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Chaim Nachman Bialik's "Radiance" – premiere of performative concert

The premiere of a performative concert based on selected poems by Chaim Nachman Bialik – an outstanding Israeli poet of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the creator of the modern Hebrew language, called Israel's "prophet" – will be held on 27 December 2020 at 7.00 p.m. on the Hashtag Ensamble YouTube channel and at 8.00 p.m. on the POLIN Radio. Wojciech Błażejczyk's music will be performed by the Hashtag Ensemble and a children's choir.

The main idea of the concert, organized by the 'Sfera Harmonii' Foundation, is to tell the poetic vision of Chaim Nachman Bialik through a combination of words and music. The poem Blask (Radiance) is a story about the main character's journey into childhood. He experienced the mystery of transcendence and he is recalling this memory, returning to it, describing it and indicating the presence of God in the world – the delightful beauty of nature. The title of this poem refers to the Jewish mystical Book of Radiance.

The authors of the performance refer to the original connection of music with the word, here acting as an additional instrument in a musical ensemble. Music is an integral part of the performance, responsible for the development of drama by creating and resolving tensions. During the concert, we will hear: string trio, ethnic instruments (duduk, cymbals) and guitars (classical prepared, electric and bass), as well as the electronics and the children's choir of the Oskar Kolberg State Primary Music School No. 1 in Warsaw. Actor Adam Woronowicz will also take part in the concert.

More information at: https://polin.pl/pl/wydarzenie/chaim-nachman-bialik-blask-premiera-koncertu-performatywnego

Grand Carolling with the Artists of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic

Grand carolling with the artists of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic will be broadcast on the first day of Christmas, 25 December 2020 at 7.10 p.m. on TVP3 Białystok. The concert will be also available on 6 January 2021 at 7.30 p.m. on the Philharmonic's YouTube Channel.

Christmas is a time of wishes, wonderful meetings and truly emotional moments. On this special holiday, the artists of the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic will bring a lot of joy to their audience's homes. They will perform an extraordinary concert together with the music lovers who have accepted the invitation to participate in joint carolling and sent their recordings of the most famous Polish Christmas carols.

The evening will start with a traditional carol Dzisiaj w Betlejem (Today in Bethlehem), which has a characteristic melody, combining elements of Polish culture with traditions of our eastern neighbors. To emphasize the unity of Christians, the opera artists will perform Ukrainian carols. They will sing the most beautiful Christmas melodies, including Mizerna cicha (Poor and Quiet) by Jan Karol Gall (1856-1912), together with the audience. The concert will end with a joyful and majestic performance of the 18th-century Pieśń o narodzeniu Pańskim (Song on the Birth of Our Lord) by Franciszek Karpiński, commonly known as Bóg się rodzi (God is born).

More information at: https://www.oifp.eu/repertuar/wielkie-koledowanie-z-artystami-opery-i-filharmonii-podlaskiej/

"Silent Night" – a concert of Christmas carols by Maciej Małecki

A concert of Christmas carols for choir and string chamber orchestra by Maciej Małecki will be available online from 24 December 2020. Thanks to this recording, musicians of the Castle Opera in Szczecin will accompany the audience also during the holiday season.

Silent Night (2006) – a concert of Christmas carols for choir and string chamber orchestra – is a collection of a dozen or so traditional Polish Christmas carols, arranged by the Warsaw composer Maciej Małecki in an original, although still classical way. The string orchestra accompanying the vocal ensemble gives a special atmosphere to the whole work, making each carol sound unique.

The collection is also enriched by three pastorals by Maciej Małecki: Dziś z żywota Pańskiego to words by Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski and Niemowlątko na słomie and Prowadź gwiazdeczko to words by Elżbieta Szeptyńska, written for a cappella choir. By performing the most beautiful Polish carols, the artists will emphasize the joyful and romantic nature of Christmas celebration.

The concert performed by the choir and chamber orchestra of the Castle Opera conducted by Małgorzata Bornowska will be available on the Opera's website and YouTube channel.

