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The final concert of the Choral Academy will take place on June 24, 2018 at 4 pm in the National Forum of Music in Wrocław. It will feature Jan Krutul's suite for children's choir "Let's Play Music".

The Choral Academy is a programme designed to develop children’s and young people’s choirs at all stages of education: from primary school to professional choral training. The aim of the project is to spread the idea of singing through founding new school choirs and training those that already exist. This is done through tuition, financing and elaborating the curriculum of choral education as well as through establishing professional networks for choirmasters. The programme is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Additional information at: http://www.nfm.wroclaw.pl

On June 24, 2018 at 5.00 pm at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin, the stars of the biggest Polish music competitions – South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim and pianist Rafał Blechacz – will perform Sonata, Op. 9 by Karol Szymanowski.

The concert will be a great meeting of two musical personalities: the winner of the second prize at the 15th International Violin Competition in Poznań (2016) and the triumphant of the 15th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. The programme will include works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy and Karol Szymanowski.

Information on tickets at: http://filharmonia.szczecin.pl 

A piano recital by Yukio Yokoyama on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the death of Ignacy Jan Paderewski will be held on June 23, 2018 at 6.00 pm at the I. J. Paderewski Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz.

Yukio Yokoyama was born in Tokyo in 1971. At the age of 12, he started learning piano under Jun Date and composition under Masayuki Nagatomi. As a French government scholarship holder in 1987, he began to study at the Paris Conservatoire under the guidance of Jacques Rouvier, Vlad Perlmutter and others. In 1990 he graduated with honors, and in the same year he won the third prize (the first was not awarded) in the 12th Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. With this success, Yokoyama officially began concert activity around the world.

His Bydgoszcz Recital, organized in cooperation with the I. J. Paderewski Musical Society in Bydgoszcz, will be held as part of the "Independent" program under the patronage of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Governor Mikołaj Bogdanowicz. The pianist will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Fritz Kreisler, Fryderyk Chopin, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, as well as his own Hommage and Rachmaninov - Vocalise.

Information on tickets at: http://www.filharmonia.bydgoszcz.pl 

The summer festival of the Sinfonietta Cracovia starting on June 21, 2018 will bring us four unique concerts in the historic interiors of the famous Sukiennice and the beautiful gardens of the National Museum in Krakow plus a spectacular musical battle finale held in the Krakow Philharmonic.

The special guest of this year's edition will be the outstanding, charismatic Polish conductor Jerzy Maksymiuk who will lead the Sinfonia Varsovia during the musical duel with Sinfonietta Cracovia performing under the baton of Jurek Dybał, its director and the mastermind behind the Festival’s unique programming. The tongue-in-cheek battle of the leading Polish orchestras will be judged by Filip Jaślar from the Grupa MocArta ‒ a musician-turned-comedian, beloved by the audience for his exceptional sense of humor (25 June).

We will also hear Tomasz Konieczny ‒ a world-famous Polish singer regularly performing on such iconic scenes as Vienna State Opera, La Scala or Metropolitan Opera ‒ who will be the star of the concert comemorating the late composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (22 June). Chamber music enthusiasts will be delighted by the virtuoso duel of the Sinfonia Varsovia Quintet with the Sinfonietta Cracovia’s Chamber Musicians’ Quintet, which will inaugurate the festival (21 June).

The programme will also include two (!) free concerts for all Cracovians and Sinfonietta’s guests: the next edition of the innovative, highly popular Clubbing with chamber music (23 June) and an open-air cross-over concert Lutosławski, from Warsaw (June 24) with Magda Navarrete.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://sinfonietta.pl/sinfonietta-o_festiwalu/ 

The Annual Awards of the Polish Composers' Union were granted on June 21, 2018.

The Annual Polish Composers' Union Award was granted from 1949 to 1991 to honor artists and performers for their outstanding achievements in the field of music, and since 1991 to honor Polish composers, performers, musicologists, pedagogues and organizers of musical life for outstanding achievements. The jury composed of Marta Ptaszyńska (chairman), Mieczysław Kominek, Zygmunt Krauze, Zbigniew Skowron, Tadeusz Wielecki and Sławomira Żerańska-Kominek granted the Annual Awards of the Polish Composers' Union 2018.

The prize-winners are: Krzysztof Baculewski – for a serious and responsible composer's attitude, significant musicological and pedagogical achievements, and Leszek Polony – for outstanding scientific creativity, subtly beyond the boundaries of musicology, with particular emphasis on his work on Mieczysław Karłowicz.

The award ceremony will take place in September, during the 61st "Warsaw Autumn" Festival.