official patronage

The 4th Polish Circles of Art in China Festival is another year of presenting the best in our art. The upcoming edition will begin on 6 June 2019 with a tour of Grzegorz Niemczuk. The tour will end on 15 June at the Chongqing Guotai Arts Center.

The renowned pianist will perform first in the concert hall of the Beijing Tsinghua University, then in the prestigious halls of Zibo, Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Chongqing. Grzegorz Niemczuk's concerts mark the beginning of the fourth edition of the Festival of Polish Circles of Art in China, where other artistic activities will be held until December 2019.

The Polish Circles of Art Festival in China has been organized by the Foundation of the Circles of Art since 2016. Already after the first edition, the event was hailed by the Chinese media as "the most important Polish cultural event of 2016 in the Middle Kingdom". Until now, Polish creators of visual arts, music, film and video games have shown their achievements at the Festival in 16 significant cities in the PRC. Pianist Grzegorz Niemczuk has been associated with the with the Polish Art Circles Festival in China since its second edition. His concerts have always been a special part of the programme. This year, his repertoire will consist of works by Wojciech Kilar, Fryderyk Chopin and Wang Jianzhong.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://kregisztuki.com/ 

Grzegorz Niemczuk Concerts Schedule at the 4th Polish Circles of Art in China Festival

6 June – Pekin: Mon Man Wall Hall, Tsinghua University

7 June – Pekin: Vintage

8 June – Zibo: Zibo Theatre

9 June – Shijiazhuang: Hebei Province Arts Centre

14 June – Wuhan: Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall

15 June – Chongqing: Chongqing Guotai Arts Centre

The upcoming concert of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra entitled "A Musical Feast" will take place on 21 June 2019 at 7:30pm. It will be an opportunity to listen to Polish and Russian symphonic works performed by the orchestra under Maestro Alexander Vedernikov and pianist Andrei Korobeinikov.

Sinfonia Varsovia will start a concert with Stanisław Moniuszko's Fairytale on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth. After that, the audience will listen to a rarely presented Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major Op. 44 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. A virtuoso solo part will be performed by Andrei Korobeinikov – an acclaimed Russian pianist and perfect interpreter of Tchaikovsky's works. The concert will end with the Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information CentrePOLMIC.

More information at: www.sinfoniavarsovia.org 

On 15 and 16 June 2019 at 4pm in the concert hall of the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra (272 Grochowska Street) concerts "Japan" and "Moniuszko" will take place as part of the cycle "Summer Concerts at Grochowska Street".

The cycle of afternoon chamber music concerts returns to the home of Sinfonia Varsovia. Just like last year, each Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 p.m. features performances by well-known artists and rising stars on the classical music scene. There will be 30 concerts arranged by common themes: Not just for Orchestra, Japan, Moniuszko, Relax, Travelling, Improvisation, Old Warsaw. The music will be performed by traditional ensembles and some rare configurations, including a reed trio with saxophone and bass clarinet, a cello octet and a flute quartet. The works performed will feature music of many periods and genres – from the Baroque to opera arias, jazz and contemporary and improvised music.

On 15 June, the music of Japanese artists and composers inspired by the culture of Japan will be presented by young talented Warsaw percussionists Mikołaj Rytowski and Franciszek Prokopiuk. They will present, among others, K'an by Wojtek Blecharz. The next day, Stanisław Moniuszko's quartets will be performed by the musicians of Sinfonia Varsovia and violinist Piotr Markowski, the deputy concertmaster of the Płock Symphony Orchestra.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.sinfoniavarsovia.org 

The concert "Sinfonia Iuventus for Independence" on 22 June 2019 at 7pm in the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw, devoted entirely to Polish music of the twentieth and twenty-first century, will showcase outstanding cellist Tomasz Strahl.

This highly appreciated soloist, chamber musician and academic teacher has won many prestigious awards and distinctions and is one of the most esteemed cellists of his generation. The two cello concertos featured in the programme are the perfect way to show off the versatility of this artist’s talent in a single evening.

