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The Polish Composers' Union Music Library is closed to readers until further notice

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, due to the decision of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the government recommendations for preventing the spread of SARS-COV-2 coronavirus the Music Library of the Polish Composers' Union is closed to readers effective from 12 March 2020.

We will inform you about the reopening date. Due dates for books will be extended until the Library is opened.

We also encourage you to contact us by e-mail. We will try to help if possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Let's remember that we are responsible for ourselves, our loved ones and the whole community in which we operate.

The Polish Composers' Union –
Polish Music Information Center POLMIC Music Library Team

"Fryderyk 2020" award-winning album available in the Internet!

The Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic in Łódź has prepared a unique gift for music lovers in this difficult time: the open access to the "Fryderyk 2020" award-winning album Emil Młynarski. Violin Concertos performed by Piotr Pławner and the Łódź Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Paweł Przytocki.

Emil Młynarski's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 11 is available on the Soundcloud platform. The internet premiere of the Violin Concerto No 2 in D major, Op. 16 will take place on 25 March 2020 at 9.00 p.m.

Emil Mlynarski is most often associated with his huge commitment and contribution to the dynamic development of Warsaw’s musical life at the turn of the 20th century. What is more, the number of honourable and responsible functions he would hold for years ensured him the position of an undisputed authority. Today, unfortunately, hardly anyone remembers that during his lifetime the artist was also valued for his compositional output, which is confirmed by, for example, a prestigious award he received for his Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 11. The recording performed by Piotr Pławner with the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra is the first registration of this work in Poland. The present album perfectly fits into promotional activities of unjustly forgotten Polish music.

The album Emil Młynarski. Violin Concertos is available on sale at the DUX online store.

https://soundcloud.com/filharmonia-lodzka

Warsaw | 16th "Chopin And His Europe" International Music Festival: From Beethoven To Chopin

The 16th "Chopin and his Europe" International Music Festival will run from 15 August to 1 September 2020. An important element of this year's edition programme will be the presentation of Ludwig van Beethoven's works on the composer's 250th birth anniversary.

Beethoven's pieces will be performed, among others, by Belcea Quartet (4 evenings will feature this famous ensemble's rendition of all the quartets of the great classic from Bonn) and the Orchestra of the 18th Century with Kristian Bezuidenhout as soloist and conductor (they will present five piano concertos).

The main programme of the Festival will traditionally feature the "gems of Polish music" with Chopin's works at the forefront. Fabio Biondi and his band Europa Galante will present Stanisław Moniuszko's opera The Countess. Sinfonia Varsovia and pianists Clare Hammond and Philippe Giusiano under the baton of Jacek Kaspszyk will perform the Piano Concerto in A flat major, Op. 2 by Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński, Fantasy for piano and orchestra by Andrzej Panufnik, and Concertino for piano and orchestra by Roman Palester. 1st Violin Concerto and 4th Symphonie Concertante, Op. 60 by Karol Szymanowski will be presented at the National Philharmonic. Three pieces in old style by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki will be performed by the Scottish Ensemble. The final concert will begin with the performance of Witold Lutosławski's Funeral Music.

The Festival will host a galaxy of pianists associated with the Chopin Competition, including five of its winners – Yulianna Avdeeva, Philippe Giusian, Kevin Kenner, Garrick Ohlsson and Dang Thai Son – as well as numerous winners and participants of the Competition who will play not only on contemporary pianos , but also on historical instruments.

Tickets on sale from 17 March!

Full programme available at: https://festiwal.nifc.pl/pl

National Stage of the MERIDIAN International New Music Festival 2020

The Polish Society for Contemporary Music organizes a National Jury that will select five works recommended by the Polish Section of the PSCM at the MERIDIAN International New Music Festival. The project will take place in Romania on 8-15 November 2020.