More information at: https://www.opera.szczecin.pl/

"Resounds": New Polish Music

The series "Resounds. New Polish Music", organised by the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, presents not only contemporary music, but also the contemporaneity of music – both that composed today and 50 or 100 years ago, showing the relationship between the world of art and the world of everyday affairs and great historical or social changes. The next online concert in the series will take place on 22 December 2020 at 7 p.m.

Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Monika Wolińska will perform Krzysztof Penderecki's Intermezzo, Żaneta Rydzewska's binaural beats, Eugeniusz Morawski's Nevermore and Ludomir Różycki's music from the ballet Apollo and the Girl.

Penderecki's Intermezzo for 24 strings, which surprised the musical world with radical changes in the language of sound, is distinguished by exceptional emotionality and precision of expression. Żaneta Rydzewska's composition binaural beats is an artistic interpretation of the title phenomenon, which is elicited by placing double basses playing a quarter-tone on both sides of the audience. In this way, sounds of minimally different frequencies seep into the left and right ears separately, prompting the brain to create a soothing illusion. Eugeniusz Morawski's symphonic poem Nevermore is based on one of the most famous texts by Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven. The score follows the mood of the literary prototype and delights with an original harmonic language and spectacular instrumentation ideas. Ludomir Różyckis music for the ballet Apollo and the Girl announces the coming of new epochs.

The concert, preceded by a meeting with the artists at 7 p.m., will be streamed live on Sinfonia Varsovia’s YouTube channel and Facebook.

More information at: https://www.sinfoniavarsovia.org/wydarzenia/oddzwieki-nowa-muzyka-polska-3/

11th edition of Gdansk Art's Interpretation of Accordion Music

11th edition of Gdansk Art's Interpretation of Accordion Music will be held on 21 December 2020 at 7.00 p.m. on the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre YouTube channel. The programme will include premieres of the latest works by Polish composers.

This project has an over 10-year-old tradition and accordion plays the main role in it. Avant-garde works by contemporary composers, classic compositions and transcriptions are presented during the concerts. Each year a great number of premieres take place, which are very important for accordion music development. There were many composers who created their compositions especially for Gdansk Art's Interpretations of Accordion Music. Marek Czerniewicz, Krzesimir Dębski, Anna Maria Huszcza, Paweł Kwapiński, Mikołaj Majkusiak, Krzysztof Olczak, Cezary Paciorek, Gerhard Steäbler, Edward Sielicki, Paweł Sławiński czy Maciej Zimka are among them. The concerts take place in December in unique places like Old-Town Town Hall, St. John's Church or City Culture Institute's Hall.

This year the audience will have a chance to hear works by: Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk, Mikołaj Majkusiak, Krzysztof Olczak, Cezary Paciorek, Paweł Ratajek, Paweł Zagańczyk. Those compositions will be performed by Elżbieta Rosińska – accordion, Anna Wandtke – violin, Paweł Ratajek – accordion, Paweł Zagańczyk – accordion.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

7th Musica Privata. Online premiere of Paweł Malinowski's "Imaginarium Polkolor"

An online premiere of Paweł Malinowski's Imaginarium Polkolor, created as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme of the Institute of Music and Dance, will be held on 21 December 2020 at 8 p.m. during the 7th edition of the Musica Privata Festival.

The Musica Privata Festival has been organised in Łódź since 2012. It aims at creating environment for new, creative, and – above all – honest and private artisitc process. The organisers invite musicians who strive to find their own language, regardless if they are interested more in free improv, classical, experimental or traditional music.

During the upcoming concert, the Kompopolex new music ensemble will premiere the latest piece by Paweł Malinowski commissioned by the Festival – Imaginarium Polkolor. Paweł Malinowski graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków, where he studied composition with Wojciech Widłak and music theory with Agnieszka Draus. He was also a student of Niels Rønsholdt and Simon Steen-Andersen at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. In 2016 he won the first prize at the 58th Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers, organised by the Polish Composers' Union.

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Penderecki. Sinfonia Varsovia in Tribute to the Master

"Penderecki. Sinfonia Varsovia in Tribute to the Master" – three concerts devoted to the work of Krzysztof Penderecki will be available on the Sinfonia Varsovia YouTube channel and Facebook page on 19-21 December 2020.

