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The Polish Cello Quartet will perform on 15 January 2020 at 7.00 p.m. at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin.

Polish Cello Quartet was formed in 2011 on the initiative of Tomasz Daroch, Wojciech Fudala, Krzysztof Karpeta and Adam Krzeszowiec – four cellists of the new generation. The four artists have decided to initiate a chamber music group to show and share the unique and original sound of the cello quartet. In the way they perform, the artists have chosen a democratic model of cooperation. Within the group they exchange parts of music pieces they play – which allows to alter the sound and interpretation of the pieces.

The musicians of PCQ had an honour and privilege to acquire their skills from leading Polish cello musicians such as Paweł Głombik and Stanisław Firlej, and also from world-leading professors such as Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Michael Flaksman, Jelena Očić, Julius Berger and Jeroen Reuling. They have gained their experience in many European cultural centers (Cologne, Mannheim and Brussels). Each of the artists has often been awarded in solo and chamber performances. All PCQ members lead cello classes at renowned Polish Music Academies. Since 2014 Polish Cello Quartet is a ensemble in residence at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław.

The repertoire of the Polish Cello Quartet includes primarily works originally composed for cello quartet. The programme of the concert in Szczecin will feature Cello-Quartet, Op. 44 by Marinus de Jong, Fantasie rhapsodique, Op. 21 by Jean Absil, Offenbachiana II by Piotr Moss, Deux mouvements pour quatuor de violoncelles by Aleksander Tansman, and Ballade and Rhapsody for four cellos by Kazimierz Wiłkomirski.

More informaion at: https://filharmonia.szczecin.pl/wydarzenia/1202-Polish_Cello_Quartet 

The annual prestigious Polish awards of the weekly magazine "Polityka" will be presented for the 27th time on 14 January 2020 at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw. The gala will be broadcast by TVN. The evening will be hosted by journalist Grażyna Torbicka and editor-in-chief of "Polityka" Jerzy Baczyński.

The main partner of the award is the ZAiKS Association of Authors, a patron of Polish culture. Artists and creators are judged by the jury composed of critics representing various media: the team of each of the seven categories consists of ten reviewers from media other than the organizer – the weekly "Polityka". In the first stage, the members of the Jury indicate the three most interesting creative personalities of the past year in each category, and after counting the votes, three nominees are selected. In the second stage, the finalists are judged by the Chapter composed of journalists from "Polityka" who select the winners in all categories. The names of the winners are revealed during the awards gala.

The list of this year's nominees, which were nominated by critics and academics in the field of theater, film, literature, visual arts, music and digital culture, includes three artists representing classical music. Krystian Lada – director, playwright and librettist, active in the field of opera, music theater and performing arts, was nominated "for faith in the vitality of the operatic form". Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński was nominated for the whole of his work. Violinist Martyna Pastuszka received a nomination for "exceptional leadership skills, thanks to which her band {oh!} Historical Orchestra became the leader among Polish orchestras playing period instruments" and for "original expansion of the repertoire, including works of Polish composers and so-called Polonica".

More information at: https://www.polityka.pl/TygodnikPolityka/kultura/paszporty 

On 14 January 2020 at 6.00 p.m. the Łódź Philharmonic will initiate a new series of meetings "Listening", which will be hosted by Agata Kwiecińska, radio journalist and editor of music publications. The first meeting in the Concert Hall will be devoted to the late Zdzisław Szostak.

An outstanding conductor and composer, longtime deputy director for artistic affairs and conductor of the Łódź Philharmonic would turn 90 on 13 January 2020. The late Maestro, as a pensioner, always willingly visited the Philharmonic. During the Tuesday's meeting Maestro Szostak will be recalled by: Dorota Filipczyk – the daughter of the Professor, Jacek Filipczyk – the son-in-law, the musicians and artist's friends: Łukasz Błaszczyk and Mariusz Drzewicki. The meeting will be accompanied by a chamber concert performed by Mariusz Drzewicki (piano), Sławomira Wilga (violin), Michał Owczarek (bassoon) and Tomasz Bartoszek (piano).

