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"We will perform works by Weinberg, Shostakovich, Lasocki, Penderecki and Knapik," announces Szymon Krzeszowiec, leader of the Silesian Quartet, who will perform at the next "House Party with Dwójka". Live broadcast on 8 May 2021 at 7.00 p.m. on the Polish Radio Channel 2 (Dwójka), the station's website, Facebook and YouTube.

The Silesian String Quartet has existed continuously since 1978. Today, the ensemble enjoys international renown, performing on concert stages in the majority of European countries as well as in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China and South Korea. The Quartet’s repertoire consists of over 400 chamber pieces, with around 300 of them representing works from the musical canon of the 20th and 21st-centuries. The chamber musicians of Silesia have premiered over 100 string quartets by Polish and foreign composers, with a significant number of  works dedicated to them. They have recorded music from many eras, with special emphasis on Polish music from the last three decades. Their recordings can be found on over 60 albums. Seven of them have been singled out for Fryderyk Awards of the Polish Phonographic Industry. In 2017, the multi-award-winning ensemble received one of the most prestigious awards in the world of classical music – Gramophone Classical Music Awards in the chamber music category for an album with works by Grażyna Bacewicz.

Members of the Silesian Quartet: Szymon Krzeszowiec – 1st violin, Arkadiusz Kubica – 2nd violin, Łukasz Syrnicki – viola, Piotr Janosik – cello.

More information: https://www.polskieradio.pl/8,Dwojka 

This year's extended editionof the International Piano Forum "Bieszczady Without Borders" will be held both in Sanok and in Warsaw between 24 April and 9 May 2021. All concerts will be broadcast live on the Foundation's Facebook and YouTube.

The 16th Forum will be inaugurated on 24 April by a recital by the winners of the Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music in Rzeszów – Polish Violin Duo (Marta Gidaszewska and Robert Łaguniak). The concert "PGNiG for the city" on 25 April will be filled with music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Fryderyk Chopin performed by the National Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and candidates for this year's Chopin Competition.

The Forum is the only project in the Carpathian Euroregion that covers such a wide range of topics, from health classes (doctors and rehabilitation specialists from the LIRA clinic) to lectures on the role of business in the promotion of culture. Due to the pandemic, this year's educational part has been fully transferred to the Conference and Training Centre of the BOSS Hotel in Warsaw. Participants of the 16th edition of the Forum will take part in demonstration and individual lessons with Forum Masters, various courses and thematic lectures with invited guests – outstanding artists and teachers. In Warsaw, there will also be concerts of Lidia Grychtołówna, Andrzej Jasiński, Andrzej Tatarski, Bogdan Olędzki, Lukas Geniušas (Lithuania), Konstanty Wileński (Ukraine / Poland), Philippe Giusian (France), and Mikhail Woskriesienski (Russia). The 3rd Suite of the Nations of Europe, created as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance, will premiere on 2 May.

Forum Winners will receive awards, scholarships and "Golden Parnassus 2021" prizes.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme is available at: www.interpiano.pl 

It is with great regret that we say goodbye to Lucjan Kaszycki, our union colleague since 1958. He died on 5 May 2021 in Warsaw at the age of 89.

He graduated from the State Higher School of Music in Kraków, where he studied composition with Stanisław Wiechowicz. Later, he became a professor of composition there, and from 1974 he also taught jazz and entertainment music at the Academy of Music in Warsaw. He was a respected author of theatre and film music, he also wrote many hit songs. The song Pamiętasz, była jesień... [Do you remember, it was autumn...] with his music and lyrics by Andrzej Czekalski and Ryszard Pluciński, written for the film Farewells by Wojciech Jerzy Has in 1958, became an all-time hit. It was sang poignantly by Sława Przybylska, and then by many famous Polish singers, including Magda Umer, Kora, Kasia Nosowska, and Anna Maria Jopek.

Lucjan Kaszycki received many awards in various areas of artistic and didactic-educational activity, including the honorary badge "Meritorious Activist of Culture", the medal "For Merit to the City of Opole", the Golden Cross of Merit, the "Golden Helicon" medal for lifetime artistic achievements awarded by the Kraków Branch of the Polish Jazz Society, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and in 2013 – the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture "Gloria Artis".

We have lost an amazing Artist.

Hail to his memory!

Polish Composers' Union

The preliminary round for the 2nd Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music in Rzeszów, open to candidates who are holders of Polish citizenship or the Polish Ethnicity Card (Karta Polaka), regardless of place of residence, was held on 4 and 5 May 2021 in Warsaw.

The competition committee composed of Jarosław Drzewiecki, Andrzej Tatarski and Tadeusz Wojciechowski qualified pianists and chamber ensembles for the first stage of the 2nd International Competition of Polish Music Stanisław Moniuszko on 11-18 September 2021 in Rzeszów. The qualifiers of the preliminary round are exempted from the entry fee and are further awarded a scholarship sufficient to cover travel and accommodation costs incurred during the course of the Competition.

Please be reminded that the candidates who have not been successful in the auditions will still have a chance to take part in the Competition by applying through the regular procedure, regardless of nationality and age, until 31 May of this year.

The competition is organized by the Institute of Music and Dance and the Artur Malawski Podkarpacka Philharmonic in Rzeszów. The competition is financed by the Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport and is held under the honorary patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda. The competition belongs to the network of piano competitions of the Alink-Argerich Foundation.

https://konkursmuzykipolskiej.pl/en/

The following pianists and chamber ensembles have qualified for the first stage of the 2nd Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music in Rzeszów:

On 6 May 2021 at 5.00 p.m., as part of the "Węglin" Distric Community Centre's series "Always Classical", harpsichordist Paulina Tkaczyk will perform forgotten and rediscovered polonaises of Polish composers from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries as well as music of Marian Sawa.

We will hear polonaises by Józef Kozłowski, who worked in Poland (he was Michał Kleofas Ogiński's teacher) and in Russia, where he popularised this musical genre and wrote first choral polonaises; Karol Kurpiński, associated for many years with the National Theater in Warsaw, the author of music to the song Warszawianka; and Antoni Leopold, active at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Paulina Tkaczyk also aims at popularising works by Christlieb Siegmund Binder – a composer of the court of Augustus III – King of Poland and Elector of Saxony – and his grandson Frederick Augustus III. This artist was one of the most important precursors of the new musical aesthetics, which was born in the 18th century and led to the consolidation of the classical style. Richard Engländer wrote that in the Dresden circle Binder held the same position as Philipp Emmanuel Bach in Berlin. Binder was inspired, among others, by French music, which will also appear in the programme. We will hear works by Jacques Duphly and Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer – teacher of the son and daughters of Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska.

The concert will end with Polish music of the 20th century: Marian Sawa's Burlesque of 1995.

Live streaming will be available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/187243169907596/