The winners of the International Stanisław Moniuszko Composers’ Competition for a micro-opera entitled “12 Minutes for Moniuszko”, organized by the Polish Composers' Union and Grand Theatre – Polish National Opera, were announced during the Evening of Premieres, which was held on 18 December 2019 at 7 p.m. in the Emil Młynarski Chamber Hall of the Grand Theater – Polish National Opera.
The competition aimed to revive, in present-day conditions, the specific idea of Moniuszko’s operas as musical dramas based on social topics. After the auditions of the 2nd stage of the Competition, the Jury composed of: Zygmunt Krauze – composer, chairman of the Jury, Waldemar Dąbrowski – director of the Grand Theater – National Opera, Ryszard Daniel Golianek – musicologist, Jerzy Kornowicz – composer, Hanna Kulenty – composer, Janusz Wiśniewski – opera director, Jerzy Wołosiuk – conductor, awarded the main prize of PLN 40,000 to Tomasz Szczepanik, PhD, for the work The Immigrant. The winner of the Competition is a lecturer at the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź.
Other finalists – Ignacy Zalewski, Patricia Elizabeth Martínez, Otto Wanke, Paweł Siek and Estera Wityńska – received prizes in the amount of PLN 20,000 and titles of the laureates of the Competition. The Audience Award in the amount of PLN 10,000 was awarded to Ignacy Zalewski, PhD, assistant professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music.
We warmly congratulate all the winners!