official patronage

On 9 October 2019 the jury of the 5th Karol Lipiński International Violin Competition – after listening to the participants' renditions of works for violin and piano in the second stage – qualified the following six participants to the final stage:

1. Eimi Wakui (Japan)
2. Yumiko Yumiba (Japan)
3. Mao Konishi (Japonia) 4. Maya Levy (Belgium)
5. Robert Łaguniak (Poland)
6. Elias Moncado (Germany)

The jury is composed of: prof. Ilya Kaler – Chairman, prof. Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, prof. Boris Kuschnir, prof. Itzhak Rashkovsky, dr Jakub Jakowicz and dr Mariusz Smolij.

In the third stage of the Competition, the finalists will play with the accompaniment of the Toruń Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mariusz Smolij. The programme will include, among others, Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 61 by Karol Szymanowski. The auditions will take place on 11 and 12 October at 7 p.m. in the CKK Jordanki Concert Hall.

The concert of laureates of the 5th Karol Lipiński International Violin Competition will take place on 13 October at 6 p.m. in the CKK Jordanki Concert Hall. The following prizes will be awarded during the concert: 1st prize worth 20,000 EUR, 2nd prize – 15,000 EUR, 3rd prize – 10,000 EUR, three awards of 2,000 EUR and extra-statutory prizes. The Grand Prix – Astrolabe of Nicolaus Copernicus statuette in silver – will be also handed to the first prize winner.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://lipinski-competition.com/ 

Maestro Antoni Wit returns to the Opole Philharmonic on 25 October 2019 at 7 p.m. with a programme composed of French orchestral music as part of the "Zone of Stars" series.

The works by French composers, arranged in chronological order, represent diverse styles. Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre is a short and spectacular symphonic poem. Gabriel Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande suite, which consists of the incidental music for a play by Mauric Maeterlinck, has a completely different character. The work written by the Nobel Prize winner in literature of 1911 tells a story of a beautiful girl immersed in incurable melancholy. The Fauré score is also beautiful but at the same time sad and foggy. Albert Roussel's Bacchus et Ariane is ballet music based on a story rooted in mythology, which makes it somewhat crazy, and sometimes even ... noisy.

The concert is directed at several groups of listeners: frankophiles, who are truly fascinated by the land of wine and cheese and want to get to know French music better; music lovers – maestro Antoni Wit is a legend of the Polish music scene and his concert is a must see; and theater and literature lovers who will have the opportunity to listen to music composed for dramatic use.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Cemntre POLMIC.

More information at: https://filharmonia.opole.pl/wydarzenia/68-sezon-artystyczny-antoni-wit/ 

A concert on 19 October 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw will be the first opportunity for the Polish audience to listen to such a generous selection of the American composer, flautist and conductor James Newton’s works during a monographic concert showcasing the versatility of his talent. Sinfonia Iuventus will perform his compositions together with a jazz quartet.

James Newton (* 1953, Los Angeles, CA) has written more than 300 compositions. Newton’s pieces have been performed all over the world, from Carnegie Hall to the National Gallery in Berlin. His works span a variety of music genres, including chamber, symphonic, sacral, jazz, electronic, ethno, as well as ballet and modern dance music. In 1989, Newton published his handbook to flute improvisation (The Improvising Flute). He is the author of dozens of albums, including solo flute ones. James Newton is one of the most acclaimed jazz flute virtuosos. His recordings with Anthony Davis are among the most characteristic examples of the contemporary Third Stream.

“The music, which I write, first and foremost reflects my faith, which infuses my artistic life as a composer of sacred music” – said Newton. “Another recurring theme is inspiration from my African-American cultural roots”. In 1997, he wrote The Songs of Freedom opera, and in 2006, composed the Latin Mass which had its premiere in February 2007 in Prato, Italy.

As a musician, Newton visited Poland in 2007, when he played with Piotr Baron Quartet during the band’s tour of Poland and Hungary. The quartet performed in the following line-up: Piotr Baron, James Newton, Dariusz Oleszkiewicz and Mark Ferber. In the same year, James Newton performed twice with the Jarek Śmietana band (James Newton, Jarek Śmietana, Wojciech Karolak and Adam Czerwiński). During the upcoming concert he will perform with Polish musicians:  Piotr Baron, Dominik Wania, Maciej Adamczak, Łukasz Żyta and vocalists Marcela Wierzbicka-Opalińska and Dominik Opaliński. The programme will include, among others, Line of immortality for jazz quartet and orchestra, Psalm 119 for soprano and baritone, two versions of the famous Amazing Grace hymn, dedicated to Barrack Obama and the victims of the Charleston church massacre of 2015, and Glimpses of the Garden of Eden for French horn and orchestra. The concert will be conducted by Wojciech Semerau-Siemianowski – an acclaimed conductor and pianist.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.sinfoniaiuventus.pl 

A unique multimedia symphony concert will take place on 18 October 2019 at the Silesian Philharmonic. The orchestral and organ sound will combine in total harmony, enhanced by live broadcast from the interior of a unique instrument consisting of 2500 pipes.

The Silesian philharmonics, together with the well-known organist Roman Perucki, will present organ in various roles – as a solo instrument and as a part of the orchestra ensemble, proving how many possibilities it offers and how surprising and delightful this instrument can be. Additionally, thanks to the cameras placed inside the local organ, music lovers gathered in the Karol Stryja Concert Hall will be able to see the operation of complicated mechanisms that the organist will set in motion with every touch of a key or pedal.

Roman Perucki has already completed over 2,500 recitals. He performed in the most famous cathedrals and concert halls of the world, each time delighting the audience with his skills.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

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

The 8th "NeoArte – Synthesizer of Arts" – international festival presenting the most interesting trends in contemporary music and art – will be held in Gdańsk on 23-26 October 2019.

