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On 20 March 2018, the Witold Lutoslawski Concert Studio of Polish Radio will host the finale of the prestigious Young Musician of the Year 2018 contest. Five young instrumentalists will perform with the accompaniment of the Polish Radio Orchestra conducted by Michał Klauza. The competition is organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Institute of Music and Dance.

During the semi-final on 5 March, the jury: Katarzyna Budnik-Gałązka, violist and academic teacher, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, conductor and director of the Wrocław Opera, and chairman Włodek Pawlik, composer, jazz pianist and pedagogue, winner of the Grammy Award 2014, chose the 5 most talented instrumentalists to perform in a TV show broadcast by TVP Kultura on 20th March.

Marta Chlebicka (Warsaw), Grzegorz Chwaliński (Radom), Kacper Dworniczak (Poznań), Piotr Motyka (Radom) and Maciej Prokopowicz (Bielsko-Biała) will compete in the finals for the title of Young Musician of the Year 2018. They will perform Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra (part III) by Henri Tomasi, Concertino for flute and orchestra op. 107 by Cécile Chaminade, Concierto de Aranjuez (part II) by Joaquín Rodrigo, Concerto for accordion and string orchestra (part IV) by Ihora Shamo, as well as Kołomyjka by Krzesimir Dębski. In addition to five of this year's finalists, the winners from previous years will present programme specially arranged for this occasion.

The finale of the latest edition of the Young Musician of the Year competition will be hosted by Małgorzata Nieciecka-Mac and Tomasz Kammel. The winner of the competition will represent Poland at the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians in Edinburgh.

On the 7th of April 2018 at The Witold Lutoslawski Concert Studio of Polish Radio, the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra, conducted by Juozas Domarkas, with the participation of well-known pianist Eugen Indjic, will have the honour to perform thenext symphonic concert.

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major was dubbed “Emperor” while the composer was still alive, although – as is the case of most such monikers – it did not come from him. Perhaps the name was due to the dedication of the piece to Archduke Rudolf Hapsburg, or – what is more likely – the heroic, monumental, and even military character of the work, already foreshadowed by the tone of "Eroica". The part of the orchestra is even more independent here than in Concerto No. 4, and this treatment is a preview of the “symphonic” concerts of the era of Romanticism and Neo-Romanticism. The concerto will be performed by Eugen Indjic – an American Pianist of Russian-Serbian descent, winner of the 4th prize at the 8th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. The artist, who is among the most prominent pianists of his generation, is a particularly acclaimed performer of the Romantic repertoire, especially the music of Chopin, as well as the Neo- and Post-Romantics: Liszt, Rachmaninov, and others.

In August 1873, Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter, draughtsman, book illustrator and architect, died suddenly at the age of 39. He had a close friendship with Modest Mussorgsky, who was significantly affected by the painter’s death. Hartmann was soon commemorated by an exhibition of paintings, drawings, watercolours, sketches, and architectural projects. Mussorgsky recalled that he perceived the works very “musically” – while touring the exhibition, themes and motifs sprang to his mind, which he quickly wrote down and so in June 1874, the Pictures at an Exhibition suite was created, called an “album” by the composer himself. He immortalised ten visions of Hartmann in the sounds, such as the sketches from a visit to Sandomierz in Poland (the composer captured the portraits of two local Jews in “Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle”, a miniature that suggestively contrasts both figures).Mussorgsky’s brilliant suite was not appreciated until the 20th century, especially thanks to a dazzling orchestration by Ravel (1922), who was enchanted by the complex piano texture of Mussorgsky’s miniatures. Taking his place at the conductor’s pulpit will be Juozas Domarkas, an extremely distinguished Lithuanian conductor, a long-time head of the National Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius and a respected lecturer at the Warsaw Academy of Music.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.sinfoniaiuventus.pl 

The series of concerts "Polish music too little known" in the Katowice headquarters of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra is a great opportunity to get acquainted with the lesser-known works of Polish composers. The next concert will be held on 23 March 2018 at 7.30 p.m.

During the evening, we will hear Alexander Tansman's La danse de la sorcière for wind quintet and piano, Artur Malawski's Morskie Oko from the cycle Żywioły Tatr for wind quintet, Three preludes for clarinet and piano by Marcel Chyrzyński, Cantabile in h by Krzesimir Dębski, and Fonoplasticon for wind quintet and piano by Zbigniew Bargielski.

The culmination of the evening will be the premiere of Burlesca for the brass quintet and piano by Mikołaj Górecki. The work was commissioned by the Musica Mundana Foundation as part of the program of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Composition Commissions", implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance, and dedicated to performers: Beata Bilińska and Cracow Brass Quintet.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information about tickets at the NOSPR website.

Director of the Warsaw University Library dr hab. Jolanta Talbierska is pleased to invite you to a meeting with Lady Camilla Panufnik, which will take place at the Bogumił Linde Hall on 23 March 2018 at 12.00 p.m.

During the meeting there will be a presentation of selected items from the valuable archive of Andrzej Panufnik, an outstanding Polish émigré composer (1914-1991). The collection was donated by Lady Camilla Panufnik to the BUW Archive of Polish Composers in September 2017.

The Panufnik archive contains mainly materials in Polish: family documents, especially rich in the case of the composer's father, Tomasz Panufnik, famous luthier and creator of the instrument building school; documents from the time of occupation in Warsaw and Panufnik's musical activity at that time; materials documenting the activity in the country in the post-war years until leaving Poland in 1954; correspondence with the Polish emigration community of the years 1950-1980 and correspondence with the Polish music community and family.

The creative legacy of this outstanding artist rests in the British Library. In 2004, Lady Panufnik donated microfilms to the BUW collections with the composer's musical manuscripts. The depositing of the heritage documenting Andrzej Panufnik's creative life in the BUW Archive of Polish Composers is extremely important for further research into the genesis and reception of his achievements.

Jury of the 3rd Marek Stachowski Competition of Young Composers, composed of: prof. Zbigniew Bargielski, dr hab. Marcin Bortnowski, dr hab. Marcel Chyrzyński, prof. Wojciech Widłak (chairman), at the sitting on 16 February 2018 at the Academy of Music in Krakow, decided as follows:

The Main Award in the form of the premiere at the concert during the 30th International Festival of Cracow Composers in April 2018 was given to Jakub Królikowski (emblem of "apple pie with ice cream"), born in 1988, a graduate of the composition class of prof. Zbigniew Kozub at the  I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, for the piece The Myth About Hermaphrodite for flute, viola and harp.

Two equal honorary distinctions were awarded to: Katarzyna Bem (emblem "KCKBKR"), born in 1991, a student of the composition class of dr. hab. Cezary Duchnowski at the K. Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, for Harpie for flute, viola and harp, and Żaneta Rydzewska (emblem "X3824"), born in 1991, a student of the composition class of prof. Stanisław Moryto at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and Brigitte Muntendorf at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne (Germany) for mono for flute, viola and harp.

Congratulations!

The awards ceremony along with the world premiere of the composition of the Grand Prize winner will take place during the concert on 21 April 2018 at 6.-- p.m. at the MOCAK Contemporary Art Museum in Krakow (4 Lipowa St.), as part of the 30th International Festival of Cracow Composers.