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Violamaxx - Inauguration

Violamaxx - Inauguration, featuring compositions for viola, will be held on February 9, 2017 at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań.

Project Violamaxx was created in order to present most beautiful works written for viola solo or atypical instrumentation which includes viola as an ensemble member. The opening concert will be performed by Lech Bałaban - teacher of the Academy of Music in Poznań and Bydgoszcz and concertmaster of the "Amadeus" Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, and students - Alicja Ciszek, Łucja Jaskuła, Karolina Kasińska, Magdalena Kizior, Ewa Więcek, Michał Edgar Kot, Wiktor Rudzik, Jan Bałaban. The artists will interpret compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, Gioacchino Rossini, Jean-Marie Leclair, Witold Lutosławski and Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska.

Admission free.

AUKSO plays Lutosławski

Giedrė Šiaulytė, Maksymilian Lipień and AUKSO Chamber Orchestra under Marek Moś will perform at the Witold Lutosławski Festival "Chain XIV" on February 6, 2017 at the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio in Warsaw.

In their commitment to reinvigorate their musical idioms, 20th-century composers entered into an intense dialogue with tradition, for example by reaching for traditional genres and filling them with new content. Neoclassical style - one of many ways in which such creative attitude towards tradition was manifested, is present in the music of several composers, including Witold Lutosławski, Karol Szymanowski and Igor Stravinsky whose works have been programmed to be performed at the Festival. The artists will present Concerto in D by Stravinsky, Mandragora. Pantomime in Three Scenes, Op. 43 (libr. by Leon Schiller and Ryszard Bolesławski) by Szymanowski, and Overture for Strings and Double Concerto for harp, oboe and chamber orchestra by Witold Lutosławski.

Tickets available on-line (www.sklep.polskieradio.pl) and at the venue’s box office.

More information: Festival programme

"Chain XIV" Festival - Lutosławski vs. Szymanowski

A concert presenting chamber music by Witold Lutosławski and Karol Szymanowski will be held on February 5, 2017 at the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio in Warsaw.

The programme of the 2017 edition of the "Chain" Festival places side by side the two great musical personalities of the 20th-century Polish culture, namely Lutosławski and Szymanowski. The idea is to highlight their similarities and differences, and to harmonize them, both in terms of musical genres and expressive features. The repertoire selected for the 3rd concert creates a dualistic order, in which each piece by Lutosławski corresponds to a work by Szymanowski: two lullabies for violin and piano, two song cycles to poems by Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, two arrangements of Niccolò Paganini’s caprices and two masterpieces of the violin literature which also were joined by composer-performer duos - Partita as a work inspired and performed by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Myths. Three Poems, Op. 30 that were created as a result of close relationship with Paweł Kochański. The programme will be completed by Variations on a Theme of Paganini, which were frequently played by the Lutosławski-Panufnik piano duo.

Performers: Joanna Freszel (soprano), Mariusz Rutkowski (piano), Katarzyna Krzyżanowska (mezzosoprano), Łukasz Chrzęszczyk (piano), Tanja Becker-Bender (violin), Péter Nagy (piano), Ravel Piano Duo (Agnieszka Kozło, Katarzyna Ewa Sokołowska).

Tickets available on-line (www.sklep.polskieradio.pl) and at the venue’s box office.

More information: Festival programme

Arcydzieła Symfoniki

3 lutego 2017 roku o godz. 19.00 w Filharmonii Świętokrzyskiej odbędzie się koncert „Arcydzieła Symfoniki”, podczas którego zostaną wykonane utwory Ludomira Różyckiego i Henryka Wieniawskiego.

Dzieła wybitnych kompozytorów zabrzmią w interpretacji skrzypaczki Marii Włoszczowskiej, laureatki XV Międzynarodowego Konkursu im. Henryka Wieniawskiego, i Orkiestry Symfonicznej Filharmonii Świętokrzyskiej pod dyrekcją Marka Pijarowskiego.

Poemat symfoniczny Stańczyk Ludomira Różyckiego, zainspirowany znanym obrazem Matejki, powstał w 1909 roku. Od początku przyjmowany z entuzjazmem, m.in. za barwną instrumentację oraz ekspresyjność, właściwie do dzisiaj święci triumfy, choć może nie tak często jest wykonywany w salach koncertowych, jakby to wynikało z jego popularności.

Koncert skrzypcowy d-moll Henryka Wieniawskiego został okrzyknięty jednym z największych i najpiękniejszych koncertów epoki romantycznej. Z cudownej urody kantylenową melodią w części I i II, z żywiołowym, granym w oszałamiającym tempie „tańcem cygańskim” w finale – jest istotnie wspaniałym i efektownym dziełem, w którym solista może zachwycić słuchaczy swoim wirtuozostwem. W tym oto utworze dla mistrzów poznamy Marię Włoszczowską – laureatkę Konkursu Skrzypcowego im. Henryka Wieniawskiego. Absolwentka Uniwersytetu Muzycznego Fryderyka Chopina oraz Conservatoire Royal w Brukseli, z pokaźnym kontem artystycznym w postaci trofeów zdobytych na najważniejszych konkursach skrzypcowych, przebojem wchodzi na salony muzyki poważnej, bacznie – i z nadzieją – obserwowana przez krytykę.

Wieczorne spotkanie z muzyką zakończy jedyna Symfonia Césara Francka d-moll – utwór, jak go określano, „przeniknięty wonią kadzideł” w nawiązaniu do zawodu kompozytora (organista w paryskim kościele św. Klotyldy). Orkiestrę Symfoniczną Filharmonii Świętokrzyskiej poprowadzi Marek Pijarowski – znany na całym świecie wybitny artysta, dyrygent-szef Orkiestry Filharmonii Poznańskiej, były dyrektor Filharmonii Wrocławskiej i Łódzkiej.