The year 2020 proved to be one of the most difficult times in the history of Sinfonia Varsovia. Krzysztof Penderecki – a great composer, longtime artistic director of the orchestra, the closest friend – passed away in March. To honour his memory, Sinfonia Varsovia organises an online festival in collaboration with the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice. On 19-21 December, the orchestra together with invited guests will perform pieces from various periods in Penderecki's work. The programme will include, among others, Sinfonietta per archi; Sextet for clarinet, horn, string trio and piano; Cello Concerto No. 1; Symphony No. 6 "Chinese Songs" and Symphony No. 2 "Christmas Eve".

The orchestra will be conducted by Maciej Tworek, but the musicians of Sinfonia Varsovia will also perform in chamber ensembles. Special guests of the festival will be Mariusz Wilczyński and Tomasz Konieczny.

More information at: www.sinfoniavarsovia.org

Roman Berger has passed away...

Composer, pianist and theoretician of music Roman Berger, honorary member of the Polish Composers' Union, died on 22 December 2020 in Bratislava.

From 1949 he studied theory with Jan Gawlas and piano with Marta Gabryś-Furmanik at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. In 1952 Stalinist repression forced him to move to Bratislava with his family. He continued his education at the Vysoka Škola Muzickich Umeni, where he studied piano with Frico Kafenda, and, after the latter's death, with Štefan Németh-Šamorinski (degree in 1956), as well as composition with Dezider Kardoš (honours degree in 1965).

From 1956 he worked as a piano professor at the Conservatory in Bratislava. He also started lecturing at his alma mater: in 1965-71 he taught classes in modern music, introduction to composition and electronic music at the Department of Theory. In 1980-91 he worked at the Art History Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. From 1989 he was a member of the team preparing a new conception of artistic education at the Ministry of Education as well as a member of an Advisory Body to the Minister of Culture (until March 1991).

He was also involved in the activity of the Union of Slovak Composers, of which he was secretary from 1966. Expelled from the Union in 1968 for his participation in the "Prague Spring", he regained his membership only in 1977, but twelve years later - in 1989 - he resigned it himself. With Mark Kopelent and Alois Piňos, he reactivated the Czechoslovak Section of the ISCM/SIMC. He has also been associated with the Czech section of the Club of Rome and with the "Atelier" group.

Roman Berger has written several hundred theoretical works, philosophical essays and other publications. He has received a number of prizes for his compositions. In 1988 the Vienna University honored him with the J.G. v. Herder Prize for all his achievements in composition and theory. In 1999, the General Assembly of the Polish Composers' Union granted Berger an honorary membership.

Let us honor his memory!

Online premiere of "Sombres Lumières" by Piotr Moss

An online premiere of the double concerto for cello, piano and orchestra Sombres Lumières by Piotr Moss will take place on 20 December 2020 at 2.15 p.m. on the Kalisz Philharmonic website, Facebook and YouTube channel during a concert entitled "From the splendor of Vienna to the lights of Paris".

The piece was commissioned by the Kalisz Philharmonic as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme carried out by the Institute of Music and Dance. As the composer himself points out, "Jan Kalinowski and Marek Szlezer, who have been playing the cello / piano duo for years, have asked me to write this concerto. Known under the name Cracow Duo, they performed my chamber works many times and finally the time has come for 'something bigger', for a composition with orchestra. [...] The very title of the piece, Sombres lumières (Dark Lights), says a lot about this music. There are a lot of gloomy instrumental colours, darkness, mystery, anxiety... The form of the concerto is a result of contrasting short musical sections, very different in character. The music is very expressive, saturated. Although it is an instrumental concerto and the soloists have a lot to play here, the part of the orchestra is not only an ordinary accompaniment, the orchestra is a full partner of the duo. It is worth paying attention to the omnipresent percussion part, which gives the piece a special instrumental colour. The harp part is also quite extensive".

The programme of the upcoming concert will also include Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 in C major to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.

More information at: http://filharmoniakaliska.pl/