official patronage

An album that is unique for many reasons will be added to the DUX catalog on 21 January 2021. It includes the premiere recording of two chamber works by Karol Rathaus, the composer hailed by German critics in the 1920s as "the hope of new music".

The official consent to take the composer's name was given to the ensemble by Karol Rathaus' granddaughter. Karol Rathaus Ensemble, made up of Marcin Hałat (violin), Marcin Mączyński (cello), Piotr Lato (clarinet) and Aleksandra Hałat (piano), recorded for the DUX label Trio, Op. 53 and Trio Serenade, Op. 69, thus enlarging the collection of Rathaus' chamber music recordings with works for three instruments. The recorded works have been very rarely performed and have probably never been presented in the composer's homeland.

The album Karol Rathaus. Piano Trios restores outstanding chamber works to the repertoire and gives listeners an unprecedented opportunity to discover music that has remained forgotten for several decades. "The intimate meeting with Karol Rathaus’ top quality art of composing allowed us, performers, to get to know him as a person – a brilliant, forgotten artist, an emigrant whose works combine Polish, European and American elements", wrote Dr Aleksandra Hałat, the initiator of the project.

The album is available for sale in the official DUX store from 21 January. Soon it will be available in physical and digital international distribution.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

WATCH: Official Music Video

The 3rd edition of the International Piano Competition "Chopin at Wawel" will be held in Kraków on 7-11 July 2021.

International Piano Competition „Chopin at Wawel” based upon the National Competition For Young Pianists „Chopin at Wawel” is the first international, monographic,  piano competition held in Krakow. 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. The competition is organised by “Porta Musicae” Artistic Association in collaboration with the Academy of Music in Krakow and Fryderyk Chopin Secondary Music School in Krakow.

As in previous editions, participants will perform in four age groups and will be judged by distinguished teachers and pianists, experts on Fryderyk Chopin’s artistic work and university professors from Poland, Italy, Russia and China. The total prize pool is PLN 17,500. The winners concert will be held on 11 July 2021.

Applications should be send by 31 May 2021 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The Competition rules and application form are available at: http://www.chopinpodwawelem.com/ 

The "Trace" concert is an original project by Janusz Strobl, which uniquely combines the sound of classical guitar and orchestra in extremely melodic and original compositions. The renowned musician and composer will perform on 5 February 2021 at 8.00 p.m. with the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. The concert will be broadcast online on the YouTube channel and on the website https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/.

Polish jazz scene is alive and versatile. Its active musicians include representatives of astoundingly creative young generation on the one hand, and well-established artists setting timeless horizons of trends and styles on the other. The latter group is represented by guitarist Janusz Strobel, who has been an active performer for 50 years. He is a founder and former leader of many formations, starting from the legendary Alber–Strobel duo. Recently, he has been performing with his incredibly famous trio. He is also a recognised composer, with a portfolio full of numerous pieces of popular music, film scores and concert pieces. His CD titled "Ślad" ("Trace") from 2016, which combines the sound of a jazz trio with an orchestra (Sinfonia Viva conducted by Tomasz Radziwonowicz took part in the recording), is a proof of his unique creative search.

Here is what Ryszard Borowski, "Jazz Forum" reviewer, wrote about it: "The very cover of Janusz Strobel’s new CD draws attention. In a sophisticated and minimalistic way, a noble and delicate silhouette of a guitar tells us what is inside. And the music is noble and delicate indeed. Noble sounding, peaceful and soothing – these features perfectly describe Strobel’s compositions and his play. […] Apart from the author, several other excellent musicians arranged the compositions and their contribution in the CD is truly invaluable. They include Krzesimir Dębski, Andrzej Jagodziński, Henryk Miśkiewicz and Włodzimierz Nahorny – the crème de la crème. […] Strobel’s guitar compositions have been given a beautiful new attire, with his own arrangements being equally interesting. I have used the expression “guitar compositions" on purpose, because not only does Janusz play his melodious solos nearly all the time, but he also becomes part of the accompaniment, playing together with the orchestra. He is an absolutely predominant musician here. The performance is a truly grand concert for guitar and orchestra! The compositions have clearly been designed to be performed particularly on the guitar. Thus, the music is specific, very individual and truly genuine. The style of Janusz Strobel is immediately recognisable; hardly anyone composes like that nowadays."

Jazz is an art of improvisation, deprived of repetitions, so even the amateurs of Strobel’s and his trio’s talent who know the CD inside and out, will find new fascinating sounds in its concert version conducted by Marek Wroniszewski!

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The programme of the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra concert on 20 February 2021 at 8.00 p.m. includes radiant and splendorous sounds of brass instruments. The event will be broadcast online from the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio on the YouTube channel and on the website https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/.

