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The premiere of Maciej Zakrzewski's album "Time to Time"

Time to Time, the new album of the Gdańsk composer and organist Maciej Zakrzewski, will be released Ars Sonora on 9 December 2019. The recordings were made on the organs of the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Łódź.

The title of the album has a symbolic meaning. On the one hand, it refers to the process of creating a work that arises at various time intervals, unhindered by the need to accomplish a task in a rigid framework, on the other hand, it refers to the philosophy of time in music – its transience and temporality.

The album contains the seven-part suite The Allegories, which is a musical image of the present, in which age-old, important questions, ideas, elements, emotions clashes with virtual reality that changes our perception of life in society (Like, Face to book, To be or not online, Log out). This dramatic confusion of two realities makes us ask again what is real, important, timeless, and what is only a delusion, creation and gallantry.

The album also includes Psalterium – a four-part cycle illustrating subsequent, selected texts of psalms from the Old Testament (Ps. 91 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High", Ps. 7 "O Lord my God, I take refuge in You", Ps. 113 / 117 "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, all you nations"), although it opens with the Jewish prayer of Shema Ijrael ("Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength"). The Psalterium is the answer to the dichotomy of the world illustrated in The Allegories.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The Composer's Official Website: https://maciejzakrzewski.pl/

Katowice | Up and reach the places out of sight: a special project

The International Day of People with Disabilities is celebrated every year in December. On this occasion, from 10 to 14 December 2019, the Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice will present a special project: the fairy tale Salija based on the opera of the same title by Krzysztof Dobosiewicz and Małgorzata Szwajlik.

"Up and reach the places out of sight" is the interdisciplinary educational project of the Silesian Philharmonic addressed to the blind and visually impaired, increasing their comfort of life. The project includes concerts with the possibility of interactive participation using instruments created during the workshops. As part of the project, the audience will have a chance to experience the world as it is experienced by people with visual impairments. The programme is also adapted to the dysfunctions of recipients so that they can take an active part in the events.

The musical work composed by Krzysztof Dobosiewicz based on the libretto of the opera Salija by Małgorzata Szwajlik will take the audience to magical places and move their imagination. It will tell the story of Salia, a girl who learns to appreciate what she has – home, family, everyday life and little joys. The classic tale with a moral will gain a new, musical dimension enriched by the participation of machines appearing here as a choir. The work will be performed at the chamber concerts, during which the participants of the workshops will form a kind of rhythmic section, playing not only on traditional musical instruments, but also on instruments made by themselves. In this way, people with disabilities will actively contribute to the project, learning the elements of a musical work in practice.

More information at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu/production/tam-siegaj-gdzie-wzrok-nie-siega-projekt-specjalny/

Katowice | The premiere of "Quasi una Sonata" by Krzysztof Meyer

World-famous artists, recitals, chamber music, wide repertoire and interesting interpretations – you will find it all in the NOSPR concert series "Masterly". On 8 December 2019 at 6.00 p.m. Maciej Frąckiewicz, Łukasz Kuropaczewski and Marek Bracha will take us on a journey through various musical styles.

The star of the evening will be Maciej Frąckiewicz – an exquisite accordionist, winner of the Polityka Passport Award and multiple international awards. The instrumentalist actively cooperates with contemporary composers. He inspired the creation of nearly 100 new compositions. The recital at NOSPR will include the first performance of another work dedicated to Frąckiewicz, Quasi una Sonata for guitar and accordion, which he will perform with an acclaimed guitarist, Łukasz Kuropaczewski.

Moreover, the programme will include a range of accordion sonatas, from 19th-century ones, originally written for the concertina (a prototype of the bandoneon), to sophisticated contemporary works, exploring new technical possibilities offered by the accordion, including Dariusz Przybylski's Sonata da chiesa for solo accordion, Op. 72.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

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

Łódź | 2nd Grażyna Bacewicz International Violin Competition

The Academy of Music in Łódź invites you to the 2nd Grażyna Bacewicz International Violin Competition, which will be inaugurated with a symphonic concert on 8 December 2019 at the Concert Hall at 2a Żubardzka Street. The two-stage auditions will be held on 9-14 December in the Academy's Chamber Hall. The results of the competition will be announced on 14 December during the laureates concert (6.00 p.m.). Admission to the auditions and the final concert is free. The auditions will be also broadcast live.

