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For over 20 years, the Presto Concert Agency has been introducing the work of the great Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin to foreign visitors. The next concert in the "Live & online" series will take place on 15 March 2021 at 7.00 p.m. at the Agency's venue – the Fryderyk Concert Hall in the Old Town. The programme includes works by Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Liszt and Ignacy Jan Paderewski as interpreted by Anna Kubicz.

Anna Kubicz's outstanding achievements place her among the most promising pianists of the young generation in Poland. After graduating from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the class of prof. Alicja Paleta-Bugaj, she started artistic collaboration with the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, the Fryderyk Chopin Society, the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra and the "Polish Community" Association. As a soloist, she has participated in many national and international festivals. She is a winner of international competitions, such as the 21st Century Art in Funchal (Portugal) and the 28th Young Musician International Competition Città di Barletta (Italy).

During the upcoming concert, Anna Kubicz will perform Fryderyk Chopin's polonaises, nocturnes and waltzes, Franz Liszt's Love Dream in A flat major, S. 541/3, and Minuet in G major, Op. 14 No. 1, as well as Ignacy Jan Paderewski's Variations in A major, Op. 16 No. 3.

The concert will be broadcast on the Fryderyk Concert Hall Warsaw Facebook Profile.

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Ewa Synowiec – a composer, music theorist, pianist and teacher – died in Gdańsk on 6 March 2021. She was a member of the Polish Composers 'Union, and in 1977-1881 – treasurer of its Gdańsk Branch. The Funeral Mass followed by the burial will be held on 18 March at 10.20 p.m. in the chapel at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków.

She studied piano with Ludwik Stefański (diploma with distinction in 1967) and composition with Bogusław Schaeffer (diploma in 1973) at the State Higher School of Music in Krakow. In 1967-68, thanks to a scholarship from the French Government, she continued her piano studies with Susanne Roche and Vlado Perlemutter in Paris.

She took part in many piano competitions. Until 1978 she performed as a pianist with recitals and concerts in Poland and abroad, and later devoted herself exclusively to composing. She was awarded a scholarship by the Polish Composers' Union twice (1974, 1975). Her works have been performed at festivals, including in Wrocław, Warsaw ("Warsaw Autumn"), Katowice, Poznań, Boswil (as part of the Frauenmusik-Forum), Salzburg, Zurich, and her music graphics (almost half of her compositional output) were exhibited in Poland, Germany, Great Britain, France, Austria, Switzerland and Canada.

She taught piano and composition at the Academy of Music in Gdańsk (from 1991 as a professor). She is the author of the book Bogusław Schaeffer's Instrumental Theatre (Academy of Music in Gdańsk, 1983).

She was honored, among others, with the Award of the Minister of Culture and Art, third degree (1980) and theAward of the Minister of Culture and Art, first degree (1990).

Throughout the spring of 2021, Polish Cultural Institute New York will curate "Krzysztof Penderecki in Memoriam", honoring the life and legacy of Poland’s greatest modern composer. Leading up to and beyond 29 March 2021, marking the one-year anniversary of Penderecki’s death, Polish Cultural Institute New York – in partnership with the Ludwig van Beethoven Association, Crossover Media, DUX Records, Lincoln Center, Naxos of America, and Schott Music publishers – will celebrate Penderecki’s life and legacy across an array of worldwide media outlets.

Highlights include: Penderecki in Memoriam Podcast with in-depth interviews with artists and close collaborators, live radio broadcasts and rebroadcasts of archived performances, and live streamed concerts, as well as a broad presentation of the composer’s prolific oeuvre. Concerts from the 2021 25th Jubilee Anniversary of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, "Beethoven and Penderecki. The Sphere of Sacrum", will be streamed live at Lincoln Center throughout 21 March – 1 April 2021.

Polish Cultural Institute New York’s head of music programming, Anna Perzanowska, who worked with Krzysztof Penderecki for over a decade, has been the driving force behind "Krzysztof Penderecki in Memoriam" since the composer’s death on 29 March 2020, at his home in Kraków, Poland.

Full programme is available at: https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2021/02/16/krzysztof-penderecki-in-memoriam-worldwide/ 

The principal flautist of the New Music Orchestra, Alicja Molitorys, will perform as a soloist during a concert at the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall in Katowice on 14 March 2021 at 6.00 p.m. The programme will include Polish and Slovak music.

The New Music Orchestra under the baton of Szymon Bywalec will present Zofia Dowgiałło's Voice for orchestra, electroacoustic layer and light, Joseph Kolkovich's Arboretum III for chamber orchestra, and Ryszard Osada's Flute Concerto.

The latter piece, according to the composer, "morphologically refers to phenomena based on fractals, which structurally arrange the course of the composition on many levels. In the sonic sense, fractal phenomena are complemented by the microtonality that permeates the whole work, and the 'disorganisation' of the material through frequent improvisations. The entire composition is based on a clearly outlined 3-part form with a cadence following attaca after part II". The work was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

More information at: https://nospr.org.pl/pl/kalendarz/orkiestra-muzyki-nowej-alicja-molitorys 

On the occasion of the 95th birth anniversary of Andrzej Wajda, Sinfonietta Cracovia in cooperation with the Manggha Museum prepared a unique project inspired by the master's work and its interesting – and often surprising – contexts. The project will be held both online (6 March 2021 at www.playkrakow.com) and live, with the participation of the audience, on 13 March 2021 at 7.00 p.m.

We are all fascinated by the works of Andrzej Wajda. But what was the fascination of the first – and only – Pole awarded with an Oscar for lifetime achievement? The answer to this question will be provided by a unique project organised by Sinfonietta Cracovia on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the director's birth. The Krakow orchestra conducted by Jurek Dybał will take the audience on a journey through the inspiring world of Andrzej Wajda and his artistic fascinations: those musical, illustrated with compositions used by the Master in his greatest works, and those in the universe of visual arts, represented by the art and aesthetics of the Orient. As part of the project, the most beautiful compositions from Wajda's films will be presented along with extraordinary museum exhibitions as well as self-portraits and oriental sketches by the director himself – embellished with virtuosity and brilliance of Sinfonietta Cracovia, they will transport music lovers into the world of one of the most eminent representatives of Polish cinematography.

The music and film material produced by Sinfonietta Cracovia in tribute to Andrzej Wajda in the interiors and gardens of the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, which was close to the artist's heart, will be premiered online on 6 March at www.playkrakow.com. A week later, the Orchestra conducted by Jurek Dybał will perform live at the Manggha Museum in front of the audience. We will hear the music of Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosławski, Wojciech Kilar, Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrzej Korzyński, as well as Toru Takemitsu and Arnold Schoenberg. The performance will be accompanied by an exhibition of oriental sketches and the director's self-portraits.

Both events will be preceded by an introductory word by the actress, director, set designer, and privately Andrzej Wajda's wife – Professor Krystyna Zachwatowicz-Wajda.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information about the project: www.sinfonietta.pl