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Central European Music Forum concert "New works from Visegrad Group countries" took place on September 15th, 2017 at 4 p.n. in the Great Assembly Hall (Ballroom) at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Celebrating the 60th jubilee edition of the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music Mieczysław Kominek, President of the Polish Composers’ Union and Jerzy Kornowicz, Director of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music were pleased to invite you to the Central European Music Forum concert "New works from Visegrad Group countries".

The concert featured first performances of works commissioned from composers of V4 Group and performed by Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej (New Music Orchestra) conducted by Szymon Bywalec. Programme: Jana Kmiťová (b. 1976, Slovakia) – Gesichtsstudien (2017), Martin Wiesner (b. 1985, Czech Republic) – Raindrops on Plastic Rooftops (2017), András Gábor Virágh (b. 1984, Hungary) – Metamorphosis (2017), Jakub Szafrański (b. 1988, Poland) – Karpaty (2017).

Jakub Szafrański's work was cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland within the programme „Collections” – the priority „Composition Commissions” implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance. Jana Kmiťova's work was commissioned by the Central European Music Forum and Waves Bratislava and cofinanced by the Fond pre umenie (Slovak Arts Council).

Organisers: Polish Composers’ Union / Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC, Central European Music Forum CEMF, Institute of Music and Dance. Partners: Waves Bratislava, Czech Music Information Centre, Hungarian Composers Union. Honorary patronage: Embassy of the Slovak Republic, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Embassy of Hungary.

Cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

SEE: Facebook Event.

The opening of the "60 Warsaw Autumns" exhibition, co-organised by the Polish Composers' Union, National Centre for Culture Poland and Institute of Music and Dance, was held in Kordegarda Gallery (Warsaw, 15/17 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street) on Thursday, September 14th at 6 p.m. 

Celebrating the 60th jubilee edition of the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music Mieczysław Kominek, PhD, President of the Polish Composers’ Union, Jerzy Kornowicz, Director of the "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music and Rafał Wiśniewski, PhD, Hab. Director of the National Centre for Culture Poland were pleased to invite you to the "60 Warsaw Autumns" – Exhibition of International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn” posters 1956–2017. The curator of the exhibition was Piotr Dąbrowski. The exhibition ran from September 15th through October 1st, 2017.

During the exhibition, the installation @piacere by Adam Porębski and Dariusz Jackowski were presented and a cycle of meetings entitled "My Warsaw Autumn" was held every day at 6 p.m.: Saturday, September 16th – Jerzy Maksymiuk, Sunday, September 17th – Agata Zubel, Monday, September 18th – Zygmunt Krauze, Tuesday, September 19th – Jerzy Artysz, Wednesday, September 20th – Jolanta Bilińska, Thursday, September 21st – Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, Friday, September 22nd – Stanisław Krupowicz, Saturday, September 23rd – Tadeusz Wielecki.

Cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

SEE: Facebook Event.

Toward the end of the PCU’s 70th anniversary celebrations, thanks to the joint effort of composers and musicologists active in the PCU, the idea of a new retrospective look at the last 70 years in the history of Polish music (put forward by Jerzy Kornowicz) was put into practice in the form of a quite extraordinary festival. “7+7=70”:

Tthe “Festival of Seven Currents” and the “Concert of Seven Premieres”, held to mark the PCU’s 70 years of activity, took an altogether different approach to the output of Polish composers after 1945 from those hitherto presented. The seven currents represent a focus on selected ideas rather than on specific composition techniques.

Each concert was programmed by a different musicologists acting as its curator – and all the programmers are eminent experts on Polish contemporary music. The curators commented on their choices in essays printed in the festival’s programme book. They also met the audience before the concerts – at “Current Meetings in the Current” – in order to respond to questions and doubts.

The survey of seven currents in the Polish music of the last seven decades was complemented by a concert illustrating the present-day developments in Polish music. This concert, closing the PCU anniversary celebrations, featured the premieres of works specially composed for the PCU’s Jubilee, commissioned from composers representing the successive decades or generations. The compositions were performed by the excellent Dutch Orkest de ereprijs, long-time friends and companions of the Union. The Orchestra’s leader and conductor, Wim Boerman, received the PCU Honorary Award (2003) for promotion of Polish contemporary music. One of the proofs that this award and the choice of these performers was well justified was the composition that closed our concert of premieres: Hanna Kulenty’s Piano Concerto No. 1. It had already been presented by Orkest de ereprijs in the Dutch Arnhem and other cities, but in Warsaw’s Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio it was heard for the first time. Now all the compositions that made up the final concert will become part of the Orchestra’s repertoire, and the concert itself is made available on a 2CD album.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Patrons, Partners and Friends for the last seventy years we have spent together supporting Polish contemporary music!

