news

Atom String Quartet tours the US for the second time

The Atom String Quartet will tour the United States on 7-16 January 2020. In less than two weeks, the quartet will play 7 concerts in various parts of the country. The American tour will begin the celebrations of the quartet's 10th anniversary.

It will be the ensemble's second tour in the United States, which this time will include cities such as Minneapolis, Madison, San Francisco, Phoenix, Baltimore and New York. The artists will present a diverse programme composed of works by Krzysztof Penderecki (from the ensemble's last album Penderecki), Zbigniew Seifert and musicians of the quartet. A special event will be held at Dizzy`s Club – Jazz at Lincoln Center, one of the most prestigious jazz clubs in the world. Atom String Quartet will perform there twice on 16 January: at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Atom String Quartet is one of the most intriguing string quartets in the world, and also one of best Polish jazz bands. The group combines the capabilities of a string quartet (i.e. two violins, viola and cello) with improvisation in its broad sense. The set of instruments of a chamber music ensemble, which is most classic and firmly established in music tradition, enables the artists to search for new sound and formal achievements. It is difficult to define, in an explicit way, the music style of the group. Its music output, besides jazz, shows sources of inspiration coming from Polish folk, music of various regions of the world, and also contemporary and classical music.

The American ASQ tour has been co-financed within the "Polish Culture in the World" programme of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Katowice | Film Music performed by the Silesian Philharmonic Choir and Symphony Orchestra

On 10 January 2020 at 7:00 p.m. the Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic will hold a concert of film music. The Symphony Orchestra and the Silesian Philharmonic Choir under the direction of Maciej Sztor will perform pieces from the most recent and classical productions.

Rich orchestrations, expressive sound motifs, moving themes and energetic sequences will certainly bring to mind vivid images from the world cinema. The programme will include works by Ennio Morricone, James Horner, Nino Rota, David Arnold and Wojciech Kilar. We will listen to the music from such movies as The Hateful Eight, Magnificent Seven, The Godfather, Avatar and Independence Day, as well as Salt of the Black Earth directed by Kazimierz Kutz.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu/

Kielce | Carnival concert "Not only waltz..."

A carnival concert entitled "Not only waltz..." will take place on 10 January 2020 at 7 p.m. at the Oskar Kolberg Świętokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce.

A lot of film music themes, beautiful waltzes by Johann Strauss II, Franciszek Lehár, and Henry Mancini, popular songs (such as Mamma Mia or Song of Helena by Krzesimir Dębski) and the most beautiful arias from operettas (among others Die Fledermaus, Merry Widow) will fill the programme of the carnival evening at the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic. The soloist of the concert will be Katarzyna Dondalska (coloratura soprano). The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra will be led by an excellent conductor Tadeusz Wicherek – the current director of the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra and the Karol Namysłowski Symphony Orchestra in Zamość.

More information at: http://filharmonia.kielce.pl/

Warsaw | Ludomir Różycki's "Casanova"

On 10 and 11 January 2020, the Warsaw Philharmonic will present Ludomir Różycki's opera Casanova in the concert performance as part of the "Written in Free Poland" project.

The 1922/23 musical season in Warsaw was cramped with major developments and events in the arts: there was the first performance of Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1, while Grzegorz Fitelberg premiered Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Petrushka, and concert goers had their first chance to listen to leadings works of the modernists, including Scriabin’s Prometheus, Schönberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Paul Hindemith’s music, until then unknown in the Polish capital. Conservative critics who could not even tolerate Mahler’s symphonies, tried to outdo one another in showering insults on the new music and its champions. Therefore, the ear-catching melodies of Ludomir Różycki’ opera Casanova, performed at the end of the season, debuted at the right time and found a public that perfectly matched its taste. Caton’s waltz To dawny mój znajomy from the third act enjoyed unparalleled popularity and is still sung by successive generations of sopranos. However, with the exception of this fragment the opera remains practically unknown. After the war, Casanova was not staged in Warsaw even once, while in the 1990s it was only briefly included in the repertoire of the Roma Musical Theatre and the Grand Theatre of Łódź.