The guests of subsequent monthly meetings dedicated to interesting personalities from the world of culture will be well-known soloists, conductors, researchers, authors of texts on music and musicians, among others Tomasz Konieczny, Maria Pomianowska, Piotr Pławner, Marcin Gmys, Andrzej Wendland. The new cycle is a continuation of the Łódź Philharmonic Friends Salon, which took place over the past years.

More information at: https://filharmonia.lodz.pl/pl/wydarzenia/nasluchiwanie 

The next edition of the Sinfonia Varsovia series „Resounds. New Polish Music” will open with a concert on 11 January 2010 at 7.00 p.m. in the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw. The programme will include compositions by Agata Zubel, Emil Młynarski and Luciano Berio. Adam Siebers will perform as a soloist, the orchestra will be conducted by Wilson Hermanto.

Fireworks (2018) by Agata Zubel is the composer's musical view on the hundred years of the Polish nation – its tradition and contexts of broadly understood culture. The eight-minute work for extended symphony orchestra is filled with fireworks of musical thoughts, impressions and sound reminiscences, freely combined with each other. The composition reached international audiences, arousing widespread admiration. It was performed, among others at London's Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms festival and Konzerthaus in Berlin. In August 2018, Fireworks brought Agata Zubel the European Composer Award.

The pretext for a musical retrospective to the interwar period is the 100th anniversary of the premiere of the Second Violin Concerto in D major by an outstanding violinist, conductor, composer and organizer of Warsaw's musical life – Emil Młynarski. The work will allow to observe the changes in the composer's language of expression over the century and understand the context of the new Polish music. Set in the tradition of European music, with a virtuoso solo party compared to Wieniawski's concerts, it will be performed by the outstanding violinist of the young generation, the second concert master of Sinfonia Varsovia, Adam Siebers.

The programme will also include Rendering (1989) by Italian composer Luciano Berio. Its genesis is associated with the discovery of sketches of the unfinished 10th Symphony in D major by Franz Schubert, which form the foundation of the composition. The premiere performance of the work took place exactly 30 years ago at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

The concert will be preceded by a meeting with Agata Zubel led by Jacek Hawryluk (6.00 p.m.).

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.sinfoniavarsovia.org 

A concert of the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra conducted by Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk with the laureate of the Stanisław Moniuszko International Polish Music Competition in Rzeszów, pianist Pavel Dombrovsky will take place on 25 January 2020 at 7.00 p.m. at the Concert Hall of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. The artists will present works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Alexander Borodin and Paul Dukas.

Alexander Borodin, the oldest of a group of composers which went down in the history of music as the Mighty Handful, was a chemist by education and profession who only occasionally wrote music. Although a ‘dilettante’, as he would introduce himself on many occasions, his technique was excellent, and his works entered the canon of Russian music as its centrepieces. Ecstatic, exotic and energetic, the Polovtsian Dances (the Polovtsians being a mystery people from the steppes of the present-day Kazakhstan and fringe of Siberia whom the eponymous character invades) were among the fragments which the author wrote first, and nowadays – performed as a separate piece – they are regarded as symphonic ‘hits’.

Paul Dukas, a contemporary and friend of the famous Claude Debussy, is an author somewhat forgotten in the present day. While only few of his works reappear on stage at concert halls and theatres, his name has been immortalized by a symphonic scherzo The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, based on J.W. Goethe’s playful ballad.

Pavel Dombrovsky, an outstanding Russian pianist and winner of many prestigious competitions, performs the Piano Concerto in A minor by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a pianist, composer and statesman. Full of spectacular virtuosity, this piece was written by Paderewski at 28, on the brink of his fame, which came relatively late. The success of the world premiere (with the participation of Anette Essipoff, performing under the baton of the great Hans Richter) confirmed that his work was a masterpiece, marking the beginning of his long career on the world’s stages. Of course, through its beautiful stylisations of national motifs, it is close to the Polish audience’s heart in particular.

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/