improvisation workshops for children "Tell me a story" on 27 November 2021 at 11.00 a.m. at the Local Activity Centre (14 Kłobucka St., Warsaw).

The main idea of the project is to trigger graphic-inspired improvisations. Children will create their own stories based on picture books. The improvised fairy tales will be then "translated" into musical language under the guidance of class teachers. Improvisation is the most basic, primary and joyful form of music performance, which is why the workshops combine children's creativity and imagination with books and contemporary music.

The workshops will be conducted by harpist Agata Galik, composer and pianist Jarosław Siwiński, and double bass player and children's event organiser Małgorzata Kołcz.

Children aged 3-8 will learn, play and improvise in the company of their parents. In addition to improvising and playing with books, children will learn various techniques of producing sound, which expose its color and dynamic values, and will also have a chance to play percussion instruments on their own. Classes last about 90 minutes with a short break.

The number of places is limited, please register in advance via the form https://forms.gle/VQwccJJED4XJMPzY7 or by e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The event is co-financed by the Capital City of Warsaw Warsaw.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

JOIN: Facebook Event

Zabrze | 9th Krzysztof Penderecki International Festival – level 320

The Krzysztof Penderecki International Festival – level 320 returns after last year's pandemic break. Two concerts and a screening of the film Mask will take place on 26-27 November 2021.

Although the organisers did not forget about their audience during the lockdown, mourning the death of the Festival Patron with the film impression of Agnus Dei during the online edition of level 320, only now will it be possible to say goodbye to the Master with his music performed live with the participation of the audience.

A screening of the Quay brothers Mask, a film based on the works of Stanisław Lem, accompanied by Krzysztof Penderecki's De natura sonoris, will be held on 26 November at 5 p.m. at the Guido Mine. After the screening, the Silesian Quartet will perform Maestro's String Quartet No. 2, Clarinet Quartet "Abschied / Farewell" (in version for flute with Massimo Marcelli) and String Quartet No. 4. A day later at the Zabrze Philharmonic at 7 p.m. Massimo Mercelli will perform with Sinfonietta Cracovia under the baton of Jurek Dybał. We will hear Three Pieces in Old Style, Sinfonietta No. 2 "Abschied / Farewell", Sinfonietta No. 3 "Leaves from an Unwritten Diary" by Krzysztof Penderecki, as well as works by Michael Nyman and Antonín Dvořák. The concert will also feature the promotion of the album Penderecki's Sinfonietta (s) released in 2021 by Sony Classical.

More information: https://penderecki320.com/

Łódź | "From Threnody to Lacrimosa" – Oratorio Concert

The oratorio concert "From Threnody to Lacrimosa" will be held on Friday, 26 November 2021 at 7.00 p.m. in the Evangelical-Augsburg Church of St. Matthew. With this concert the artists of the Łódź Philharmonic would lik eto pay hommage to Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the greatest contemporary composers.

Krzysztof Penderecki passed away on 29 March last year – in the first weeks of the global coronavirus pandemic. The circumstances did not allow for the organisation of official funeral ceremonies (to be held in 2022) or for honoring the Master's memory with what he loved the most: live music. Only now can the Łódź Philharmonic pay tribute to the great artist.

The concert will begin with the famous Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, a less than nine-minute sonorous piece that opened the door to a global career for the 26-year-old composer. At the end, we will hear Lacrimosa from Polish Requiem, referring to the rich tradition of this genre, both in terms of the arrangement of texts, styles of past eras, and the symbolism of death. These two pieces emphasize what is most important in Penderecki's work: on the one hand, the courage of creative experimentation and an imagination unfettered by custom, and on the other, the respect for tradition and the universal context of last things.

The programme will also feature other works by the Master, including Stabat Mater, Jacob's Awakening, Adagietto from Paradise Lost, "A Sea of Dreams Did Breathe on Me…" – Songs of Reverie and Nostalgia (selection), De profundis (Psalm 129) from the Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Symphony No. 8 "Lieder der Vergänglichkeit" (Songs of passing – selection). The soloist will be Iwona Hossa, the Choir and Orchestra of the Łódź Philharmonic will be conducted by the artistic director of the Łódź Philharmonic, Paweł Przytocki.

Ticket information: https://filharmonia.lodz.pl/pl/wydarzenia/od-trenu-do-lacrimosy-koncert-oratoryjny

Opole | "Star Zone": Death and Transfiguration

Spanish cello virtuoso Pablo Ferrández will perform as a soloist with the Opole Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Przemysław Neumann on 26 November 2021 at 7.00 p.m. The concert programme will be conducive to reflection.

First, we will hear Krzysztof Penderecki's Chaconne from Polish Requiem. The successive parts of the work commemorate important figures and events in Polish history. The last one, Chaconne, was written in 2005 and is dedicated to John Paul II.

