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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

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/ 

Composer and musicologist Jan Węcowski died in Warsaw on 11 February 2021, at the age of 89. Since 1964 he was a member of the Polish Composers 'Union and in 1973-1975 he was president of the PCU's Warsaw Branch. He was a long-term lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy Music in Warsaw and the editor-in-chief of the Academy's publishing house.

He graduated in musicology from the University of Warsaw, where he studied with Hieronim Feicht. He also completed supplementary studies in history and classical philology as well as a library course at the University of Warsaw. Already from 1957 he was engaged in teaching. He was a member of many organizations and associations.

In the years 1960-1981 he collaborated with the Polish Radio and created over 500 music programmes and wrote over 200 album reviews. From 1990 to 1992 he was the artistic director of the Polish Radio and advisor to the vice president of the Radio and Television Committee. In 1967-88 he was editor, director and artistic director of the Veriton record label, and in 1988-90 he was artistic director and deputy representative at the Arston record label. From 1970 he collaborated with Polish Television. In 1998–2006 he was the editor-in-chief of the Publishing House of the Academy of Music in Warsaw.

As a musicologist, he participated in many scientific conferences in Poland and abroad. He discovered the oldest known preserved music manuscript in Poland – Exsultet (ca. 1060) from the Tyniec Sacramentarium and several dozen early music pieces (including by Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki). On his initiative about 500 early and contemporary music pieces have been published.

Jan Węcowski's compositions were performed in Poland and abroad, incl. in France, Italy and Germany, and have been released on many CDs. He was also the author of Polish and Latin poetry texts and translations from French, Italian and Latin, which were used in numerous works by Polish composers.

The national preliminary round of the 2nd Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music will be held in Warsaw on 4 and 5 May 2021. It is addressed to candidates holding Polish citizenship or the Karta Polaka (Polish Ethnicity Card), regardless of their place of residence. The deadline for the submission of applications is 15 April 2021.

The Qualification Committee of the preliminary round will select up to ten qualifiers in each of two categories – pianists and chamber ensembles. The participants who qualify in such a way are exempted from the entry fee and are further awarded a scholarship sufficient to cover the costs of travel and accommodation during their stay in Rzeszów (11–18 September 2021).

During the preliminary round held in Warsaw, the candidates from the piano category are required to perform the entire programme of Stage I of the Competition, pursuant to Annex A (attached to the Rulebook), not exceeding 20 minutes of musical presentation. The candidates from the chamber ensemble category are required to perform the programme from Stage I, pursuant to Annex B (attached to the Rulebook), not exceeding 20 minutes of musical presentation; performance of individual movements will be accepted. The candidates wishing to take part in the preliminary round should submit their applications by filling in e-forms available on the website of the Competition: pianists and chamber ensembles.

The second edition of the Stanisław Moniuszko International Competition of Polish Music will take place at the Artur Malawski Podkarpacka Philharmonic Hall in Rzeszów between 11 and 18 September 2021. The Prize Winners Concert will be repeated at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw on 20 September 2021. The participants will contest in two categories: for pianists and for chamber ensembles, with the total prize money exceeding 80,000 euros.

The Rules and Regulations of the Competition are available at: https://www.konkursmuzykipolskiej.pl/article/contest-rules 

The Polish Chamber Musicians' Association and the Pro Musica Bona Foundation invite you to a special online concert streamed live from the Władysław Żeleński State Secondary Music School in Kraków on 23 February 2021 at 7.00 p.m.

The "Faces of Piano" project is a series of concerts presenting various faces of piano music – from solo pieces to chamber works for various ensembles. The upcoming event will feature 9 pianists (Anna Duda, Łukasz Dębski, Dominika Grzybacz, Monika Gardoń-Preinl, Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler, Agnieszka Plata, Ireneusz Boczek, Grzegorz Mania and Piotr Różański) who will perform pieces for 1, 2, 4 and 6 hands!

The programme will include works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Moritz Moszkowski, Antonín Dvořák, Mike Cornick, Frank Bridge, and Piotr Tchaikovsky. The concert will also premiere Mołodyjka and Fiesta de nieve (for 2 and 6 hands) by Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler, a star of the Polsat TV show "Beautiful Brain".

Free passes are available at:https://app.evenea.pl/event/oblicza3/ 

More information at: https://spmk.com.pl/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stowarzyszeniekameralistow