Szczegółowe informacje – na stronie: http://filharmonia.kielce.com.pl

4th International Festival of the Wieniawski Brothers

2017 edition of the International Festival of the Wieniawski Brothers will be held between February 10 and March 10 at the Lublin Philharmonic.

The event is a tribute to two artists - Henryk and Józef Wieniawski, as well as an opportunity to become familiar with their works and compositions of other eminent world-class composers.

The opening concert featuring Semiramis, Op. 52 for choir and orchestra by Józef Wieniawski, Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 by Sergei Prokofiev and Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection" in C minor by Gustav Mahler will be performed by soprano Dorota Wójcik, mezzosoprano Urszula Kryger, pianist Lukas Geniušas, Chamber Choir "Gloria" (Lviv), Choir and Symphony Orchestra of the Lublin Philharmonic under Wojciech Rodek. The concert is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage ("Philharmonic. Caution, it draws you in!" programme, implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance).

The festival programme includes also compositions by Antoni Stolpe, Juliusz Zarębski, Fryderyk Chopin, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Stanisław Moniuszko, Anton Bruckner, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Tickets available on-line at: www.filharmonialubelska.pl

Koncert „Orkiestra Pokoleń"

3 lutego 2017 roku o godz. 18:30 w Filharmonii Opolskiej im. Józefa Elsnera będzie miał miejsce Koncert „Orkiestra Pokoleń" w ramach obchodów 800-lecia Miasta Opola, podczas którego zabrzmią dzieła Witolda Lutosławskiego i Józefa Świdra.

W koncercie „Orkiestra Pokoleń" w ramach obchodów 800-lecia Miasta Opola oraz Jubileuszu Państwowej Szkoły Muzycznej I i II st. im. F. Chopina w Opolu weźmie udział Orkiestra Symfoniczna Absolwentów PSM w Opolu pod dyrekcją Huberta Prochoty. W roli solistów wystąpią Sławomir Lackert (obój), Piotr Kosarga (skrzypce) i Alina Adamska-Raitarovskyi (sopran).

W programie znajdą się Uwertura do opery Jaś i Małgosia Engelberta Hunperdinga, Poéme op.25 Ernesta Chaussona, Wariacje Enigma Edwarda Elgara, a także Tryptyk Śląski Witolda Lutosławskiego oraz Koncert na obój i orkiestrę Józefa Świdra (w wersji z 2013 roku).

ZOBACZ: wydarzenie na FB.

Concert on the 140th Anniversary of Feliks Nowowiejski’s Birth

Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic in Olsztyn will host a concert on February 5, 2017 marking the 140th anniversary of Feliks Nowowiejski’s birth.

Nowowiejski spent WWI in Berlin serving as a member of a military orchestra. At the end of the war, he settled in Poznań where he actively participated in reviving the cultural life of the city by organizing symphonic, choral and organ concerts, and by working as a teacher. At that time, he composed several patriotic songs, arrangements of folk music (such as 25 Polish Folk Songs from Warmia), opera The Legend of the Baltic, choral compositions (Missa pro Pace, Missa Stella Maris) and cantatas.

The concert celebrating the 140th anniversary of composer’s birth will be performed by Cantores Varmienses Choir (dir. by Benedykt Błoński), tenor Szymon Rona, pianist Agnieszka Panasiuk, and actress Irena Telesz.

Tickets available on-line at: www.bilety.filharmonia.olsztyn.pl

Andrzej Nikodemowicz dies at 92

Polish composer, pianist and music teacher Andrzej Nikodemowicz died at the age of 92 on January 28, 2017.

He studied chemistry at the Lviv Technical University, as well as composition with Adam Sołtys and piano with Tadeusz Majerski at the Lviv Conservatory, where he worked as a lecturer in 1951-73 until he was made redundant for his religious beliefs. In 1980 he moved to Lublin and began teaching at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie University and the Catholic University. In 1982-92 he was a choirmaster at the Higher Catholic Seminary. In 1995, he was granted the title of professor. As a pianist, Nikodemowicz played his own and classical compositions until his career was brought to an end by a hand illness. He won several prizes at numerous composition competitions and received, among others, the award granted by the Polish Composers’ Union (2000) and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2000). He was an honorary member of the Polish Composers’ Union and the president of its Lublin branch in 1989-2017.

The memorial service and funeral will be held on February 1, 2017 at 1.00 pm at the Lublin Archcathedral (10 Królewska Street).

Piano Recital by Rafał Aleksander Łuszczewski

Rafal Aleksander Łuszczewski will perform a piano recital on January 27, 2017 at the Warmia and Mazury Philharmonic in Olsztyn.

The programme includes 4 Mazurkas, Op. 50 (dedicated to Artur Rubinstein) by Karol Szymanowski, 4 Impromptus. D. 899 by Franz Schubert, and 4 Ballads by Fryderyk Chopin.

The pianist made his international debut at the age of 16 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Since 2001 he has been listed as a Steinway Artist on the "Steinway & Sons Artists’ Roster" in New York. He has travelled across Europe, North and South America, Australia, Middle East, Asia and Africa, giving performances that gathered the acclaim from the audience and music critics. He received several prizes at international piano competitions and made numerous recordings for TV and radio stations (including Polish Radio, Swiss Classical Radio, Australian Broadcast Corp., National Public Radio in the USA), as well as for Japanese, Polish, Swiss and German record labels. He was the initiator of the Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition held in Lima (Peru) and Ecuador.

Tickets available on-line at: www.filharmonia.olsztyn.pl