The work by Stanisław Moryta from 1992 is saturated with dramatic, elegiac expression, as expressed in the character of each movement: Drammatico / Lugubre / Aggresivo; it also displays cello virtuosity. Cello Concerto No. 2 by Piotr Moss titled Prières (Prayers) was composed in 2003 and premiered in Poland, performed by Tomasz Strahl of the NPRSO in 2005.

The programme is supplemented by two overtures – the first opened the now forgotten opera Maria by Roman Statkowski (1904), acknowledge when it premiered to be one of the best Polish works of its kind since the days of Moniuszko. The interwar period will be represented in the programme by the Overture for orchestra by Antoni Szałowski, one of the many Polish students of the famous Nadia Boulanger (interestingly, two generations before the young Piotr Moss also studied with her near the end of her long career), in tribute to neoclassical style – which is also present in this brilliant piece.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/sinfonia-iuventus-dla-niepodleglej/ 

The Institute for the Promotion and Dissemination of Music "Silesia" invites you to the next concert of the series "Vivat Academia!", which precedes the 90th anniversary of the Academy of Music in Katowice. The concert will take place on 27 June 2019 at 6pm at the Archdiocesan Museum in Katowice (16 Wita Stwosza St.).

Accordion music and the Silesian accordion school will be the main topic of a meeting with Professor Joachim Pichura in the Archdiocesan Museum. It is prof. Pichura who founded the accordion class at the State High School of Music in Katowice. Since the establishment of the Accordion Department in 1983, he has been its head. In the years 1982-87 he was a vice-rector, and in 1987-90 he held the office of the rector of the Katowice Music Academy. The June meeting and concert will be an opportunity to recall Professor's artistic activity as well as his competition successes, including the Grand Prix d'Europe in Saint-Etienne in 1985, and the Premio Internationale Citta di Castelfidardo in 1986. For many years he has been invited to the jury of well-known European competitions, he has also conducted master classes in Poland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia. His pedagogical achievements are equally significant. Among his students were Franciszek Prus, Bogdan Precz, Marek Andrysek and Marcin Wyrostek.

The musical part of the evening will feature Symetrio – the ensemble of prominent young accordionists and pupils of prof. Joachim Pichury already known to the Silesian audience – Krystian Saciłowski, Marcin Jabłoński and Adam Potera. The programme will include: Franck Angelis – Étude sur le thème "Chiquilín de Bachín" by Astor Piazzolla, Václav Trojan – Tarantella for two accordions, Georgij Szenderiow – Concert suite, Marcin Jabłoński - Better together, Maria Kalaniemi – Ahma. The concert and meeting will be hosted by Grażyna Brewińska.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/

The 47th edition of the Eugeniusz Brańka Summer Organ and Chamber Concerts in Władysławowo will be held on4  July – 22 August 2019. Traditionally, admission to all concerts is free.

A holiday series of classical music concerts, inaugurated in 1973 by the composer, conductor and organist from Częstochowa – Eugeniusz Brańka – became a permanent summer event in Władysławowo. The organizer of the festival is the Center of Culture, Promotion and Sport in Władysławowo with the cooperation of the parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Władysławowo and the Eugeniusz Brańka Association.

This year's edition will feature excellent performers from Poland and abroad, and its repertoire will be dominated by Polish music. The festival in Wladysławowo continues the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Independence, launched a year ago. In addition, 2019 marks the celebrations of the 200th birth anniversary of Stanisław Moniuszko. Also, the Festival will commemorate its initiator and long-term Artistic Director, Professor Eugeniusz Branka, on the 10th death anniversary. The series will also feature improvised music performed by, among others, violinist Krzesimir Dębski and trumpeter Robert Majewski. Polish music from the Baroque to the 20th century will fill the programme of the inauguration concert on 4 July.