Mieczysław Kominek

President of the Polish Composers’ Union

The not-for-sale CDs may be obtained free of charge from POLMIC. It should be stressed, however, that since the number of copies is limited (500 copies of each CD), preference will be given to music institutions; the CDs should primarily go to libraries, schools, information centres and music publishers around the world.

CD1 (polmic 122)

1. Piotr Tabakiernik (b. 1986)
toutur throeu / the rite of hearing (2016) for cello and ensemble 19’51’’
Andrzej Bauer – cello
vocal ensemble: Małgorzata Bartkowska, Justyna Czerwińska, Anna Dubicka, Gabriela Jeleńska,
Aleksandra Endzelm-Obertyn, Katarzyna Homan, Lilianna Krych, Zbigniew Malak, Tomasz Nowak,
Jacek Rąbiński, Patryk Różycki, Zofia Smolarska, Karolina Szurek, Marta Tabakiernik
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor
Marta Olko – sound projection

2. Zbigniew Penherski (b. 1935)
Little Litany 2 (2016) for Orkest de ereprijs 06’39’’
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor

3. Aleksander Kościów (b. 1974)
Many Cities (2016) for soprano and ensemble 09’05’’
Joanna Freszel – soprano
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor
Marta Olko – sound projection

4. Paweł Hendrich (b. 1979)
Mutuusmutus (2016) for chamber orchestra and air percussion 12’56’’
Leszek Lorent – air percussion
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor

CD2 (polmic 123)

1. Jarosław Siwiński (b. 1964)
HubTub (2016) for tuba and ensemble 11’41’’
Zdzisław Piernik – tuba
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor

2. Zygmunt Krauze (b. 1938)
Poem of Apollinaire (2016) for speaking pianist and 12 instruments 14’31’’
Zygmunt Krauze – upright piano
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor
Marta Olko – sound projection

3. Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961)
Piano Concerto No. 1 (1990) for piano and chamber orchestra 19’05’’
Frank Peters – piano
Orkest de ereprijs, Wim Boerman – conductor

The Sound Chronicle of the 58th "Warsaw Autumn" International Festival of Contemporary Music, which was held between September 18th and 26th, 2015, consists of 6 CDs.

Similarly to the previous issues, it contains a selection of works by Polish and foreign composers performed at the Festival. The last CD within the series (CD No. 6) is dedicated to very young composers. It features six compositions performed during the concert organised by the Youth Circle of the Polish Composers' Union as a fringe event of the Festival. 

The Sound Chronicle of the Warsaw Autumn has been published after each edition of the Festival since its inception in 1956. Since 1999, it has been released as audio CDs. As in the previous years, the CDs are exclusively of informational, promotional and educational character and are not being sold. They can be provided free of charge to interested institutions and persons by the publisher – the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC. Due to the low circulation and growing interest in the product, priority is given to school, academic and public libraries.

The Musical Languages of Contemporary Polish Composers:

Self-reflections

University of Warsaw Library / Bogumił Linde Hall

66 Dobra Street, Warsaw

Friday, September 25th, 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Saturday, September 26th, 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Composers’ reflections on their own musical language offer a fascinating view of musical composition and may well be seen as complementary to musicological analysis. At this conference, musicologists will discuss the composers’ own commentaries on their individual musical languages and techniques. Composers will comment upon and supplement these presentations. Some of the composers will present their own work.

The language of the conference is Polish, but simultaneous interpretation will be available for speakers of English.

Presentations:

Friday, September 25th

Violetta Przech presents Zbigniew Bargielski

Krzysztof Szwajgier presents Zygmunt Krauze

Marta Tabakiernik presents Marcin Stańczyk

Maciej Jabłoński presents his own music

Rafał Augustyn presents his own music

Daniel Cichy presents Witold Szalonek

Beata Bolesławska presents Andrzej Panufnik

Saturday, September 26th

Iwona Lindstedt presents Kazimierz Serocki

Agnieszka Draus presents Marek Stachowski

Krzysztof Stefański presents Paweł Hendrich

Katarzyna Naliwajek presents Paweł Szymański

Krzysztof Knittel presents his own music

Marcin Gmys presents Paweł Mykietyn

Marcin Krajewski presents Witold Lutosławski

During the conference

Friday, September 25th, 12:00

Presentation of the website: Zamowieniakompozytorskie.pl

Presentation of the new website of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Programme “Collections. Priority: Compositional Commissions.” The website is operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

The programme aims to support contemporary music composition by commissioning new works and creating favourable conditions for their permanent presence in the public space.

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Organisers:

University of Warsaw, Institute of Musicology

Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC

Polish Society for Music Analysis

Institute of Music and Dance

A Polish Composers’ Union 70th Anniversary Event

The events accompanying the 70th Anniversary of the Polish Composers’ Union are coorganised by the Institute of Music and Dance from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.