official patronage

The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music will celebrate its 90th jubilee on February 14, 2019 at 6.00 p.m. in the Archdiocesan Museum in Katowice.

The Institution for the Promotion and Dissemination of Music "Silesia" invites you to the next concert of the "Vivat Academia!" series, which include meetings with outstanding artists and professors at the Karol Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice. The guest of the evening will be Professor Eugeniusz Knapik, who was the Rector of the Academy in 2002-2008 and for many years was the head of the Department of Composition and Theory of Music. He studied composition with Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and piano with Czesław Stańczyk, and still as a student, he began his didactic work at the Katowice Academy. He was the first performer of the cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen in Poland. As a pianist, he participated in many prestigious concert and festival events around the world. As a composer, he received many awards at national and international competitions, including the UNESCO International Composers' Tribune in Paris (1978 – distinction and 1984 – 1st place for String Quartet).

In the concert part of the evening, an outstanding singer Ewa Biegas, a graduate and currently a teacher at the Music Academy in Katowice, together with Eugeniusz Knapik will perform his songs to the words of Krzysztof Ildefons Gałczyński as well as Maurice Ravel's Greek Songs. The famous Silesian cellist Adam Krzeszowiec will perform Knapik's Filo d'Arianna for cello solo, which was recorded on a CD released by Radio Katowice. 

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/strona-glowna/koncerty/351_vivat-academia-koncert-i-spotkaniebrz-prof-eugeniuszem-knapikiem 

A concert at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music on February 27, 2019 at 7.00 p.m. will announce a new album by Andrzej Karałow and Pablo Sánchez-Escariche Gascha entitled After all.

After all is a debut album of musicians who engage in solo, chamber, orchestral and experimental activities on a daily basis. They have been performing in a duet since 2016, playing classical and contemporary music – including works dedicated to the duo, among others, by Australian composers: Kirsten Milenko and Harry Sdraulig. The title piece After All was dedicated to the performers by the composer Żaneta Rydzewska.

The presence of some pieces on the CD with music for saxophone and piano may seem predictable. The performers believe, however, that the combination of the selected works creates a specific exhibition of how the contemporary composer's ideas relate to or confronts the music of a bygone era. After all is a personal perspective on the compositions of the 20th and 21st centuries and their past interpretations: starting from music written at the beginning of the 20th century, transcribed specifically for our needs (Paul Hindemith and Karol Szymanowski), through the already classical, virtuoso Sonata by William Albright, ending with the works of young composers (Żaneta Rydzewska, or Andrzej Karałow).

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The Music School Complex in Wieliczka and the Sfogato Music and Art Society have the honor of inviting you to the 2nd Festival and Piano Competition "Piano e Forte". Applications for the Competition should be submitted by  February 15, 2019.

The aim of the "Piano e Forte" Festival and Competition is to show the history of piano evolution in the context of the development of the piano repertoire: research on mutual relation and the impact of new achievements in the field of the piano mechanism on the repertoire as well as the influence of innovative compositional techniques for the development of the instrument. The "Piano e Forte" competition seeks to inspire young pianists to deepen their knowledge of the history of the instrument, raise awareness of the performing practices of a diverse repertoire on contemporary and historical pianos, as well as to explore the interpretational trends and piano literature of different eras. The "Piano e Forte" Festival and Competition, whose originator and artistic director is the pianist Marta Polańska, is an innovative project that captures the issue in a holistic way. The organizers of the event are: The Music School Complex in Wieliczka and the Sfogato Society of Music and Art in Kraków. The first edition (2018) took place on the 320th anniversary of the first mention of the invention of the Italian builder Bartolomeo Cristofori, showing the historical route of the piano "From the Italian land to Poland". By presenting the repertoire of works by Polish composers, the first edition celebrated the 100th anniversary of Poland's regaining Independence.

The second edition of the Festival and Competition will take place on March 1-9, 2019 and will celebrate the anniversaries of prominent Polish composers:
Stanisław Moniuszko on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth,
Maria Szymanowska on the occasion of the 230th anniversary of the composer's birth,
Fryderyk Chopin on the 170th death anniversary of the composer
and Grażyna Bacewicz on the occasion of the 110th birth and 50th death anniversary.

