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Katowice | Premiere of "Hail o Mother" by Aleksandra Chmielewska

Chór Polskiego Radia

Works by composers from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland will be performed during the Polish Radio Choir concert at the headquarters of the National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice on 6 October 2019 at 6 p.m. The ensemble will be led by an excellent conductor, Prof. Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny.

"The selected compositions show how faith in God intertwines with admiration over nature and what it brings with it in all these countries. The works are extremely harmonically colorful, sparkling with the colors of nature and emotions, and apart from the full composition of the choir, they use the solo possibilities of its members. Polish works will include Hail o Mother by Aleksandra Chmielewska, which was awarded in the Composition Competition of the Center for Thought of John Paul II and which will be performed for the first time this evening" – says Franków-Żelazny, Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, an outstanding Polish choirmaster, in 2013 associated with the Polish Radio Choir, and currently acting as the artistic director of the National Forum of Music Choir.

The programme of the evening will also include works by Polish composers such as Katarzyna Danel (Gladness of Nature), Marek Raczyński (Rain on the Sea) and Jacek Sykulski (Pater Noster and Stoi lód na Prośnie). We will also listen to Oremus from the series Gloria Patri by Urmas Sisask, Lucis Creator by Vitautas Miskinis, The Deer’s Cry by Arvo Pärt, Outflow by Jēkabs Jančevskis and Salutation and Northern Lights by Ēriks Ešenvalds.

More information at: http://www.nospr.org.pl/pl/koncerty/1750/chor-polskiego-radia-muzyka-krajow-nadbatyckich 

Giya Kancheli died at 84

Kanczeli podczas "Warszawskiej Jesieni" 1986 rok

The outstanding Georgian composer Giya Kancheli died on 2 October 2019 in Tbilisi at the age of 84.

Giya Kancheli graduated from the composition class of Ilia Tuskia at the Tbilisi Conservatory, where he later worked as a lecturer.  He was the music director of the Shota Rustaveli Georgian State Theater, a member of the Union of Georgian Composers and the Union of Georgian Cinematographers. In the years 1991–1995, he lived in Berlin as a scholarship holder of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. He has lived in Belgium since 1995, working with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.

Both Georgian and Russian music as well as contemporary music presented at the "Warsaw Autumn" festival shaped his musical style. His music was performed many times during the "Warsaw Autumn", where he met Wojciech Kilar, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki. The greatest fame in the USSR brought him music for the movie hits of Georgiy Daneliya and Eldar Shengelaia. He wrote many chamber and orchestral works, including seven symphonies, great vocal and instrumental works, whose world premieres took place in New York and Seattle. In the West, he was described as the creator of "new spiritual music" or "new religious music."

2nd Lubomirski Festival

The Prince Władysław Lubomirski Festival will take place between 17 October – 8 December 2019 in Warsaw, Krakow, Lublin, Lviv, Łańcut and Vienna. The event is held under the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda.

The Lubomirski Festival is an open musical event in honor of the patron of culture, who contributed to the success of Szymanowski, Karłowicz, Szeluto, Różycki and Fitelberg. Nowadays, we know how important the help of state patronage, sponsorship or private patronage is, so thanks to the series of open artistic events the audience will meet extraordinary artists, especially those whose merits, due to aristocratic origin, have been erased from pages of history in the era of communism. The concerts will be devoted to Polish composers from powerful families, but also to their proteges, such as Franciszek Lessel or the creators of Young Poland, looked after by the Festival's Patron.

The festival will feature Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish Art Philharmonic, Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra, Aukso – Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, Galicki Chamber Choir, Junge Kammerphilharmone Freiburg. In addition to sixteen symphonic concerts, it will include recitals and chamber concerts.

All festival events in Poland and Lviv are open to the public. There will be two types of concerts: "Gala" and "Evening", therefore the dress code will apply.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: https://lubomirskifestival.pl/ 

Tychy | Auksodrone 2019

Aukso

Rapid current of contemporary music, jazz meanders, depths of electronic searches, safe bays of tradition – all this will sound during the second edition of the Auksodrone festival, which will take place in the Mediateka in Tychy on 4-6 October 2019.

