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BISMA Bacewicz International Summer Music Academy are master classes directed at musicians who want to expand their knowledge and develop skills in piano playing. The courses will take place between 2 and 8 August 2020 in the buildings of the Academy of Music in Łódź.

This year's classes will be led by the most outstanding pianists from prestigious music academies: Michel Béroff (professor of Seong-Jin Cho, the winner of the 17th Chopin Piano Competition) and Claudio Martinez Mehner as well as artists of the young generation: Alexej Gorlatch and Ilya Maximov. There will be several concerts broadcast live on the Internet.

The summer courses will culminate in a gala concert during which the Grażyna Bacewicz International Prize of 1,000 € will be granted to the best participant.

The application deadline is 8 June 2020. The entry fee is 50 € (participants from Poland are exempt from the entry fee). The cost of participation in the course is 520 €.

The director of BISMA is the Polish pianist Julia Kociuban.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.bisma.pl 

The Institute of Music and Dance and Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute invite you on 8 June 2020 to a conference "Art institutions in the new reality – ask an expert a question".

The exact hour of the meeting will be announced shortly. The conference is addressed to the directors of art institutions and serves to clarify the guidelines for supporting the return of audiences to cultural events.

Due to the limited number of places, applicants will be handled on a first-come-first-served basis. One institution can be represented only by one participant, submitting a maximum of two questions to which invited experts will answer during the meeting. To participate in the meeting you must register by 4 June at 5.00 p.m.

All interested in participating are asked to complete the registration form that is available on the website: https://imit.org.pl/konferencje/zadaj-pytanie-ekspertowi

Guidelines for organizers of cultural and entertainment events during the SARS-CoV-2 virus epidemic in Poland were developed by the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, with assistance of the Institute of Music and Dance and Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute.

The fourth stage of restoring economic and social life means the possibility of reopening cultural institutions – theatres, operas, concert halls and cinemas. Cultural events will return after more than two months break. The coming weeks in cultural institutions will be key in terms of recognizing the audience expectations. Return of the audience will certainly be gradual and building trust will be important. Therefore, the directors and employees of cultural institution have an important task ahead of them consisting of proper communication with viewers and securing a space that meets the sanitary safety requirements.

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has provided a set of guidelines that are another, more precise, record of guidelines enabling actions with respect for restrictions and concern for our health. The key task is to adapt the possibilities of cultural institutions to these guidelines.

Documents are available at: https://www.gov.pl/web/kultura/wytyczne-dla-uruchamiania-dzialalnosci-instytucji-kultury--teatrow-oper-filharmonii-i-kin 

Famous Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor and musicologist Myroslav Skoryk died on 1 June 2020 in Kiev, at the age of 81. In 2006-2010 he was the vice president of the Ukrainian Composers' Union. The funeral will take place on 5 June at the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv.

Skoryk was a graduate of Lviv and Moscow Conservatories. He taught composition at the Lviv (1963-1966) and Kiev Conversatories (1966-1988), and until 1999 lectured at universities in the United States and Australia. After returning to Ukraine, he was the head of the Department of the History of Ukrainian Music at the Ukrainian National Academy of Music, artistic director of the Kyiv Music Fest, and artistic director of the Taras Shevchenko National Opera of Ukraine (2011-2016). He also taught composition at the Lviv Conservatory.

His work include an opera, two ballets, four cantatas for choir and symphony orchestra, four symphonic poems, concerto for orchestra, three piano and nine violin concertos, suites and partite for chamber orchestra, music for films, as well as many chamber and choral works, including Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.

Myroslav Skoryk received a number of honourary titles, important state awards and decorations, among others The Hero of Ukraine, the People's Artist of Ukraine, the Order of the State and the Golden Star, the Order of Merit I, II and III degree, and Taras Shevchenko National Award.

Condolences from the Polish Composers' Union are available in Polish and Ukrainian.

Founder and manager of the Ensemble Peregrina based in Basel, twice nominated for "Polityka" Passports Awards. Vocalist, harpist and musicologist who knows all secrets of early music. Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett will be the guest of the next, eighth broadcast from the series "House Party with Dwójka". The concert from her home in Switzerland will be held at 7 p.m. on 6 June 2020.

Every weekend, Polish Radio Channel 2 (Dwójka) invites you to concerts taking place in the homes of artists who want to share their music with listeners and Internet users in these difficult times of isolation. This Saturday, Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett will perform with Elizabeth Rumsey – an instrumentalist who specializes in performing 15th- and 16th-century music.

Their concert programme will include medieval and Renaissance motets, psalms and songs, some in instrumental versions, as well as works by composers of the turn of the 20th century – Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Karol Szymanowski. During the concert, you'll be able to hear several historical instruments, such as the gothic harp, viola d'arco and lirone. There will be also a surprise for listeners – Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett, who is also a pianist by education, will play the piano in public for the first time since graduation.

Broadcast of the concert in the "House Party with the Dwójka" series on 6 June at 7.00 p.m. – on Polish Radio Channel 2, its website and Facebook page.