From the 18th century, French horns have been an essential part of orchestras. Initially there used to be two French horns in an orchestra and later the number was increased up to four of them. Such beautifully sounding “choir” inspired two Romantic composers to create pieces for four horns and an orchestra. In his brilliant Konzertstück op. 86, Robert Schumann was one of the first composers to showcase broad technical possibilities of a relatively new structure of a valve horn, which considerably extended standard features of “natural” instruments. Heinrich Hübler, a French horn virtuoso slightly younger than Schumann, participated in one of the concerts where the piece was performed (in the composer’s presence), which inspired him to create his own composition for the same group of instruments, highlighting the triumphant sound of four horns even more.

Trumpeters on all continents fondly remember the Armenian composer Alexander Arutiunian, author of numerous classicizing compositions of different genres, often referring to national motifs. One of the pieces that has earnt a particularly stable position in the repertoire, although slightly forgotten outside his mother country, is the Trumpet Concerto (1950), with a brilliant solo part. Both compositions for French horns will be performed by two different horn quartets, one of them composed entirely of the musicians from the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, and the second one formed of artists who normally work in other ensembles, but who cooperate with the PSIO from time to time. Mikhail Bachyla, performer of the solo part in Arutiunian’s concerto, is also a member of the PSIO. The concert will be conducted by Marek Wroniszewski, one of the most valued conductors of his generation, considered to be the best Polish participant of the 10th G. Fitelberg International Competition in Katowice in 2017, presently acting as Deputy Director of the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra is proud to invite you on 13 February 2021 at 7.00 p.m. to a concert dedicated to the musical heritage of Italy. The programme includes an extensive selection of compositions by masters of Italian music. Also the conductor, highly regarded in his homeland, admired throughout Europe and beyond, well known to Warsaw audiences – Massimiliano Caldi – is Italian.

The repertoire will include Rossini’s impressive and incredibly beautiful overtures: to Cinderella and to The Italian Girl in Algiers, as well as compositions from the most outstanding operas composed in the later period: Prelude to Act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi’s epochal Traviata and Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni’s veristic Cavalleria Rusticana.

The appealing programme will be completed by Concerto soirée, the author of which, Nino Rota, is primarily remembered as “Fellini’s composer” (he is also the creator of the unforgettable soundtrack to Coppola’s Godfather and films by Visconti, Zefirelli and others). Rota was a musician with an excellent “classical” composer education, admired from an early age – even he himself regretted that he owed his fame more to films than to his concertos. This brilliant composition for piano and orchestra will remind of the lesser-known face of the Italian maestro – he was admired for the brilliant virtuosity as well as for charm and wit compared to Prokofiev’s works. We will hear it performed by Maurizio Baglini, who very positively attracted the audience of the 13th International Chopin Competition in 1995, and although he didn’t win the competition at that time, his later career confirmed his great talent. Not much later he won the World Music Piano Master in Montecarlo and began active concert activity on major stages around the world. He is also a valued teacher and has been successfully managing the Amiata Piano Festival in his native Tuscany for many years now.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The concert will be broadcast online from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music on the YouTube channel and on the website https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/ 

The Aurea Porta Foundation, which promotes Polish contemporary art, is expanding the Repository of Bogusław Schaeffer's Works. Thanks to the project, the rich artistic output of one of the most outstanding contemporary Polish artists, composer and playwright, will be preserved for posterity.

The expansion of the Repository of Bogusław Schaeffer's Works by the Aurea Porta Friends of Arts Foundation reintroduces the artist’s world-renowned yet often forgotten works to the culture world. The project covers conservation, resource listing and publishing digitized paper materials – scores, graphics and texts (manuscripts, facsimiles) – from the composer's private collections. The list of archived works makes it possible to reuse the digital resources (scores and recordings of Bogusław Schaeffer's compositions) for dissemination and educational purposes. It broadens the archiving work carried out for the last 11 years.

A crucial step in archiving is the production of separate digitization tracks that meet the applicable standards for individual resources of various types, preservation states and physical copy storage locations. The scores and music literature are presented as * jpg files. Most of the resources can be saved to a local drive and automatically converted to PDF files. Audio and audio-visual materials are available in mp4 and mp3 formats providing a high resolution of the presented materials while maintaining the website’s responsiveness on mobile devices.

The materials are available on www.aureaporta4schaeffer.pl. Most of them are free to use, without logging in, whereas in cases in which separate license agreements apply, they will be made available under fair use.