Auksodrone features nine concerts divided into three cycles – Contemporary Opera, New Wave Jazz and Electronics Studies – and a number of accompanying events devoted to how music is born and what is born in us with its magical touch. Co-organizers of Auksodrone are Programme 2 of Polish Radio and PWM Edition.

This year, the Contemporary Opera cycle will be filled with three acts of the Drach. Dramma per musica triptych – a musical drama by Aleksander Nowak to the libretto by Szczepan Twardoch. The work, whose premiere will take place at the festival, is based on Twardoch's novel. Solo parts will be sung by Joanna Freszel, Jan Jakub Monowid and Sebastian Szumski, accompanied by the AUKSO orchestra and Marcin Świątkiewicz (basso continuo).

During the first edition of Auksodrone, the jazz concert series was devoted to native giants of the genre, and this time we will learn what the future of this music sounds like. Leszek Możdżer will construct it from materials found in the distant and closer past.

At this year's Auksodrone, Electronics Studies will be an unprecedented expedition to analogue electronics. Stefan Wesołowski, violinist and composer who is fluent in connecting sacrum and profanum, will replace the electronic layer of his music with acoustic sounds.

More information at: www.auksodrone.com 

Wrocław | Opening of the Symphonic Season of NFM

NFM

The fifth artistic season at the NFM new venue begins, according to a long-standing tradition, with the music of Witold Lutosławski, as well as the youthful work of Karol Szymanowski and the genuinely Romantic Piano Concerto by Robert Schumann performed by Barry Douglas and the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic.

The Piano Concerto in A minor by Schumann was inspired by his loving wife Clara. At the NFM, the work will be performed by Barry Douglas, the winner of the renowned Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986, founder and artistic director of Camerata Ireland and artistic director of the Clandeboye Festival. Hailing from Ireland, he is also a fan of music from the Green Island and promotes it on CDs with his own arrangements of folk melodies.

The programme of the concert will also include elements of traditional music, and we will hear them in full swing in the Concerto for Orchestra by Witold Lutosławski. This is a piece commissioned by the Warsaw Philharmonic as ‘an extensive and virtuosic composition based on folk themes’. Lutosławski drew from the folklore of Mazovia and created a concerto with which he was not satisfied, but nevertheless considered one of the most perfect compositions in Polish music. Performed by the Wrocław Philharmonic, we will also hear the first symphonic work of Karol Szymanowski, the Concert Overture in E major, revealing the composer's obvious fascination with the work of Richard Strauss.

Giancarlo Guerrero will conduct the inauguration of the symphonic season, opening his third year as artistic director of the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic.

More information at: https://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl/ 

Kraków| Inauguration of the 75th anniversary season of the Kraków Philharmonic

FK

The Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Krakow opens the anniversary season 2019/2020 with two concerts: on 4 October 2019 at 7.30 p.m. and on 5 October 2019 at 6.00 p.m. at the Nowa Huta Cultural Center. The concerts will feature all the institution's ensemble: the Philharmonic Orchestra, Mixed Choir and Boys' Choir under the baton of the institution's artistic director Charles Olivieri-Munroe.

The Kraków Philharmonic, as the oldest of Polish philharmonics, celebrates the 75th anniversary of its activity. The first philharmonic concert took place in the building at Zwierzyniecka Street in Krakow on 3 February 1945. The main celebrations related to the jubilee will take place in February 2020. Before this happens, until the end of the calendar year, the main building of the Philharmonic will undergo renovation and modernization works. Therefore, the upcoming season opening concerts will take place at the Nowa Huta Cultural Center.

The inaugural evenings will begin with the overture to the opera Raymond by Ambroise Thomas. Then, we will listen to the Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 8 by Mieczysław Karłowicz performed by Aleksander Kuls, the winner of the International Jozsef Szigety Violin Competition in Budapest. The second part of the program will be filled with the monumental Te Deum by Hector Berlioz performed by the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra and both choirs. The tenor part will be sung by Erin Caves, an outstanding interpreter of Wagnerian roles.

More information at: http://www.filharmonia.krakow.pl/ 

Lusławice | Autumn in Lusławice

Luslawice

The "Autumn in Lusławice" is a series of 6 unique musical events characterized primarily by the stylistic diversity of the presented repertoire, as well as the participation of excellent Polish and foreign musicians, who will perform at the Krzyszfot Penderecki European Music Center between 5 October and 1 December 2019.

