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Szczecin | When Spring Comes

When spring comes and Time to say goodbye – the concerts performed by the choir and musicians from the Szczecin Opera Orchestra conducted by Małgorzata Bornowska will take place on 27 and 28 February 27 2021 at the Castle Opera in Szczecin.

Szczecin opera singer, actor and director Mirosław Kosiński will take the audience on a sentimental musical journey. The first part of the concert consists entirely of works by Maciej Małecki. We will hear love songs to the poetry of Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer and songs to words by Wojciech Młynarski, Agnieszka Osiecka and Elżbieta Szeptyńska for a cappella mixed choir, expressing the longing for unrequited love, true friendship, lost youth, and the long-awaited spring.

The second part will present the musical evergreens – songs from movies, musicals and the world of so-called popular music, including Moon river from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, Time to say goodbye and Besame mucho.

Tickets for unassigned seats are on sale with the venue capacity limited to 50%.

Full programme is available at: https://www.opera.szczecin.pl/repertuar/kiedy-przyjdzie-wiosna

Warsaw | Symphonic Concert at Warsaw Philharmonic: Górecki, Wagner and Schreker

The contemporary Polish composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki was one of the admirers of Wagner's work. The drama about the history of legendary lovers is reflected in one of his last, unfinished compositions: Two Tristan Postludes and Chorale, Op. 82, which will be performed on 27 February 2021 at 6.00 p.m. at the Warsaw Philharmonic.

Similar to several other unfinished compositions, the work was prepared for concert performance by the composer's son, Mikołaj Górecki. The postludes allude to Tristan, as if stopping, stretching in time, reflecting and subtly transfiguring a few selected motifs. The first postlude is based on a fragment of the poignant complaint of the twice-betrayed King Mark from Act II, the second – among others, on themes of the famous Vorspiel.

After his involvement in the events of the May Revolution in Dresden in 1849, Richard Wagner and his wife Minna had to seek refuge in Switzerland, where they were hosted by Otto Wesendonck, a merchant and patron of the composer. The host's wife, Mathilde, was also admirer of the musician's talent, and soon a tender affection developed between them. Wagner rarely resorted to texts other than his own – the exceptions are the poems by Mathilde Wesendonck, arranged by him in 1857-58. Great attention was devoted to what extent this difficult relationship influenced the final shape of the music drama Tristan and Isolde, which was being created at the same time. Wagner himself admitted that writing these songs was a kind of compositional study for Tristan, which was reflected in Im Treibhaus and Träume. The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Thomas Rösner and soprano Ewa Vesin will present the songs in chamber arrangement by Ronald Kornfeil.

Franz Schreker was valued by his contemporaries especially as a composer of operas, but he created works of various genres, and among his orchestral compositions, the grateful Chamber Symphony from 1916 gained special and relatively lasting popularity. One-movement (but composed of several segments, similar to cyclical forms), the work for 23 performers delights with its rich texture and colour, and a special, dreamlike aura, especially in the introductory episode.

Piotr Maculewicz

More information at: http://www.filharmonia.pl/koncerty-i-bilety/repertuar/koncert-symfoniczny270

POLIN Music Festival 2021: #online

A special edition of POLIN Music Festival will be held online on 26-28 February 2021. Premieres of the concerts will take place at the POLIN Museum Facebook profile and on the Museum YouTube channel. The music journey will lead the audience from Switzerland, through Belgium, Poland and Ukraine all the way to the United States. We will be listening to the music composed by Bloch, Gershwin, Glass, Freidlin, Piazzolla and Weinberg.

The programme will include six concerts. Violinist Michael Guttman, curator of the Festival, together with cellist Jing Zhao will perform Suite Hebraïque by Ernest Bloch. Polish musicians of the younger generation: Ewa Leszczyńska, Maria Sławek, Marcin Zdunik and Mischa Kozłowski will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the passing of Mieczysław Weinberg by presenting the songs he composed to Yiddish lyrics. Alexey Botvinov and Eric Himy will perform the music by Philip Glass, Jan Freidlin and George Gershwin during their piano recitals. The final concert will commemorate Astor Piazzolla’s 100th birth anniversary. The youngest music lovers, including children with special sensory needs, will learn the secrets of string quartet thanks to the musicians of the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra.

As part of POLIN Music Festival, the organisers have also planned the premieres of podcasts devoted to the musicians who are heroes of the "Legacy" gallery, a new section of the POLIN Museum core exhibition. They will introduce the works by Bronisław Huberman, Artur Rubinstein and Henryk Wars to the Festival audience.