Edward Elgar's moving Cello Concerto in E minor gained fame thanks to Jacqueline du Pré, one of the most expressive artists in the history of music. The British composer's nostalgic phrases will precede the performance of two symphonic poems. The first will be Grzegorz Fitelberg's The Song of the Falcon; an extremely successful composition, which provokes the question: what else would Fitelberg have created if he had not devoted himself to conducting? The last piece of the evening, Death and Transfiguration, was written by the 25-year-old Richard Strauss as the first of his symphonic poems not inspired by literature – Aleksander Ritter's poem included in the score was written after the completion of the piece. Strauss himself wrote about the programmatic assumption of this composition in one of his letters: "It was six years ago when the idea came to me to write a tone poem describing the last hours of a man who had striven for the highest ideals." The audience fell in love with the work, the critics remained unconvinced – it seems that the very attempt by Strauss to deal with the subject of the final issues aroused their concern. The theme of liberation with which the poem ends, full of strength and majesty, however, brings hope for a unique dimension of this unknown reality.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Ticket Information: https://filharmonia.opole.pl/

Kraków | Polish Music for Voice and Piano

The concert "Polish music for voice and piano" will be held on 26 November at 7 p.m. as part of a series of events related to the Independence Day.

The concert's repertoire will include songs by leading composers of this genre – Fryderyk Chopin, Stanisław Moniuszko, Mieczysław Karłowicz and Władysław Żeleński performed by the soprano Annika Mikołajko-Osman. A graduate of the Academy of Music in Kraków and the Academy of Music in Katowice, she made her solo debut on the stage of the Krakow Philharmonic in the opera Peleas and Melisande under the baton of Gabriel Chmura. She performs opera, operetta, oratorio and choral music, specialising mostly in contemporary music.

The concert also includes the performance of one of the forgotten pieces by Eugeniusz Pankiewicz and the premiere of a composition by Karol Osman, created especially for this occasion. The composer graduated from the Academy of Music in Krakow. His works have been distinguished in renowned international composers' competitions and performed at numerous festivals in Poland and abroad, including the USA and France.

We will also hear piano pieces by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Fryderyk Chopin and Karol Szymanowski performed by Radosław Goździkowski, also a graduate of the Academy of Music in Krakow.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information: https://www.mdk-dh.krakow.pl/aktualnosci/1031-koncert-muzyka-polska-na-glos-i-fortepian

Kraków | Krzysztof Penderecki in Memoriam: Students and Friends in Tribute to the Master

A unique concert of Sinfonietta Cracovia dedicated to the memory of Krzysztof Penderecki on his 88th birth anniversary will be held on 25 November 2021 at 7.30 p.m. at the St. Florian's Basilica in Krakow. The orchestra under the baton of Jurek Dybał will present pieces by Professor's friends and students: Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, Mladen Tarbuk, Marcel Chyrzyński and Jeajoon Ryu.

Krzysztof Penderecki, for over 60 years associated with the Academy of Music in Krakow, bearing his name today, educated many outstanding composers. Among his students were Marek Stachowski, Stanisław Radwan, Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, Abel Korzeniowski, and graduates of doctoral studies: Zaid Jabri and Karol Nepelski.

The concert will open with a piece by Marcel Chyrzyński, who studied instrumentation with Penderecki. Dedicated to the Master, Adagio for strings is a suggestive and gloomy work commissioned by the Silesian Philharmonic in the framework of the #stay at home and create! project, organised together with PWM Edition. In the last fragment, the composer refers to the Adagio movement from Penderecki's 4th Symphony "Adagio". Sinfonietta per archi is another piece dedicated to Penderecki, written by the Korean composer Jeajoon Ryu, who studied under the composer until 1995. Tombeau de Penderecki, a four-part musical homage paid to Penderecki by the Croatian conductor and composer Mladen Tarbuk, alludes to the French tradition. Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa's Quintetto per archi in the version for string orchestra (2021) is also dedicated to Krzysztof Penderecki, who was the composer's teacher until 1974.

At the end we will hear Penderecki's two-movement Serenade for string orchestra (1996-97). It consists of Passacaglia (marked as part II) and melodious Larghetto (part III). The composer wrote the pieces for Lucerne Festival Strings and dedicated it to the ensemble's conductor – Rudolf Baumgartner.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Free tickets to be booked by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

More information: www.sinfonietta.pl

Gdańsk | 7th "New Waves" Contemporary Music Festival

Chamber music will dominate the programme of the 7th "New waves" Contemporary Music Festival, which will be held on 22-27 November 2021 at the Baltic Culture Centre and the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk.