The programme of the Festival will include: workshops on the construction of the grand piano and its prototypes, the harpsichord and organs – an instrument on which Fryderyk Chopin and Stanisław Moniuszko also played; lectures on the history of instruments, as well as piano works of the aforementioned Polish composers; the 2nd Piano Competition "Piano e Forte," and the Gala Concert of Young Piano Masters.

The Competition Rules and other information can be found at www.PianoeForte.pl 

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

"Elementi 7: retro" is three days of intense musical meetings and concerts. Olga Drenda, Andrzej Mądry and Artur Zagajewski will be the special guests of this year's edition, which will take place on 1-3 March 2019 at the Music Academy in Kraków.

The student conference "Elementi", initiated seven years ago, quickly grew into a cyclical event, including not only lectures and discussions, but also concerts, meetings, and composers' workshops. The word "retro" – the theme of this year's edition – provokes to ask questions about the presence of the past in contemporary art, while providing an excuse to take up the problem of nostalgia, widmontology, or spiritology. These issues will be discussed in the papers during the two-day academic conference (1-2 March), featuring lectures given by invited guests: Olga Drenda, Andrzej Mądry and Artur Zagajewski.

An important part of "Elementi 7" are concerts of new music. Gośka Isphording and Erik Bosgraaf (1 March), and Contemporary Ensemble Music Co-operative (2 March) will perform during the first two days. On the last day there will be a concert of students of the composition class of the Music Academy in Kraków (3 March).

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

On February 23, 2019, French flutist and conductor Patrick Gallois will perform with Sinfonietta Cracovia at the Gallery of 19th-century Polish Art in the Cloth Hall at 7:00 p.m..

Patrick Gallois, a student of Jean-Pierre Rampal, has been playing a double role for years, presenting audiences around the world with the full spectrum of his artistic talent.

The concert in Kraków will feature the Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, with the famous Badinerie in the rendition of Gallois. Under his baton we will also listen to the first symphonic works of two unparalleled Viennese classics: Symphony No. 1 in E flat major, written by only eight-year-old Mozart, and Symphony No. 1 in D major by Joseph Haydn. The programme will also include Krzysztof Penderecki's Chaconne in memoria del Giovanni Paolo II and the impressionist Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Claude Debussy in the Gallois' arrangement for flute, harp and string orchestra.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information on tickets at: www.sinfonietta.pl 

A special concert celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko will be held on February 26, 2019 at 5.00 p.m. in the auiditorium hall "Parnassos" of the Silesian Library in Katowice.

The concert of Stanisław Moniuszko's arias and songs in the Silesian Library is one of the first proposals for music lovers prepared by the Institution for the Promotion and Dissemination of Music "Silesia" as part of the "Moniuszko from the heart" cycle in the Year of Moniuszko.

Young vocalists from the Katowice and Kraków Music Academies, winners of the last International Vocal Competition of Sacred Music "Ars et Gloria", will perform fragments of Moniuszko's operas. Laureate of the third prize, Justyna Bujak, will present recitativo and aria Ah! Out child is dying... from Halka, Patryk Wyborski will sing Miecznik's aria Who wants to win the hearts of my girls, and Piotr Kalina will perform Jontek's aria The fir trees sigh on mountain peaks, interpretation of which also won him a distinction at the Jan Kiepura International Vocal Competition in Krynica-Zdrój. Jakub Schmidt, winner of the first prize at the "Ars et Gloria" competition in his age category, will sing the famous Skołuba's bass aria. The programme of the concert will also include other Moniuszko's arias and songs.

Admission to the event is free! Free entrance cards are available at the IPiUM Silesia office (2 Sejmu Śląskiego Square, ground floor, room 20) or can be booked by phone: (32) 219 33 44 / 33.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/strona-glowna/koncerty/362_moniuszko-od-serca-wokalisci-w-bibliotece-slaskiej 

On February 24, 2019 at 12:00 p.m., the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of František Macek will perform the works of Mieczysław Karłowicz, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Wojciech Kilar.

Mieczysław Karłowicz was born in Vishniev, on the Belorussian lands absorbed by Lithuania. His Lithuanian childhood lasted only a short time: the family sold the estate when he was only five years old and moved to Heidelberg. In November 1906, the composer wrote in a letter to Adolf Chybinski: "Today [...] I finished the composition, which I will probably call the Lithuanian Rhapsody. I have tried to encapsulate within it the total grief, sadness and eternal servitude of that race whose songs I heard in my childhood... Whether or how much I have succeeded in instilling into the form of an orchestral work even just a particle of what hangs vanishing into the air in every part of that region, I am unable to judge".

