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"The image as a source of musical inspiration" is the theme of this year’s edition of the International Festival of Krakow Composers, which will take place on May 11- 19, 2019.

The 31st edition of the festival will present e.g. compositions inspired by Japanese woodcuts, paintings by European and American artists, film and optical phenomena. During the concerts, the output of composers from Poland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Mexico, South Korea and Japan will be presented. We will listen to 20 world premieres and 13 Polish premieres. The special guests of the festival are Hanna Kulenty and Italian composer Ada Gentile. In connection with the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Poland and South Korea, the composers of the middle and young generations from Korea will be also guests of the Festival, namely: Chang-Min Park, Jeo See and Lydia Deokin Ko.

The festival will feature many outstanding musicians. Recognised Korean singer, permanently resident of Germany, Yeree Suh will perform Klage by Toshio Hosokawa, bass-baritone Robert Keller from Switzerland will perform the new world premiere of Persian Songs by Konstanty Regamey, Simone Beneventi, the Italian drummer, will present for the first time a composition by Krakow composer, Karol Nepelski, and flutist Jadwiga Kotnowska will perform the Polish premiere of Run by Hanna Kulenty. Moreover, the festival will feature great ensembles and orchestras, such as: Dafô Quartet, Silesian Trio, Sinfonietta Cracovia, the Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Krakow and the Orchestra of the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Krakow.

Among the accompaning events there will be an academic session entitled “Music and image”, featuring lectures by theorists from the Academy of Music in Krakow and Academy of Music in Lodz. Also, the important element of the programme of the 31st International Festival of Krakow Composers is the 2nd International Krzysztof Penderecki Competition for Young Composers, established on the occasion of the composer's 85th birthday. The idea of the competition is to promote music of composers of the young generation from the whole world. This year, the winner of the First Prize is Olgierd Juzala-Departi (b. 1994) for the work Whispers [Szepty] for string quartet.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: www.zkp.krakow.pl 

On May 10-14, 2019, the 7th edition of the International Festival of Contemporary Music "New Music" will take place in Bydgoszcz.

The "New Music" Festival is a joint venture between the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Branch of the Polish Composers' Union and the Municipal Cultural Center in Bydgoszcz. The idea of ​​this annual undertaking is to create new artistic qualities by combining different disciplines: music, image, word, multimedia. Thus, the festival promotes new works and inspires composers, musicians, artists and writers to co-create culture. The main aim of the festival is present innovative non-commercial artistic phenomena from Poland and abroad.

This year's edition will present music from Australia, Serbia and Poland. There will be a concert of students of the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz, a concert of composers of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Branch of the Polish Composers' Union, a concert of Gdańsk composers, a screening of short films and animations by students and the lecturers at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń combined with presentation of works by students of the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz. This year's programme includes world premieres of works by Aleksandra Brejza, Sławomir Czarnecki, Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska, Piotr A. Komorowski, Artur Kroschel, Marcin Molski, Bohdan Riemer, Paulina Zujewska, as well as Kirsten Milenko's Lux Aeterna for solo drums – a work dedicated to the memory of the President of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: http://www.nowamuzyka.bydgoszcz.pl/ 

The Mayor of the City of Katowice Marcin Krupa and the General and Programme Director of NOSPR Ewa Bogusz-Moore would like to invite you to the fifth edition of the Festival "Katowice Culture Nature: Woman", which will take place on 10-19 May 2019. Tickets for the concerts available at the box office and in the online sales system from 1 March 2019.

Every year, the programme of the Festival is open to all musical periods and genres and bound to host world-class ensembles and soloists who are certain to deliver performances on the highest level.

Traditionally, the Festival will open with a subscription concert of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Alexander Liebreich. They will present a rarely performed piece by Arthur Honegger, Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, devoted to one of the most famous women in world history. NOSPR will also perform on 16th May. Together with special guest Zbigniew Zamachowski, they will present pieces by Tchaikovsky and Berlioz, as well as Stravinsky’s Oedipus rex. In two concerts, on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th May, the Festival will feature one of the best Austrian orchestras: Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and its artistic director Riccardo Minasi. During the Saturday concert, the orchestra will perform with Luisa Imorde, a renowned pianist. 12th May will see the performance of one of the best Russian pianists, Nikolai Lugansky. On Tuesday 14th May, the highlight of the Festival’s liederabend will be the performance of a world-famous British vocalist, Dame Sarah Connolly accompanied by Joseph Middleton. 19th May will see another of the Festival’s highlights – the concert of the famous London Philharmonia Orchestra led by the wonderful Alondra de la Parra. The evening will feature Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor Op. 47 performed by an absolute world star of the violin, Viktoria Mullova.