The premiere of the opera at the Grand Theatre in May 1923 under the musical direction of Artur Rodziński was one of the highlights of Różycki’s career. So why exactly did Casanova go out of fashion and why is no album recording of the piece available? By today’s standards, the subject chosen by the composer is rather outmoded and it would probably be difficult to find producers interested in staging the performance. Its commercialised musical idiom, its explicit references to Puccini’s oeuvre, among others, and its balance between an opera and an operetta do not make things easier. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that Casanova was written with great élan. Różycki portrayed scenes from the life of the Italian adventurer and lady-killer Giacomo Casanova in a very colourful and spectacular way, offering the audience an opera of immense charm.

More information at: http://www.filharmonia.pl/koncerty-i-bilety/repertuar/koncert-symfoniczny185

Gorzów | Long live the waltz!

On 10 and 11 January 2020, the Gorzów Philharmonic will hold carnival concerts entitled "Long live the waltz!".

The programme of the "Long Live the Waltz!" concerts will be composed of the most beautiful and famous orchestral waltzes: Invitation to the dance by Carl Maria von Weber, Prague Waltzes by Antonin Dvořák, Valse Triste, Op. 44 by Jean Sibelius, Waltz from Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, Waltz of the Flowes from The Nutcrackter ballet by Piotr Czajkowski, On the Beautiful Blue Danube by Johann Straus, La Plus Que Lente Aram by Claude Debussy, Waltz from the Masquerade Suite by Aram Chaczaturian, Waltz from the The Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich, Waltz from the movies The Leper and The promised Land by Wojciech Kilar, and La Valse by Maurice Ravel.

More information at: https://www.filharmoniagorzowska.pl/

Lublin | Carnival in rhythm of bolero

A unique symphonic concert combining Spanish, Italian and Polish works will take place at the Henryk Wieniawski Lublin Philharmonic on 10 January 2020 at 7.00 p.m. The Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Tomasz Bugaj will perform along with exceptional violinists: Roman Lasocki and Marta Gębska.

The concert will begin with the legendary Bolero by Maurice Ravel – a one-movement orchestral piece based on the Spanish dance, originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein. Capriccio Italien by Pyotr Tchaikovsky was inspired by the composer's trip to Italy. The work opens with a brief bugle call and is filled with references to the melodies heard by Tchaikovsky during the carnival in Florence.

The second part of the concert will present works by Polish composers. We will listen to Grażyna Bacewicz's last concert work – Violin Concerto No. 7 – which has widely and comprehensively exploited the technical and sounding possibilities of the violin. The evening will culminate with Henryk Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor. The work was dedicated to the King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia.

More information at: http://www.filharmonialubelska.pl/pl,0,s257,d709,koncert_symfoniczny_karnawal_w_rytmie_bolera.html

Katowice | Vivat Academia! 90th Anniversary of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music

As part of the jubilee series "Vivat Academia!" The Institution for the Promotion and Dissemination of Music "Silesia" invites you to an extraordinary meeting with Katarzyna Pleśniak, the chancellor of the oldest music university in Silesia since 2008. The concert will take place on 9 January 2020 at 6.00 p.m. in the Archdiocese Museum in Katowice (ul. Wita Stwosza 16) as part of the "Vivat Academia" anniversary cycle.

Katarzyna Pleśniak received, among others, the Distinguished Cultural Activist badge awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Golden Laurel of Skills and Competence, "Narcissus" – an award granted to women distinguished by their professional achievements and outstanding social activists and the Pearl of Gentle Women in the field of "Culture, art, passion". The meeting will be led by Violetta Rotter-Kozera and will be accompanied by music. Selected works will be performed by Ms. Chancellor herself, who is a graduate of the Katowice Academy of Music: in 1999 she graduated from the solo singing class of prof. Stanisława Marciniak-Gowarzewska.

