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The winners of the Polish Music Coryphaeus awards for 2018 have been announced. The ceremony took place during a gala concert held at the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio on 1 October 2018.

Discovery of the Year: Joanna Zawartko – for the concert and stage creations of the 2017/18 season, in particular for the performance of the soprano part in the Little Solemn Mass by Gioacchino Rossini at the National Philharmonic (18 May 2018).

Personality of the Year: Maciej Obara – saxophonist, for the album Unloved recorded with the Maciej Obara Quartet for the prestigious German label ECM.

Event of the Year: Triple premiere of the composition of Agata Zubel  Fireworks, awarded with the European Composer Award – at the "Chopin and His Europe" Festival in Warsaw (13 August 2018), "Young Euro Classic" in Berlin (14 August 2018) and the BBC Proms Festival in London (19 August 2018).

Honorary Award: Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa.

The winners selected by the Polish music society were awarded statuettes designed by Professor Adam Myjak. The awards in the Personality of the Year category and the Honorary Award came with financial awards funded by the Union of Performing Artists STOART and the Society of Authors ZAiKS respectively.

The gala concert titled "Different Looks at ..." featured works by Dawid Lubowicz, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Agata Zubel and Adam Jarzębski. The hosts of the evening were Katarzyna Sanocka and Maxymilian Bylicki.

The organizer of the event was the Institute of Music and Dance and Programme 2 of Polish Radio.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The fourth edition of the Krakow Accordion Festival will take place on October 7-14, 2018. The concerts and accompanying events will be held in Krakow, the Galician Town and the Ethnographic Park in Nowy Sącz. Each day of the festival will present different repertoire of accordion music.

Krakow Accordion Festival is an international celebration of accordion music in all its manifestations. The festival also helps to get to know Krakow – each event takes place in a different venues: Krakow Academy of Music, Alchemia Club, Wladysław Żeleński 2nd Degree State Music School, St. Catherine Church, Church of St. Martin, the Music Cooperative. The festival, according to the Galician tradition, will also visit the Galician Town and the Ethnographic Park of the District Museum in Nowy Sącz.

The event aims to disseminate accordion music to people of all ages by showing its various uses, in different instrumental compositions and musical genres. The programme of the Festival is devoted especially to Polish music. The Concert of Accordion Premiers will feature compositions by Paweł Hendrich, Marzena Majcher, Michał Papara, Piotr Peszat, Zygmunt Krauze and Maciej Zimka. They will be performed by such well-known Polish accordionists as Maciej Frąckiewicz, Jacek Kopiec, Rafał Łuc, Wiesław Ochwat and Maciej Zimka. In addition, the festival wll feature the world premiere of the composition Promień siedmiokręgu wszechbieli by Wojciech Ziemowit Zych, which was written as part of the "Composition Commissions" programme, implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Apart from concerts, the festival provides for many accompanying events with the accordion "in the main role" such as: workshops, lectures, exhibition, Film Competition, Film Day with the Competition gala and a silent film screening with live music.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.krakowskifestiwalakordeonowy.pl/ 

The institution for the Promotion and Dissemination of Music "Silesia" invites you to the concerts of the 28th International Festival of Young Prizewinners of Music Competitions, which will be held on October 14-28, 2018.

From the beginning of its existence, the festival is associated with Katowice, and this year's edition coincides with the Jubilee of the 35th anniversary of "Silesia". Founded on October 1, 1983, initially as a branch of the National Concert Office, then as a provincial institution, since 1994 it has been developing its activity thanks to the patronage of the City of Katowice, functioning as a municipal cultural institution.

The festival will include 24 concerts that will take place at the Katowice Academy of Music, the NOSPR Chamber Hall, the Katowice Radio Concert Studio, the Archdiocesan Museum, the Silesian Library, the Mieczysław Karłowicz State Music School, Katowice's cultural centers and churches. Artists from Katowice will also take concert tours to the "Atma" in Zakopane, Słupsk, other cities of the Silesian region and partner cities of Katowice – Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Košice (Slovakia). Performed by young artists, we will hear works by such composers as Fryderyk Chopin, Henryk Wieniawski, Stanisław Moniuszko, Karol Szymanowski, Stanisław Niewiadomski, Grażyna Bacewicz, Witold Lutosławski, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Michał Lorenc, Adam Walaciński, Romuald Twardowski and Anna Maria Huszcza.

An exhibition documenting the history of "Silesia" will be available at the patio of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music during the Festival.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/

By the decision of Prof. Piotr Gliński, Vice-President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, founded in 2007 on the initiative of Maestro Jerzy Semkow, will be given the name of this outstanding and respected Polish conductor.

Jerzy Semkow is considered one of the greatest conductors and music luminaries of the 20th and 21st century. For many years he participated as a conductor in the famous music festival in Aspen (Colorado), during which students and pedagogues of the most important American conservatories performed together. These valuable experiences inspired him to establish an orchestra in Poland and provide employment on professional terms to the most talented young university students. The Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra was appointed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in October 2007 and inaugurated its activity in June that year. Maestro Semkow consistently supported the ensemble with his authority, devoting a lot of time and attention to its developement. In December 2008, he recorded with POSI its debut album with two symphonies by Schubert, and, the following year, a CD with Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. In 2010, the orchestra performed under Jerzy Semkow's baton in the UNESCO Auditorium in Paris.

Sinfonia Iuventus has been realizing the idea of ​​Jerzy Semkow for 10 years by organizing numerous symphonic, chamber and opera concerts, making recordings with outstanding musicians, organizing workshops under the guidance of esteemed Polish and foreign artists. The ensemble invests in this way in the potential of young musicians, and also promotes the wealth of Polish and world musical heritage.

Without music, life would be a mistake.
– Friedrich Nietzsche

International Music (IMD) was initiated on the 1st October 1975 by Lord Yehudi Menuhin. It was first organized by the International Music Council on 1st of October, 1975, in accordance with the resolution taken at the 15th General Assembly in Lausanne in 1973.

The International Music Council (IMC) or the guardian of the IMD was founded by UNESCO in 1949. The IMC is the world's largest network of organizations, institutions and individuals functioning in the field of music. The International Music Council encourages and fosters musical diversity, access to culture for everyone and unites organizations in some 150 countries worldwide in building peace and understanding among people cutting across class, culture and heritage.