This year's edition was open to violinists of all nationalities with no age limit. 96 violinists from 27 countries will participate in the auditions. They will be judged by the international jury chaired by Łukasz Błaszczyk. The jury memebers: Adam Balas, Bartosz Bryła, Eszter Haffner, Alexey Koshvanets and Szymon Krzeszowiec.

The organizers received 152 applications, out of which 97 participants were selected from such countries as: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Israel, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Germany, Norway, Poland , Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Italy. The participants has to perform two works by Grażyna Bacewicz, with Polish Caprice being a must in the second stage. In addition to the main prizes, the jury will award a special prize for the best performance of Grażyna Bacewicz's composition.

The inaugural symphony concert will feature Sławomir Wilga – the first prize winner of the first edition of the Competition. He will perform the solo part in the Bacewicz's 7th Violin Concerto. The Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Łódź will be conducted by Jerzy Salwarowski – an outstanding conductor who celebrates the 50th anniversary of artistic work this year. Under his baton, the orchestra will also present the Eternal Songs symphonic poem, Op. 10 by Mieczysław Karłowicz and the "Fairy Tale" fantastic overture by Stanisław Moniuszko.

The competition is part of the 2nd Grażyna Bacewicz International Music Festival in Łódź, organized as part of the celebration of the 110th anniversary of the birth and 50th anniversary of the death of this outstanding Polish composer and violinist.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.amuz.lodz.pl/pl/wydarzenia/konkursy-muzyczne/2-miedzynarodowy-konkurs-skrzypcowy-im-grazyny-bacewicz

Sopot | 5. International Choir Festival of Advent & Christmas Music 2019

The International Choir Festival of Advent & Christmas Music Mundus Cantat Sopot will be held for the fifth time on 14-15 December 2019.

This unique event smelling of gingerbread, cinnamon and Christmas tree will put the Tri-City community in a joyful mood while waiting for Christmas. The festival is a competition during which the participating choirs will compete for the prize of the Mayor of Sopot, Jacek Karnowski.

It will be a unique opportunity to listen to Christmas carols from around the world performed by talented choirs. Six choirs from Szczecin, Police, Nakło, Wejherowo, Gdańsk and Sopot will take part in the Festival. The choirs will carol in many languages of the world in different places in Sopot – the Sopot Centre, the Star of the Sea Church, Sopot City Hall and the Church of Christ. The participants will be judged by a professional jury composed of outstanding specialists in the field of choral music – choral conductors, professors of the Music Academy in Gdańsk: Waldemar Górski, Michał Kozorys and Beata Wróblewska.

The auditions will begin on Saturday, 14 December at 11:00 a.m. at the Star of the Sea Church. After the auditions, the festival choirs will present themselves to a wider audience in the Sopot Centre. The Final Concert, during which the results of the competiton will be announced, will be held on the same day at 3:30 p.m. at the Star of the Sea Church.

The festival's culmination will be the annual concert dedicated to the memory of Michael Ray Dawidow, which will take place in the Church of Christ on 15 December at 5.00 p.m. The concert will be performd by the SSW Festival Choir Mundus Cantat conducted by Beata Wróblewska and the Gdańsk Choir of Doctors conducted by Michał Kozorys. Toys, sweets and bandages for children from the hospital in Kiev, Ukraine will be collected during the event.

The festival is organised by the Mundus Cantat Foundation and the City of Sopot. Admission to all concerts is free!

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://munduscantat.pl/5-miedzynarodowy-festiwal-choralny-muzyki-adwentowej-i-swiatecznej-2019/

Results of the 2nd Grażyna Bacewicz International Violin Competition!

The 2nd Grażyna Bacewicz International Violin Competitio organized by the Academy of Music in Łódź ended on 14 December 2019 with a Concert of Laureates.

Auditions of the first stage lasted four days due to the very large number of participants qualified to the competition. According to the regulations, there was no age limit. The youngest participant was 13 years old, the oldest – 47, the vast majority of violinists were of student age. Sixteen artists performed during the 2-day auditions of the second stage: six from Poland, two from Russia, two from Japan and one from Armenia, Bulgaria, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Participants were judged by a jury composed of: Łukasz Błaszczyk (chairman), Adam Balas, Bartosz Bryła, Eszter Haffner, Alexey Koshvanets and Szymon Krzeszowiec.