As it was the case with previous editions, the Festival will also play host to jazz concerts. On 11th May, a rising star of global jazz vocal scene, Youn Sun Nah from Korea, will perform in the concert hall. On 13th May, there will also be an occasion to listen to chamber music performed by the Silesian Chamber Orchestra led by Robert Kabara. The programme will include works by Hanna Kulenty, Eugeniusz Knapik, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: http://www.nospr.org.pl/en/series/24/katowice-kultura-natura-festival

10th edition of the International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition will take place at the Grand Theatre – Polish National Opera in Warsaw on May 6-11, 2019.

This unique jubilee event coincides with the celebrations of the 200th birth annniversary of the patron of the Competition – Stanisław Moniuszko. On this occasion, on the composer's birthday, May 5, 2019, an Opening Gala and a concert of the laureates of previous editions will take place. The programme will consist of fragments of Moniuszko's operas and gems of vocal music.

Distinguished artists and singers as well as managers of the world's leading opera theaters are invited to the Competition Jury: John Allison, Piotr Beczała, Jonathan Friend, Tobias Oliver Hasan, Boris Ignatov, Peter Mario Katona, Izabella Kłosińska, Robert Körner, Gianluca Macheda, Pål Christian Moe , Nicholas Payne, Alain Perroux, Ewa Podles, Tobias Truniger, and Evamaria Wieser.

The Competition's repertoire includes both the heritage of the patron of the Competition – an outstanding composer, considered to be the founder of the Polish national opera, as well as works of Fryderyk Chopin, Karol Szymanowski, Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Polish contemporary composers such as Tadeusz Baird, Grażyna Bacewicz, Henryk Czyż, Witold Friemann, Stefan Kisielewski, Szymon Laks, Jerzy Lefeld, Jan Maklakiewicz, Tadeusz Maklakiewicz, Paweł Mykietyn, Stanisław Niewiadomski, Zygmunt Noskowski, Feliks Nowowiejski, Edward Pałłasz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Stanisław Szeligowski, Mieczysław Weinberg, and Władysław Żeleński.

The Opening Gala and all auditions will be available for watching at http://vod.teatrwielki.pl/ and https://operavision.eu/en 

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Competition Website: https://teatrwielki.pl/dzialalnosc/konkurs-moniuszkowski/x-konkurs-moniuszkowski/ 

"Moniuszko Days" with the Toruń Symphony Orchestra will take place between May 5 and June 21, 2019.

The year 2019 sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko, premier composer, conductor, organ player, educator, director of Warsaw’s Grand Theatre, and the father of Polish opera. Embracing operas, art songs, cantatas, religious music, symphonic works, chamber and solo pieces, operettas, ballets, and theatre music, his oeuvre impresses with its diversity, melodic richness, and deeply-rooted connection with the Polish music heritage. His operas and art songs are the core of Polish vocal literature and often the linchpin of the repertoires of Poland’s greatest singers.

"Moniuszko Days" organized by the Toruń Symphony Orchestra will begin on May 5 with a piano recital during which Lithuanian pianist Nering Valuntonyte will perform compositions by Stanisław Moniuszko, Fryderyk Chopin, Clara Wieck Schumann, and Grażyna Bacewicz. The final symphony concert is titled "Moniuszko's Hits". The Toruń Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mariusz Smolja will perform fragments of the composer's opera masterpieces, his songs arranged for symphony orchestra and The Fairy Tale overture. In addition to the above-mentioned events, concerts and programmes for children are planned, as well as a march along Moniuszko street, a musical spectacle and a performance of a concert version of the Flis opera.

"Moniuszko Days" will take place as part of the programme of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage "Moniuszko 2019 – Promesa", implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: http://tos.art.pl/pl/static_218_394_DNI_MONIUSZKOWSKIE.html