The originator of the festival that focuses on the synthesis of arts is the Tri-City ensemble NeoQuartet, winner of the Pomeranian Artistic Award of 2019. Contemporary composers create works combining video art and theater, visual artists create sound installations, theater and dance are moving towards performative art. It is becoming increasingly difficult to set boundaries between various fields of creativity, and it is becoming easier to combine them.

This year's festival will last five days, featuring nine concerts, two artistic installations, a radio play and several performances. Composition students will have the opportunity to take part in composer workshops led by the festival's patron Gwyn Pritchard, as well as performance workshops presented by Alwynne Pritchard. Children and youth will be able to participate in electronic music creation classes led by Krzysztof Topolski. Each concert is planned as a multidisciplinary performance, which makes the audience paricipate in the artistic process.

In the Gdańsk garrison, the audience will participate and co-create the premiere of the latest project of the Krakow artist Piotr Peszat – Into the Heart of Hearts (2019) for acoustic and electric string quartet, live-electronics and live-video. The finale of the festival, "NeoArte Night" in the New Synagogue, is a challenge for both the audience and performers – the 12-hour concert marathon will premiere latest works by contemporary Polish composers written for piano and string chamber orchestra.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: http://neoarte.pl/ 

A special academic concert will be held on 19 October 2019 at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Center for Music in Lusławice as part of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko.

The concert will present the musical legacy of one of the greatest artists of Polish Romanticism. The programme of the evening will include songs and arias from the Halka and Paria operas, as well as The Crimean Sonnets – a cantata for solo tenor, mixed choir and symphony orchestra to the words by Adam Mickiewicz. We will also listen to the famous Fairytale Fantastic Ouverture and the equally well-known Mazur from the opera The Haunted Manor.

Among the performers will be Jolanta Kowalska-Pawlikowska (soprano), Zdzisław Madej (tenor), Choir and Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Krakow under the direction of Stanisław Krawczyński, and guests from Belarus – the Student Choir of the Belarus State Academy of Music under the direction ot the ambitious and charismatic conductor Inessa Bodyako. The concert will be hosted by Małgorzata Janicka-Słysz.

The upcoming concert is one of the six events of the "Autumn in Lusławice" series, organized by the Krzysztof Penderecki European Center for Music in Lusławice.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: https://penderecki-center.pl/ 

On 18 October 2019 at 7:30 p.m., the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice under the baton of its new artistic director Lawrence Foster will perform the Concerto for String Orchestra by Grażyna Bacewicz and the Symphony No. 1 in E flat major by George Enescu.

Concerto for string orchestra – Grażyna Bacewicz's opus magnum, returns to the music stands of the NOSPR musicians exactly 69 years and 4 months after the world premiere under the baton of Grzegorz Fitelberg. Although the orchestra's composition has changed completely since then, the impact of the work, which Stefan Kisielewski described as "a bloody piece of healthy and tasty music", remains unchanged.

Rudolph Buchbinder chose Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major for his debut at the NOSPR Concert Hall. The premiere of this work was the Beethoven's last public performance as a soloist with orchestra. George Enescu decided to give the Symphony in E flat major (1905) number one, despite the fact that he wrote four other symphonies as a teenager. Enescu remains the youngest student in the history of the Vienna Conservatory to which he was admitted at the age of 7! Thus, when writing the Symphony in E flat major at the age of 24, he was able to present a "mature" look at the late Romantic symphony tradition developed by Schumann and Brahms.

Before the concert (6.45 p.m.), the Society of Friends of the NOSPR invites you to the chamber hall for a meeting with a special guest –  the director of the George Enescu Festival, Mihai Constantinescu.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.nospr.org.pl/pl/ 

After the September break, it is time for probably the most intriguing concert in  the "Fonie Lublina" series. On 19 October 2019 at 6 p.m. in the Crown Tribunal, Polish national music will collide with the music traditions of the Iberian Peninsula.

The concert will feature compositions by one of the most outstanding Spanish composers, a representative of the national movement – Manuel de Falla, the most famous Catalan composer and music critic – Xavier Montsalvatge, as well as the main representative of the neo-romantic national movent in Mexican music – Manuel Maria Ponca. The programme will also include Stanisław Moniuszko's vocal music: songs entitled Kochać, Dalibógże and Sen, as well as Rokiczana's Song When I am Queen and Countess's Aria To Wake up from bad dreams.

This rich repertoire will be performed by sporano Iwona Sawulska, mezzo-soprano Natalia Skipor and pianist Kamil Turczyn. The concert will be hosted by Kinga Krzymowska-Montaż.

The project is organised with the support of the City of Lublin. Admission to the event is free!

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

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A series of concerts and seminars on the 30th anniversary of the death of the eminent Polish composer and publicist of the Radio Free Europe, Roman Palester, will be held in Warsaw on 25-27 October 2019.

The University of Warsaw invites you to a three-day series of events organized by the University of Warsaw Foundation and the University of Warsaw Library with the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The project emphasizes the artist's relationship with the university, and pays tribute to him on the 30th anniversary of his death. The versatility of Palester's compositional output will be presented during two monographic concerts: symphony concert in the Auditorium Maximum and chamber music concert in the Collegium Politicum of the University of Warsaw.

Outstanding musicians will present both his neoclassical works from the inter-war and war periods (including the stage premiere of the beautiful choral cantata Kołacze to words by Szymon Szymonowic), as well as examples of later works dealing with advanced musical means. In addition, two seminars will recall the important activities of the journalist of the Radio Free Europe station in Poland and his involvement in the creation of film music, especially in the 1930s. An example will be the movie Girls of Nowolipki (1937) directed by Józef Lejtes.

Admission to the events is free.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: https://www.buw.uw.edu.pl/