The first prize (PLN 20,000) went to 20-year-old Bulgarian Martin Zayranov, a student of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, a laureate of violin competitions in France, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria and Germany. He also won a special prize of the Artur Rubinstein Łódź Philharmonic in the form of a recital or concert.

The second prize (PLN 14,000) went to Aleksandra Kuls – a titled violinist from Kraków, who was also honored by the jury with a special prize for the best Polish participant (PLN 2,000) and the Krzysztof Penderecki European Center for Music prize in the form of a recital.

The third prize ex aequo (PLN 5 250 each) were awarded to: Marta Gidaszewska – a student of the Music Academy in Poznań (additionally honored with the Feliks Nowowiejski Philharmonic in Olsztyn prize in the form of a recital or concert) and Woo Hyung Kim from South Korea , currently studying in Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. Both have also won other competition prizes. Two distinctions (PLN 2,000 each) were awarded to violinists from Russia: Olga Artyugina and Sophia Devutskaya. The jury also distinguished three pianists who were accompanying the participants during the auditions: Hanna Holeksa, Adam Manijak and Grzegorz Skrobiński.

The programme of the Laureares' Concert included Grażyna Bacewicz's Stained Glass and Polish Caprice as well as works by Piotr Czajkowski and Camille Saint-Saëns.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.amuz.lodz.pl/pl/wydarzenia/konkursy-muzyczne/2-miedzynarodowy-konkurs-skrzypcowy-im-grazyny-bacewicz

Katowice | Premiere of Witold Friemann's "Concerto for flute and orchestra"

The first performance of the reconstructed Concerto for flute and orchestra by Witold Friemann will take place on 20 December 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice.

The evening will begin with the overture to the opera Kalmora by Karol Kurpiński. Then Łukasz Długosz, who constantly promotes Polish culture around the world and actively participates in discovering new and forgotten works by Polish composers, will perform Witold Fiemann's Concerto for flute and orchestra. The manuscript of the work was found by the composer's family who asked Łukasz Długosz to prepare the premiere of the piece. After this extraordinary experience, Silesian philharmonics will perform fragments of the ballet The Nutcracker, Op. 71 by Piotr Tchaikovsky.

The concert will be conducted by Hobart Earle, an American conductor born in Venezuela, appreciated for promoting works by Slavic composers in excellent interpretations. Currently, the maestro is the music director and first conductor of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu

Katowice | New Year's Eve in American style

The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra invites you on 31 December 2019 at 6:00 p.m. for the New Year's concert. On this special evening, the NOSPR will be conducted by Maestro Lawrence Foster!

The concert programme will consist primarily of well-known works by outstanding American composers: Agnegram by Michael Tilson Thomas, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 for soprano and orchestra by Samuel Barber, Episodes from the ballet Rodeo by Aaron Copland, Three dance episodes from the musical On the Town by Leonard Bernstein, An American in Paris by George Gershwin. There will be also a Polish accent – Oscar-awarded music from the film Lili by Bronisław Kaper, Polish composer of film and theater music, who made a career In Hollywood.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://nospr.org.pl

Katowice | Vivat Academia! 90th Anniversary of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music

As part of the jubilee series "Vivat Academia!" The Institution for the Promotion and Dissemination of Music "Silesia" invites you to an extraordinary meeting with Katarzyna Pleśniak, the chancellor of the oldest music university in Silesia since 2008. The concert will take place on 9 January 2020 at 6.00 p.m. in the Archdiocese Museum in Katowice (ul. Wita Stwosza 16) as part of the "Vivat Academia" anniversary cycle.

Katarzyna Pleśniak received, among others, the Distinguished Cultural Activist badge awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Golden Laurel of Skills and Competence, "Narcissus" – an award granted to women distinguished by their professional achievements and outstanding social activists and the Pearl of Gentle Women in the field of "Culture, art, passion". The meeting will be led by Violetta Rotter-Kozera and will be accompanied by music. Selected works will be performed by Ms. Chancellor herself, who is a graduate of the Katowice Academy of Music: in 1999 she graduated from the solo singing class of prof. Stanisława Marciniak-Gowarzewska.

The concert will also feature pianists working the Katowice Academy of Music: Paweł Tomaszewski, the dean of the Faculty of Jazz and Popular Music, and Grzegorz Biegas, professor at the Department of Chamber Music, whose main interests revolve around vocal literature.