The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

WATCH: Project Announcement

The Silesian Philharmonic's concert on 12 February 2021 at 7.00 p.m. will be filled with music by Mozart, Dvořák and Żeleński. The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sebastian Perłowski will perform together with Waldemar Matera, who will delight the audience with the beautiful sound of the French horn.

Władysław Żeleński's Gavotte, Op. 45 was composed as a piano piece in the composer's late period. However, during the upcoming concert, we will listen to an arrangement for orchestra, which will certainly allow the listeners to discover new colors and different shades of the work.

Waldemar Matera, French horn player of the Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's French horn Concerto No. 3 in E flat major. Mozart wrote a total of four concertos for this instrument and to this day they are the basis of the horn's repertoire. In the 18th century, the horn did not have a valve system yet, so all the possibilities of the player were limited to producing the sound only through the appropriate positioning of the lips against the mouthpiece.

The evening will be crowned by Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 in D minor, commissioned by the London Philharmonic Society in 1884. In his study of the composer’s work, Otakar Šourek wrote: "Dvořák worked at the D minor Symphony with passionate concentration and in the conscious endeavor to create a work of noble proportions and content, which should surpass not only what he had so far produced in the field of symphonic composition, but which was also designed to occupy an important place in world music". This piece combines lyrical and heroic motifs with a triumphant coda in a major key.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu/ 

The national preliminary round of the 2nd Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music will be held in Warsaw on 4 and 5 May 2021. It is addressed to candidates holding Polish citizenship or the Karta Polaka (Polish Ethnicity Card), regardless of their place of residence. The deadline for the submission of applications is 15 April 2021.

The Qualification Committee of the preliminary round will select up to ten qualifiers in each of two categories – pianists and chamber ensembles. The participants who qualify in such a way are exempted from the entry fee and are further awarded a scholarship sufficient to cover the costs of travel and accommodation during their stay in Rzeszów (11–18 September 2021).

During the preliminary round held in Warsaw, the candidates from the piano category are required to perform the entire programme of Stage I of the Competition, pursuant to Annex A (attached to the Rulebook), not exceeding 20 minutes of musical presentation. The candidates from the chamber ensemble category are required to perform the programme from Stage I, pursuant to Annex B (attached to the Rulebook), not exceeding 20 minutes of musical presentation; performance of individual movements will be accepted. The candidates wishing to take part in the preliminary round should submit their applications by filling in e-forms available on the website of the Competition: pianists and chamber ensembles.

The second edition of the Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music will take place at the Artur Malawski Podkarpacka Philharmonic Hall in Rzeszów between 11 and 18 September 2021. The Prize Winners Concert will be repeated at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw on 20 September 2021. The participants will contest in two categories: for pianists and for chamber ensembles, with the total prize money exceeding 80,000 euros.

The Rules and Regulations of the Competition are available at: https://www.konkursmuzykipolskiej.pl/article/contest-rules 

A concert on 5 March 2021 at 8.00 p.m. by three outstanding, young yet impressively merited soloists – Iwona Socha (soprano), Łukasz Gaj (tenor), and Adam Szerszeń (baritone) – accompanied by Jerzy Semkow’s Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, will recall the most beautiful pieces of Italian opera from the Romantic and Neo-Romantic eras. The event is dedicated to all ladies on the eve of their beautiful holiday.

Opera was born under the skies of Italy, and although in the Baroque era it became popular in many countries in its local varieties, for a long time Italy remained the operatic centre, a point of reference and a model for new fashions and trends. Even though not all the composers of works presented this evening were Italian, each in some way referred to what came from Italy – Mozart wrote his most famous operas to Italian lyrics by the excellent librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. We will hear well-known and much-loved examples of this inspired collaboration. The new, Romantic trends in Italian opera manifested themselves in a style whose name says it all: belcanto, which particularly emphasises the beauty, expression and virtuosity of the voice. Gaetano Donizetti was among its masters, and his arias will also be performed. Giuseppe Verdi, whose 120th death anniversary was celebrated this year, also imbued his brilliant works with this spirit. The outstanding artists will present a representative selection of the finest compositions by this great Italian musician.

Verdi’s successors both benefited from his achievements and polemicised with them. They created new trends, including verismo parallel to literary naturalism, which revolves around simple, often sad stories of ordinary people instead of focusing on stilted and pompous figures from distant history or mythology – here Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo and the great Giacomo Puccini acquired great merits. Even the digressions – pieces composed by the Seine by Gounod and Massenet included in the programme – have an Italian context: both musicians were winners of the so-called Rome Prize, founded for the laureates of a prestigious competition in Paris to enable art students to study in Italy.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Broadcast on YouTube channel and www.sinfoniaiuventus.pl