In Grażyna Bacewicz's output, violin compositions play a prime role, however, it is impossible to disregard her pieces for piano – among them Concerto from 1949, awarded by the Polish Composers' Union. The piano part of this work will be performed by Piotr Sałajczyk. Kościelec 1909, another symphonic poem by Wojciech Kilar after Krzesany, refers not only to the Tatra folklore, but also to the legacy of Mieczysław Karłowicz. Thus, the programme of the concert is composed of three compositions created over the period of seventy years, and at the same time three proofs of the seductive power of stylization and references to the tradition.

The concert is produced under the patronage of PWM Edition as part of the project TUTTI.pl promoting the performances of Polish music. 

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.nospr.org.pl/pl/koncerty/1238/nospr-frantisek-macek-piotr-saajczyk 

Marcin Józef Żebrowski Music School Complex in Częstochowa cordially invites you to the 1st Wanda Wiłkomirska Violin Competition of Polish Music, which will be held on February 28 – March 5, 2019.

The competition will feature 111 young performers in three age categories. The jury is composed of: Łukasz Błaszczyk, Piotr Tarcholik, Jakub Jakowicz, Anna Maria Staśkiewicz, Radosław Pujanek, and Aleksandra Szwejkowska-Belica – the artistic director of the competition. Young violinists will have the opportunity to participate in consultations with the jury members, master classes and lectures. They will compete for prizes funded by the Marshal of Silesian Voivodeship Jakub Chełstowski as well as a violin made by Janina Pawlikowska from Krakow and a master bow from the studio of Marcin Mazur from Łódź. Apart from valuable material prizes, the winners will also take part in the concerts organized by different musical institutions in the country.

The competition will be accompanied by concerts of Polish music, as part of the celebrations of the bicentenary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko and the 50th anniversary of the death of the outstanding Polish composer and violinist Grażyna Bacewicz. On February 28 at the Jasna Góra Basilica, the Symphony Orchestra of the Częstochowa Music School Complex under Miłosz Kula and the violinist Wojciech Nidziółka will perform works by Stanisław Moniuszko, Witold Lutosławski and Henryk Wieniawski. The Town Hall – Częstochowa Museum, for four consecutive days will host auditions and, on Monday, March 4, a concert of the laureates. The whole project will end with a concert "Grażyna Bacewicz in memoriam" at the Częstochowa Museum on March 5, featuring Cezary Sanecki, Aleksandra Szwejkowska-Belica and Maria Belica.

All the competition events, like auditions, concerts, workshops or lectures, are open to public.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://www.zsmuz.czest.pl/i-konkurs-skrzypcowy-muzyki-polskiej-im-wandy-wilkomirskiej/ 

The humorous opera of Donizetti La Fille du Régiment (The daughter of the regiment) returns in the transmission cycle "The Met: Live in HD" in the new cast. The Praha Cinema in Warsaw invites you to the broadcast on March 2, 2019 at 6.35 p.m.

Tenor Javier Camarena and soprano Pretty Yende team up for a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks – including the show-stopping tenor aria Ah! Mes amis … Pour mon âme, with its nine high Cs. Alessandro Corbelli and Maurizio Muraro trade off as the comic Sergeant Sulpice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield. And in an exciting piece of casting, stage and screen icon Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut in the speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp. Enrique Mazzola conducts.

Donizetti’s score is a deft combination of jaunty military tunes, brisk comic numbers, enormously graceful ensembles and vocal solos, and sparkling arias. Not many singers have the technical ability and theatrical presence to deliver the famous fireworks arias (notably the soprano’s Act I Chacun le sait and the tenor’s Act I Ah! Mes amis, with its notorious nine high Cs). Just as important as these, however, are the lyric beauty and pathos of the slower melodic gems (the soprano’s Il faut partir in Act I and the tenor’s Pour me rapprocher de Marie in Act II).

The list of places in Poland, where you can watch broadcasts from Met, is available here.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Additional information: http://www.kinopraha.pl