Free entrance cards are available at the IPiUM Silesia office (2/20 Sejmu Śląskiego Square) or by phone (32) 219 33 44 ext. 21.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/strona-glowna/koncerty/546_vivat-academia-koncert-inbspspotkanie-z-kanclerz-am-katarzyna-plesniak

Katowice | Film Music performed by the Silesian Philharmonic Choir and Symphony Orchestra

On 10 January 2020 at 7:00 p.m. the Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic will hold a concert of film music. The Symphony Orchestra and the Silesian Philharmonic Choir under the direction of Maciej Sztor will perform pieces from the most recent and classical productions.

Rich orchestrations, expressive sound motifs, moving themes and energetic sequences will certainly bring to mind vivid images from the world cinema. The programme will include works by Ennio Morricone, James Horner, Nino Rota, David Arnold and Wojciech Kilar. We will listen to the music from such movies as The Hateful Eight, Magnificent Seven, The Godfather, Avatar and Independence Day, as well as Salt of the Black Earth directed by Kazimierz Kutz.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

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

Warsaw | Paderewski, Borodin i Dukas performed by Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra

A concert of the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra conducted by Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk with the laureate of the Stanisław Moniuszko International Polish Music Competition in Rzeszów, pianist Pavel Dombrovsky will take place on 25 January 2020 at 7.00 p.m. at the Concert Hall of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. The artists will present works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Alexander Borodin and Paul Dukas.

Alexander Borodin, the oldest of a group of composers which went down in the history of music as the Mighty Handful, was a chemist by education and profession who only occasionally wrote music. Although a ‘dilettante’, as he would introduce himself on many occasions, his technique was excellent, and his works entered the canon of Russian music as its centrepieces. Ecstatic, exotic and energetic, the Polovtsian Dances (the Polovtsians being a mystery people from the steppes of the present-day Kazakhstan and fringe of Siberia whom the eponymous character invades) were among the fragments which the author wrote first, and nowadays – performed as a separate piece – they are regarded as symphonic ‘hits’.

Paul Dukas, a contemporary and friend of the famous Claude Debussy, is an author somewhat forgotten in the present day. While only few of his works reappear on stage at concert halls and theatres, his name has been immortalized by a symphonic scherzo The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, based on J.W. Goethe’s playful ballad.

Pavel Dombrovsky, an outstanding Russian pianist and winner of many prestigious competitions, performs the Piano Concerto in A minor by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a pianist, composer and statesman. Full of spectacular virtuosity, this piece was written by Paderewski at 28, on the brink of his fame, which came relatively late. The success of the world premiere (with the participation of Anette Essipoff, performing under the baton of the great Hans Richter) confirmed that his work was a masterpiece, marking the beginning of his long career on the world’s stages. Of course, through its beautiful stylisations of national motifs, it is close to the Polish audience’s heart in particular.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/

„One Hundred Years of Musical Emigration” – second edition available for sale!

Untold stories of eminent personalities – "One hundred years of musical emigration. Polish composers abroad (1918-2018)” is a book that makes you think innovatively about history, culture and artists today.

The book based on the concept by Marlena Wieczorek, PhD (MEAKULTURA Foundation) under the substantive supervision of Beata Bolesławska-Lewandowska, PhD (Polish Academy of Sciences) is the first publication in Polish literature that comprehensively explores the emigration of 20th-century composers. The compendium contains profiles of artists from the circle of classical, jazz, film, and even popular music. Its formula combines 15 extensive cross-sectional texts and biographies in the form of 63 expert interviews. In these various forms specialists present composers' personalities in an interesting way and reveal compelling anecdotes.

The publication of "One Hundred Years of Musical Emigration ..." is also an element of celebrating the Centenary of Independence – the century of musical emigration culture, modernized thanks to 50 authors who analyze life, works and motivations of over 200 composers. The whole is complemented by a unique visual layer – almost 100 illustrations by Max Skorwider, PhD, a valued graphic artist. Krzysztof Moraczewski, Prof. AMU, PhD Habil., in an editorial review indicates that – (...) It is often about outstanding work, but not well known in Poland. This ignorance is also one of the problems of artistic emigration. Like any good book about art, this one will also force you to revise your own knowledge and beliefs, re-evaluate and look for new ways of understanding the artistic situation we are in.

The patron of the publication is the ZAiKS Association of Authors. The media patron of the book is the Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC .

The first edition of the book was exhausted in a few days, the second edition is now available for sale.

More information at: http://fundacjameakultura.pl/projekty#wydawnictwa-sto-lat-muzycznej-emigracji-kompozytorzy-polscy-za-granica-1918-2018

Kraków | Stars with Sinfonietta: Sergei Babayan and Rafael Payare

Sinfonietta Cracovia will inaugurate the Beethoven Year on 23 January 2020 at 7.00 p.m. in the St. Katherine of Alexandria Church in Kraków. The orchesta will perform with the outstanding pianist Sergei Babayana, under the baton of Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare. The programme will include Ludwig van Beethoven's Great Fugue.

Sergei Babayan is an Armenian-American pianist, the winner of numerous international competitions who continues to appear as soloist with leading orchestras. He is famous for his extremely diverse repertoire, which he will be present to the Krakow audience during the concert as part of the extremely popular series "Stars with Sinfonietta".

The virtuoso will perform with the charismatic Rafael Payar – Honorary Guest Conductor of Sinfonietta Cracovia. They will present two piano concertos: Concerto for piano and string orchestra by Alfred Schnittke and Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-major KV 271 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The evening will be inaugurated by another work by Alfred Schnittke Moz-Art à la Haydn – a good-natured Mozartian parody that ends with an evocation of Haydn's Farewell Symphony. The concert will end with Ludwig van Beethoven's Great Fugue (in arrangement for string orchestra), which is still considered to be controversial.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information on tickets at: www.sinfonietta.pl

Warsaw | Beethoven, Dvořák and Elgar performed by Sinfonia Iuventus

A concert of the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra conducted by Marek Wroniszewski with the talented young cellist Marcel Markowski will take place on 18 January 2020 at 7.00 p.m. at the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio. The repertoire will include neo-romantic works by Antonin Dvořák and Edward Elgar as well as Ludwig van Beethoven's Coriolan overture.

General Gaius Marcius Coriolanus was a symbolic character of particular importance for ancient Romans, going back to the mythical origins of the City. A conqueror of the Volsci, he eventually defected to the enemy after a conflict with the tribunes and invaded Rome. In 1804, another tragedy based on Gaius Marcius’ story was written by a now-forgotten Austrian playwright, Heinrich Joseph von Collin. It is for his version that an overture was composed in 1807 by Ludwig van Beethoven. The structure of a two-theme allegro enabled rendering the dramatic tension between the rebellious attitude of Coriolanus and pleadings of the two women.

Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No 7 in D minor, op. 70, was written for the Royal Philharmonic Society in London (1885), which highly appreciated the Czech composer’s skills. In some commentators’ views, the Seventh is even regarded as Dvořák’s finest work of this kind, his orchestral mastery and individual style characteristics at their fullest. While eventually the Ninth (‘From the New World’) was the one to achieve the greatest popularity, the Seventh has belonged to the canon of neo-romantic symphonic music ever since its premiere.

The Cello Concerto in E minor is one of the core pieces of the present-day repertoire and one of the author’s most popular works nowadays. This elegiac work was influenced by traumatic experience of the great war. Challenging on the technical level, it does not, however, dazzle the audience with its virtuosity, but rather amazes one with the richness of its thematic invention, its unique harmonic colour, and above all, with the depth of its emotional message.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/

Katowice | Możdżer's "Missa Gratiatoria" at the Silesian Philharmonic

Missa Gratiatoria by Leszek Możdżer will be presented at the Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic for the second time at the request of the audience delighted with the first performance in October 2019. The concert will take place on 26 January 2020 at 5 p.m.

This modern combination of jazz and religious music shows Możdżer's smooth movement between genres, which he also constantly proves as a pianist. The concert will start with a piece for a cappella choir written by the Silesian Philharmonic Patron, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. Euntes ibant et flebant is based on a text taken from the Book of Psalms, illustrated by a melody with an almost extraterrestrial dimension.

The concert will commemorate the victims of the 1945 Upper Silesian Tragedy, which 75th anniversary falls in January this year. Excellent performers: Michał Schoppa, Paweł Tomaszewski, Bartek Pieszka, Krzysztof Nowakowski, Tomasz Kałwak, Jarosław Wolanin and his Silesian Philharmonic Choir will give a unique concert of sacred music.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu/production/pro-memoria/

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