The theme of this edition, PLANETARIUM, wishes to explore planets, stars, galaxies, comets, meteorites and space objects in the endless sonic cosmos of human imagination. From solar incandescence to the darkness of a black hole, the range of musical expressions is unlimited. Priority will be given to works shorter than 10 minutes in duration and to works that have a stronger connection to the theme of the festival and/or the concert(s). Only completed works will be accepted.

Works selected by the National Juries of individual ISCM sections will then be evaluated by an international jury in Romania.

The PSCM members who pay membership fees are exempted from the fee for the first score submitted; for each subsequent score the fee is 30 PLN. Persons not affiliated with the PSCM are required to pay a fee of 40 PLN for the first score sent, and 50 PLN for each subsequent one.

Applications are accepted only in an electronic version in English. They should be sent to the email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. until 15 May 2020 (inclusive).

The organisers are looking for works for all or some of the instruments in the following Romanian ensembles:

a. Ensemble ATEM (Timişoara): clarinet, violin, cello, piano; theme of the concert – “Polaris” (planet of frozen sounds)
b. Ensemble Sonomania (Bucharest): oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano; theme of the concert – “Phantasia” (planet of stories)
c. Duo Maria Bîldea & Sergiu Năstasă (Bucharest): harp and violin; theme of the concert – “Eros Kai Thanatos” (planet of love and death)
d. Duo Cello Jaya (Bucharest): two cellos.

More information at: https://ptmw.art.pl/meridian-international-new-music-festival/

Recruitment for the MyOrchestra project

The MyWay Foundation and the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music invite students and graduates of Polish music academies to the new prestigious MyOrchestra project.

Musicians aged 18 to 28 who play the violin, viola, cello, double bass, bassoon / contrabassoon, French horn, trombone / bass trombone, tuba, percussion instruments and piano can apply to participate in the project.

The selected group of musicians will be invited to prepare the premiere material of "Radzimir Dębski Hommage Krzysztof Penderecki". The project will include residency and workshops at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice, as well as a series of concerts in Poland in January 2021 under the baton of Maestro Maciej Tworek and composer Radzimir Dębski: in Lusławice, Wrocław, Kraków, Warsaw, Gdańsk and Szczecin.

Dates of the concerts are subject to change due to the dynamic situation associated with the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

To participate in the recruitment process, one should send a completed application form and recordings by 6 April 2020, as well as accept the project regulations and give consent to the processing of personal data and use of image for purposes related to the recruitment and the project.

The list of documents is available at: https://bit.ly/3b2WoGr

1st Mieczysław Karłowicz International Composers’ Competition

The organiser of the 1st Mieczysław Karłowicz International Composers’ Competition is the Society of Authors ZAiKS and the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmoni in Szczecin. The Competition prize pool is 100 000 PLN.

The subject of the Competition is a composition for the symphonic orchestra of a duration between 9 up to 12 minutes. It is recommended that a full orchestra performs. All submitted works must be original, unpublished, must not have been previously performed in public and not have been awarded a prize in any other competition.

The Competition is open to composers of all ages and nationalities. The application time is between the 1st of April 2020 and the 31st of August 2020 (11:59 p.m.). The Jury panel of the first and final stages will be announced after the 1st of April 2020. Results of the first stage will be publicly announced by the 28th of September 2020. The final of the Competition will take place on the 20th of November 2020, at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin. Compositions selected during the first stage will be premiered by the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic Orchestra in Szczecin, conducted by Szymon Bywalec. After the premiere concert (during the first part of the concert) the Jury will decide its’ final verdict and announce the results of the Competition during the second part of the concert. The following prizes are provided for places: First – 50 000 PLN, Second – 30 000 PLN, Third – 20 000 PLN. Independently of the prizes awarded by the Jury, Audience Award and Orchestra Award are envisaged.

The applications should be submitted online.

Terms and conditions of the competition: www.karlowiczcompetition.pl

Gdańsk | March Carillon Concerts

Between 6 and 28 March 2020 in the St. Catherine's Church (3 Profesorska St.) and in the Gdańsk Main Town Hall (46/47 Długa St.) there will be eight carillon concerts thematically referring to Women's Day, the spring calendar, the birthday of Jan Sebastian Bach and the upcoming Easter.