The concert will also feature pianists working the Katowice Academy of Music: Paweł Tomaszewski, the dean of the Faculty of Jazz and Popular Music, and Grzegorz Biegas, professor at the Department of Chamber Music, whose main interests revolve around vocal literature.

Free entrance cards are available at the IPiUM Silesia office (2/20 Sejmu Śląskiego Square) or by phone (32) 219 33 44 ext. 21.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/strona-glowna/koncerty/546_vivat-academia-koncert-inbspspotkanie-z-kanclerz-am-katarzyna-plesniak

Edward Pałłasz died on 22 December 2019

Edward Pałłasz – composer, teacher, and artistic community activist – died on 22 December 2019. The funeral mass will be celebrated in the Church of Pastoral Creative Communities of the Archdiocese of Warsaw on 10 January 2020 (Friday) at 11.30 a.m. The funeral will take place the same day at 1.00 p.m. at the Military Cemetery in Powązki, quarter GII-2-27.

Edward Pałłasz was the music director of the Comedy Theatre in Warsaw (1964-1966). He lectured at the Drama Directing Faculty of the State Higher School of Theater in Warsaw (1969-1975). In the years 1984-1988, 1997–2003 he was the vice president, and in the years 1988-1993, 2003-2009 the president of the ZAiKS Association of Authors. He was a member of the Repertoire Committee of the Warsaw Autumn Festival (1981-1996). In 1979-1997 he was a member of the Main Board of the Polish Composers' Union (from 1979 to 1981 a treasurer, and from 1981 to 1983 a vice president). He became a co-founder of the Co-operative Committee of Creative Associations and Scientific Societies (1980) and a member of the Culture Council of the President of the Republic of Poland Lech Wałęsa. He was the director of Programme 2 of the Polish Radio (1995-1998). He was also the deputy general and artistic director of the Warsaw Chamber Opera (1999–2012). He was a member of the Polish Radio Programme Council, which he chaired in the years 2010–2013. In 2016, he received the honorary membership of the ZAIKS Authors' Association.

Edward Pałłasz was awarded the Commander's Cross, Commander's Cross with the Star, Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Gold Cross of Merit, Medal of the National Education Commission, Medal of Merit of Culture, Honorary Badge of the Capital City of Warsaw, Silver Medal and Honorary Badge of the Association of Authors ZAiKS.

Gdańsk | 10th Days of New Music

The 10th edition of th New Music Days will take place in Gdańsk on 4-12 January 2020. The programme of the festival proves that every music genre can go beyond beaten paths, inspire and surprise, with the key being experiment and risk.

The idea behind the anniversary edition is to combine electronics with multicultural inspirations, contemporary music and its diverse instruments with fiery avant-garde and minimalism. The festival will feature Kevin Richard Martin, Innercity Ensemble, Daniel Blumberg, Seymour Wright, and Joshua Sabin.

The premiere of a multimedia performance commissioned by the festival, Eye and Ear. Narcissus and Echo, will take place on 4 and 5 January and will be presented by pianist Małgorzata Walentynowicz, and visual artist working in the field of photography, new media, installations and performance, Dorota Walentynowicz. The Tri-City ensemble LowBow, composed of double bassist Maciej Sadowski and cellist Małgorzata Znarowska, will perform on 9 January, presenting works from the album murmurs, which stylistically refers to the folklore of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The famous composer, arranger and performer Wim Mertens will set off on a tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his musical career. On 11 January, he will perform a special solo programme presenting his works from the years 1980–2020.

Kwartludium and Wim Mertens, participants of the first edition of the festival, will perform during the final concert, which will take place on 12 January. The programme will include works by Piotr Peszat, Ivo Nilsson, Krzysztof Wołek, Wojciech Blażejczyk and Lithuanian composer Giedrė Pauliukevičiūtė.

The organizer of the New Music Days festival is Club Żak, and the festival is subsidised by the City of Gdańsk.

Full programme available at: https://klubzak.com.pl/koncerty.html