Media patronage: Polish Music Informatoin Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.facebook.com/koncerty.organowe/ 

International Competition For Young Pianists „Chopin at Wawel” – based upon the National Competition For Young Pianists „Chopin at Wawel” – is the first international, monographic, piano competition held in Krakow. This year's edition will be held on 10-14 July 2019.

The originator and founder of the Competition, dr hab. Gajusz Kęska, repeatedly emphasized the need to promote the city as a center of performing the Fryderyk Chopin’s music, also by stating that in the past Krakow was the cradle of the Polish piano school. Here, in Krakow, the eminent pianists and pedagogues had lived and had led master classes: Zbigniew Drzewiecki, Halina Czerny-Stefańska, Regina Smendzianka, Adam Harasiewicz, Tadeusz Żmudziński and Jan Hoffman among others. They were all world-renowned interpreters of Chopin's music and laureates of the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw.

First edition of the Competition in June 2015 has met with a great interest among the Krakow audience.Contestants came from all across the Poland and the jury highlighted the very high level of their performances. 2nd National Competition For Young Pianists „Chopin at Wawel”, which is a continuation of initiated in the previous year "the return of Chopin's music at Wawel", has gained wide acclaim not only in the country but also abroad. This fact convinced organizers to extend the Competition range and give it the international rank.

Next edition of the Competition, organized by “Porta Musicae” Artistic Association with the support od the Academy of Music in Krakow and Fryderyk Chopin Secondary Music School in Krakow, will be held on 10-14 July 2019 in the auditorium "Florianka" – the concert hall of the Music Academy in Krakow, shared for Auditions thanks to the courtesy of the Academy authorities, with support of Pro Musica Humana Association. Participants will perform in four age groups, as it was during the first edition.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Detailed programme and rules of the competition are available at: http://chopinpodwawelem.com

The 28th edition of the International Concerts of Organ and Chamber Music in Polanica-Zdrój will take place on 27 June – 5 September 2019.

International Concerts of Organ and Chamber Music in Polanica-Zdrój is a festival presenting great works of classical and contemporary music performed by renowned artists from Poland and abroad. In addition to important artistic goals, the concerts play a significant educational role through lectures on the history of music as well as socio-cultural role by cultivating the centuries-old tradition of concertising in the Lower Silesian temples, raising the cultural and tourist attractiveness of the region and promoting Polish musical culture among tourists from abroad.

The programme of this year's edition of the Festival will include works by outstanding organ music composers (J.S. Bach, F. Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, J. Pachelbel, G.F. Handel et al.) as well as organ transcriptions of classical and contemporary instrumental music. We will listen to, among others, works by Marian Sawa, Zbigniew Kruczek and Janusz Bielecki.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

DOWNLOAD: program Festiwalu

On 22 June 2019 at 6pm in the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall in Katowice, the Silesian Quartet will perform works of Mieczysław Weinberg and Józef Krogulski.

String Quartet No. 17 Op. 146 (1986), the last work in Mieczysław Weinberg's catalogue, consists of four movements played attacca. Despite some melancholic passages, it has a bright color with references to earlier works. It also has a humorous element. The last movement corresponds with the first one but it's not a synthetic finale: Weinberg had to add a reprise, which he "forgot" to write earlier...

Józef Krogulski was a pianist, composer, conductor and pedagogue (he was Chopin's friend from the composition class of Józef Elsner at the Warsaw School of Music). At the age of 10 he became famous as a prodigy (he was called "Polish Mozart") and he gave a series of concerts in Poland and Germany. His mature work includes mainly vocal eligious music composed in a conservative style. More interesting is his Octet in D minor Op. 6 (1834) for piano, two violins, flute, clarinet, cello and double bass. It represents a brillant style with influence of Johann Nepomuk Hummel's style.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information on tickets at: http://www.nospr.org.pl/pl/koncerty/1408/kwartet-slaski-wajnberg-w-polsce