The carillons will play every Friday at 5.00 p.m. from the tower of the St. Catherine Church and every Saturday at 12.05 p.m. from the tower of the Main Town Hall. Everyone who goes for a walk around the Main City at this time will have the opportunity to hear the compositions played by Monika Kazmierczak, Anna Kasprzycka and Wojciech Lauer on carillons, which Gdańsk is famous for.

The programme will include concerts with the Passion repertoire (including arias and fragments of Bach's passions, fragments of Dietrich Buxtehude's cantatas). The spring concerts will feature Come Lovely Spring by W. A. Mozart, Spring song by F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Spring morning by G. D'hollander, Dream of Spring by F. Schubert, Spring of The Four Seasons by A. Vivaldi and Spring Greeting by R. Schumann. On the occasion of Women's Day, we will listen to the works by women-composers, including Katarzyna Szwed, Magdalena Cynk-Mikołajewska, Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz, Barbara Strozzi, Klara Schumann, Alice Gomez, Julie Zhu and Olesya Rostovskaya.

Full programme available at: https://muzeumgdansk.pl/wydarzenia-i-wystawy/szczegoly/news/marcowe-koncerty-carillonowe/

MKiDN: "Anti-Crisis Shield" for artists and cultural institutions

On 18 March 2020 President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki introduced the Anti-Crisis Shield that will support creators and artists, employees of the cultural sector, as well as companies and non-governmental organizations dealing with culture, whose activities cannot be continued during the period of epidemic emergency. It will include increase in funds for social assistance for artists, additional support for the development of new forms of sharing culture online as well as support for the restoration of operations.

Institutions dealing with culture, persons conducting sole proprietorship in the cultural sector and employed on the basis of civil law contracts can take advantage of the solutions proposed in the special law. The Anti-crisis Shield includes, among others, state support to cover 40% salaries of employees up to the amount of the average salary in the national economy, and a one-time payment of up to 80 % of the minimum salary for people running their own business and working on civil law contracts.

Two new grant programmes have been developed: 'Creativity on the Internet' and 'Additional programme to compensate for cultural losses due to the epidemic'.

More information at: https://linkd.pl/22up

„Z klasyką przez Polskę”

Według danych z 2016 roku muzyki klasycznej słucha niespełna 20% Polaków. Aby poprawić tę statystykę, Polski Impresariat Muzyczny wyruszył w drogę w ramach programu „Z klasyką przez Polskę”.

Projekt „Z klasyką przez Polskę” to inicjatywa zorganizowana przez Polski Impresariat Muzyczny działający w ramach Instytutu Muzyki i Tańca dzięki wsparciu Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego prof. Piotra Glińskiego i pod jego patronatem. Projekt prezentuje najlepszych polskich wykonawców w klasycznym repertuarze, występujących w małych miejscowościach w różnych regionach Polski, m. in. w domach kultury, remizach i szkołach, czyli tam, gdzie trudno o dostęp do muzyki klasycznej na żywo. W 2019 było to prawie 50 miast i miasteczek.

We współpracy z TVP Kultura powstał film z tej niezwykłej podróży. W reportażu Dominiki Matuszczak zobaczymy położone na Lubelszczyźnie senne miasteczko Kock, uroczo położony w dolinie Warty Śrem i wielkopolski Czarnków, do których przyjeżdżają znakomici artyści: Urszula Kryger, Adam Kruszewski, Władysław Kłosiewicz oraz Agnieszka Przemyk-Bryła i Paweł Cłapiński. O cyklu koncertów opowiadają organizatorzy projektu, publiczność, mieszkańcy, a także artyści biorący udział w projekcie, m.in. zdobywca tegorocznego Złotego Fryderyka za całokształt działalności, legendarny polski skrzypek – Krzysztof Jakowicz.

ZOBACZ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xcfYACkRjg