More information: https://polin.pl/pl/polin-music-festival-2021

Rzeszów | Symphony Orchestra of Artur Malawski Philharmonic and Massimiliano Caldi

The Artur Malawski Philharmonic in Rzeszów invites you to a symphonic concert on 26 February 2021 at 7.00 p.m.

The programme will include Michał Spisak's Toccata (1942), a work dazzling with orchestral colours, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. The piece was written in a highly emotional period in the composer's life. It is a result of his creative successes (after composing Piano Concerto No. 1 and the ballet Swan Lake) and dramatic experiences related to a failed marriage. The confidant of the composer's most secret thoughts at that time was Nadezhda von Meck, to whom Tchaikovsky dedicated his symphony. In one of the letters addressed to his patroness, the composer revealed the meaning of this work. The fanfare first heard at the opening stands for "Fate", with this being "the fatal power which prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness". This motif recurs in the Allegro con fuoco finale.

The concert will be performed by the Symphony Orchestra of Artur Malawski Philharmonic under the baton of the outstanding Italian conductor Massimiliano Caldi. Winner of the first prize at the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors (1999), Caldi is the principal conductor of the Rzeszów Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

More information: http://www.filharmonia.rzeszow.pl/

Kraków | 100th death anniversary of Władysław Żeleński

The Krakow Philharmonic will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Władysław Żeleński with a concert on 26 February 2021 at 7.30 p.m.

As the most influential Polish composer of the fin-de-siècle, Władysław Żeleński occupies an important place in the history of Polish music. His compositional output includes 4 operas, nearly 100 solo songs, 19 orchestral works, 10 occasional cantatas for choir and orchestra, many choral and chamber compositions, 36 preludes and 12 organ fugues, numerous pieces for solo piano and for 4 hands. Unfortunately, many of his works have been lost, including both symphonies.

The programme of the upcoming concert will include Żeleński's Andante from Symphony No. 1, Piano Concerto, Angels' Singing for soprano, female choir and orchestra, as well as Psalm No. 46 for male choir and orchestra to words by Jan Kochanowski. In 2020, the latter piece was published in electronic version next to three other unknown manuscripts of orchestral works by the Władysław Żeleński Foundation with a seat in the composer's birthplace – Grodkowice. The concert will be performed by pianist Piotr Sałajczyk, soprano Magdalena Drozd and the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Sebastian Perłowski.

The detailed programme is available at: https://www.filharmonia.krakow.pl/Home/9415-KONCERT_ORATORYJNY.html

Szczecin | "Adela" at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic

On 26 February 2021 at 7 p.m., three weeks after the premiere of "Adela" – the latest album of the duo Aleksander Dębicz and Łukasz Kuropaczewski, the Szczecin Philharmonic invites you to a unique concert in the place where the album was recorded – the Symphony Hall of the Philharmonic.

The album was relased on 5 February 2021 by the Warner Classics. According to Aleksander Dębicz: "The piano and classical guitar virtually never collaborate in music. However, after our first joint performance with Łukasz Kuropaczewski we immediately realised that we could create intriguing music worlds together. In my arrangements of classical works, I strove to represent the sonic qualities of both instruments, their unique expression, and cultural associations. I reworked Domenico Scarlatti’s famous Sonata in D Minor (Toccata) K. 141 so as to bring out its Spanish roots. Titled Domingo on our album, it features distinctive flamenco qualities and an improvised layer. The Aranjuez Concerto BWV 1056 is, as its very name suggests, a fusion of the world’s most famous piece for guitar and orchestra, Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in F Minor BWV 1056."

"Three of the works on this album have been enriched by the angelic voice of Jakub Józef Orliński. In these three, Egberto Gismonti’s guitar composition Água e Vinho, my own Quarantine Song, and even the famous Adela by Joaquin Rodrigo, the voice has been treated more as an instrument than a lyrical subject. Adela constitutes the emotional culmination of our duo’s programme. What counts is not the name, but the person we love and long for. Everyone certainly has such a person, and so we hope that each listener will find on our CD something close to his or her heart."

Information about tickets: https://filharmonia.szczecin.pl/pl

Wrocław | Song of Gratitude

Lutosławski Quartet will perform two string quartets by Karol Szymanowski and Ludwig van Beethoven on 25 February 2021 at 7.00 p.m. at the National Forum of Music. Both works were created in difficult times for the artists who sought relief in music. Beethoven called one of the movements of his quartet a "holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent".