Among the artists taking part in this year's concerts will be Krzysztof Penderecki, Maciej Tworek, NDR Big Band from Munich, Atom String Quartet, Vladislav Sendecki, Marek Napiórkowski, Mino Cinelu, Krzysztof Meisinger, Poland BaROCK, Olga Pasiecznik, I, CULTURE Orchestra, Orchestra and Choir of the Academy of Music in Krakow, Krakow Philharmonic Choir, the Choir of the Belarusian Academy of Music in Minsk, Stanisław Krawczyński, Rafał Jacek Delekta, Natalia Rubiś, Karolina Sikora, Anna Lubańska, Adam Zdunikowski, Piotr Nowacki and many others.

The first concert of the "Autumn in Lusławice" series will feature guitarist Krzysztof Meisinger – one of the most famous Polish classical guitarists of our time – and the Poland baROCK baroque orchestra, founded by him in 2018. The artists will present their project "Vivaldissimo", composed of the selection of baroque lute concerts – from Vivaldi to Kohaut – and the most famous baroque miniatures in new arrangements, including Johann Sebastian Bach's Air on the G string. This is the first such cooperation in history, where a classical guitar appears together with an "orthodox" early music ensemble.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://penderecki-center.pl/ 

Laureates of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music 2019

Koryfeusz

The winners of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music Award 2019 were announced on 1 October 2019 during the Gala in the Witold Lutoosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio.

Discovery of the Year: violinist Zuzanna Budzyńska and pianist Szymon Ogryzek – for promoting Polish music, successes in the international arena and for recording the album Polonaises;
Personality of the Year: Jakub Józef Orliński – countertenor, for extraordinary talent, artistic personality and expressiveness, perfect combination of beautiful voice color with impeccable vocal technique and sense of style, as well as for performing various musical genres, from sacred music to hip-hop;
Event of the Year: "10/40 Quartet in Museums" – in the 40th anniversary of existence, the Silesian Quartet performed during 10 concerts in 10 museums, presenting the most valuable works of Polish composers of the 20th century;
Honorary Award: Wiesław Ochman – for all artistic activities.

The winners selected by the Polish music community were awarded statuettes designed by Professor Adam Myjak. The awards in the Personality of the Year category and the Honorary Award were accompanied by financial awards founded successively by STOART Association of Performing Artists and ZAiKS Association of Authors.

The gala concert featured Joanna Freszel and Maciej Grzybowski, The Whoop Group, Marcin Wasilewski Trio and AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy under the direction of Marek Moś. The programme of the concert included works by Mieczysław Karłowicz, Wojciech Kilar, Paweł Mykietyn, Tomasz Stańko, Mieczysław Weinberg and Marcin Wasilewski. The hosts of the evening were Katarzyna Sanocka and Maxymilian Bylicki.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information CentrePOLMIC.

More information at: www.koryfeusz.org.pl 

Szczecin | Inaugural Concert of the Baltic Neopolis Virtuosi Asian Tour

Baltic Neopolis Orchestra

A concert inaugurating the Asian tour of the Baltic Neopolis Virtuosi "Sunrise in Asia" will take place on 5 October 2019 zt 7 p.m. in Pomerania Technopark (Castanea Hall) in Szczecin.

At the special invitation of the National Centre of Performing Arts (India), Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music (Vietnam), and the Polish Embassy in Hanoi, the musicians of the Baltic Neopolis Orchestra (composed of the Baltic Neopolis Virtuosi) will tour around India and Vietnam on 5-15 October 2019. The purpose of the tour is to increase interest in Polish culture and celebrate the centenary of Poland establishing diplomatic relations with Asian countries.

The inaugural concert, apart from a number of compositions by Polish artists – Mikołaj Górecki, Stanisław Moniuszko and Fryderyk Chopin, will feature the premiere of Sunrise in Asia composed by Vietnamese composer Phuc Linh. The project is supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Polish Consulate in Mumbai, as well as the Polish Embassy in Hanoi.

More information at: http://balticneopolis.pl