Chamber music owes its populatiry not only to the greater mobility and flexibility of small instrumental and vocal ensembles, but also to the demand of composers, inspired by experiments with the human voice and instruments. Some artists explore already known combinations, others write for unconventional sets of instruments and obtain surprising results by exploiting the difference in the mobility of voices or instruments, separate characteristics of their tuning, specific sound in individual registers and different acoustic conditions. The collaboration between a composer and a chamber musician is usually very personal and specific; the performer, who knows his instrument very well, sometimes becomes a co-creator of the piece.

This year's festival will feature both pieces for classical ensembles (oboe and piano, flute and piano), and those for unusual combinations of instruments (accordion and harpsichord, accordion and string quartet, various types of flutes). The final concert will be performed by an excellent Gdańsk vocal octet, Art'n'Voices. The programme of the Festival will highlight performers and composers from Gdańsk and Pomerania. Traditionally, debutants will perform alongside renowned artists. For the seventh time, new music will be presented at the Old Town Hall and the Gdańsk Music Academy, brightening dark November evenings.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Music" programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

Admission to all concerts is free!

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme: https://2021.nowefale.pl/

Warsaw | 3rd 'Eufonie' International Music Festival of Central-Eastern Europe

The 3rd 'Eufonie' International Music Festival of Central-Eastern Europe, organised by the National Centre for Culture with funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, will take place on 19–27 November 2021. The unique features of the Eufonie Festival are, on the one hand, drawing from tradition and, on the other hand, presenting completely new, previously undiscovered sounds.

The idea of the festival is to popularize the cultural heritage of most countries known today as Central and Eastern Europe. This area is an extremely interesting melting pot whose complexity can be discovered through the variety of the presented compositions and artists. The Eufonie Festival features music of different eras and styles. The director of the festival is Prof. Rafał Wiśniewski, and the chairman of the Programme Council – Dr Mieczysław Kominek, president of the Polish Composers' Union.

This year’s edition of the festival will focus on the Romantic period, in which, in addition to new forms and genres, it was the composers’ interest in native folklore that was of utmost importance. The nine festival days will be filled with fourteen events, and the stage will be given to such outstanding performers as Veriko Tchumburidze, Janusz Wawrowski, Anastasia Kobekina, Olga Pasiecznik, Adam Bałdych, Urszula Kryger, Anu Tali, Zsolt Nagy, Olari Elts or Oval. The recital of Tomasz Konieczny will begin with Blessed Raspberry Songs, Op. 43 by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki to the words of the literary patron of the year 2021, Cyprian Norwid. Pianist Anna Górecka will join forces with the Bogdan Warchal Slovak Chamber Orchestra in performing her father's Concerto for harpsichord (or piano) and orchestra, Op. 40. The Festival will also featurethe world premiere of Adam Bałdych's Górecki Transformed – original interpretations and improvisations on Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s string quartets commissioned by the National Centre for Culture, as well as Markus Popp and Jacek Sienkiewicz's interpretations of samples of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio.

The last festival concert will take place on 5 December at 7.30 p.m. at the Royal Castle. It will be a recital of Olga and Natalia Pasiecznik, which, due to the health condition of one of the artists, could not be held on the original date of 21 November. The programme includes songs by Mykola Łysenka, Wiktor Kosenko and Jean Sibelius.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Programme: http://eufonie.pl/

Katowice | 9th Festival of Premieres at NOSPR – November premieres!

Premieres of new works by Polish composers will take place on 20, 22 and 26 November 2021 at 7.30 p.m. during the 9th edition of the Festival of Premieres at the NOSPR. The organisers invite you to jointly discover the latest musical works of our composers!

On 20 November, the Camerata Silesia Katowice City Singers' Ensemble conducted by Anna Szostak will perform Krzysztof Wołek's Paradiso for mixed choir and live electronics (with the composer), Romuald Twardowski's Sacrum – Profanum for mixed a cappella choir, Aleksander Nowak's Hevel for mixed chamber choir and Paweł Łukaszewski's Christus Vincit for 2 mixed choirs and organ (with Michał Goławski at the organ).

On 22 November, we will have a chance to experience an extraordinary event under the supervision of the director Pia Partum – the premiere of a unique radio play How to say it ... by Tadeusz Wielecki for soprano, two actors, chamber orchestra and electronics. The musicians of the New Music Orchestra and great soloists: soprano Joanna Freszel, actors – Jędrzej Wielecki and Matylda Damięcka, and Barbara Okoń-Makowska on electronics will take us into the musical world of Tadeusz Wielecki.

On 26 November, the world-famous Klangforum Wien ensemble conducted by Titus Engel will premiere PhonoPhantomatics – a piece by Cezary Duchnowski for an instrumental ensemble and live electronics inspired by the works of Stanisław Lem, and 3x3 by Agata Zubel for 9 instruments. As the composer points out, "Three times three, words – phrases – contexts, are a form that predicts development".

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Ticket Information: https://nospr.org.pl/pl