Szymanowski composed the String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 37 in 1917, during one of the most difficult periods of his life, when the revolutionaries and the Soviet communist party escalated their activities against landowners, forcing him and his family to leave their Tymoszówka estate. Composed in Elisavetgrad and regarded as one of Szymanowski's most inspired works, it had clearly been influenced by those dramatic events. After the premiere of the quartet in Warsaw in March 1924, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz wrote: "In no previous work of his could one feel such hot breath of the south, not the heat of the Sicilian afternoon, nor the mournful glow of Greece, when the Pan’s flute drives hearts to death, but a heat that is succulent, ripe, and fragrant with the grain of the Ukraine… the wailing, that mixes on a hot afternoon… with the high hum of the cicadas". Szymanowski’s comments about the quartet were somewhat restrained: "I do not count it among my favourite compositions, but it does represent something of value".

String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 is one of Beethoven's late works. It is a powerful, monumental, five-movement composition. The composer wrote this piece after recovering from a serious illness which he had feared was fatal. He thus headed the movement with the words, "Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian mode". However, the fast section bears the annotation "feeling new strength".

More information at: https://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl/en/component/nfmcalendar/event/8236

Poznań | Maestro Antoni Wit at the Poznań Academy of Music

A unique concert at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań will be held on 25 February 2021 at 7.00 p.m. The student Symphony Orchestra and the Academy's teachers, Barbara Kubiak (soprano) and Jarosław Bręk (baritone), will perform under the baton of Maestro Antoni Wit.

Since 1987 Barbara Kubiak, a graduate of the Academy of Music in Poznań, has been permanently associated with the Grand Theatre in Poznań. She collaborates with the best opera theaters in Poland. She went on numerous international tours with the Grand Theatre in Łódź, the Krakow Opera, the Lower Silesian Opera and the Grand Theatre in Poznań, including to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany and Great Britain. Barbara Kubiak also performs in oratorio and concert repertoire. Jarosław Bręk graduated from the Vocal Department of the Academy of Music in Warsaw, where he studied with prof. Jerzy Artysz. He has collaborated with 150 orchestras and 200 choirs from around the world, has performed over 20 opera parts and over 140 oratorios. He was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit, the Bronze Gloria Artis Medal, the Badge of Merit for Polish Culture, the Honorary Badge for merits for the Greater Poland Voivodeship and the Honorary Badge for merits for the Lubuskie Voivodeship. Since 2000, he has been the leading soloist of the Warsaw Chamber Opera.

The programme of the concert in Aula Nova will include Tadeusz Baird's Four love sonnets to words by William Shakespeare and Ludwig van Beethoven's concert aria Ah! Perfido, Op. 65 and Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. The evening will be hosted by Mikołaj Rykowski.

The concert will be held with the participation of the audience. Free tickets will be issued immediately before the concert.

More information at: https://amuz.edu.pl/

The New Epiphanies Festival 2021

"Who is able to stand?" is the slogan of the 12th edition of the New Epiphanies International Festival organised by the Centre for the Thought of John Paul II, a cultural institution of the Capital City of Warsaw. This year's edition will be held online between 17 February and 28 March 2021. The programme features nine theatre premieres, a series of early music concerts, workshops and a culinary event.

Last year's edition was interrupted by the pandemic. The organisers are curious how the artists will interpret the theme of the Festival this year. Behind the festival events stand new and exciting artistic discoveries as well as insights and ideas that allow one to move on, even from the most difficult position. The main theme of the 12th edition is the apocalypse understood both in the literal sense as a revelation, and in the sense given to it by tradition – as a catastrophe. Michał Senk, director of the Centre for the Thought of John Paul II, points out: "The leitmotif of this year's Festival – the apocalyptic 'Who is able to stand?' – is an opportunity to face the subject of the End Times in conditions in which we see that the biblical vision is penetrating directly into our reality”.

This year's theatrical programme consists of nine premieres, including Cassandra (21 February) directed by Zofia Gustowska with music by the guitarist and composer Michał Lazar. "In this year's early music programme, we look at different ends of the world: the extinction of genres, instruments and styles," emphasize Sonia Wronkowska and Łukasz Kozak, curators of the music programme. The futuristic approach, i.e. the biblical apocalypse, is just one of the possible interpretations of the theme of the Festival. The humanistic approach, in turn, draws attention to the fate of individual people, for example, great musicians falling victim to an epidemic. In history, we have experienced the great extinction of the clavichord or viola da gamba, Polish traditional music or the Earth's ecosystems. Stylistic breakthroughs brought an end to some music genres, and allowed others to develop”.

All Festival events – including the free ones – are ticketed.

Full programme is available at: www.noweepifanie.pl