official patronage

Awards Gala of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music 2020 online

The Institute of Music and Dance and TVP Kultura invite you on 7 November 2020 at 7.00 p.m. to the awards gala of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music. The evening will be broadcast live on TVP Kultura as well as on the YouTube channel of the Institute of Music and Dance.

2020 is a special year for many reasons. Not only are we celebrating the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the Institute of Music and Dance, but also the 10th edition of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music Award! Due to this year's situation, we will celebrate in a completely different way than before.

The Coryphaeusof Polish Music award will be presented in 4 categories: Personality of the Year, Event of the Year, Honorary Award and Discovery of the Year.

The awards ceremony will be accompanied by a concert performed by outstanding artists: Katarzyna Moś, Marta Wajdzik, Joanna Zawartko, Adam Bałdych, Igor Herbut, Andrzej Lampert, Mateusz Kołakowski, Paweł Tomaszewski, Robert Kubiszyn, Paweł Dobrowolski, as well as the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra under the direction of Adam Sztaba.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The list of nominees is available at: http://www.koryfeusz.org.pl/pl/2020/aktualnosci

"Young Arts Kids" – a new platform for music education connects students and instrument teachers

Agata Szymczewska, Łukasz Błaszczyk, Katarzyna Budnik and many other famous performers and educators have joined the Young Arts Kids project. It is a new educational platform implemented under the "Culture on the Web" programme, which give students the opportunity to work remotely on their instrument playing skills with selected teachers from all over Poland.

These days, distance learning is a requirement that brings with it as many challenges as opportunities. Young Arts Kids is a place for virtual meetings of students and instrument teachers. The mission of the project is to facilitate access to music education for all who want to develop their skills under the supervision of famous teachers. "Based on the experience of music school principals, teachers, students and their parents, we have prepared an online tool that will allow students to continue the education process regardless of the situation" - says Bartłomiej Tełewiak, violinist and founder of Young Arts Kids. The Young Arts Foundation, the organizer of the Young Arts Festival in Krosno and international master classes, is responsible for the implementation of the entire project.

The partners of the project are the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the National Centre for Culture and the Centre for Artistic Education.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The Young Arts Kids platform is available at: www.yakids.pl

Gdańsk | Polish Chamber Choir: Concert on the 100th anniversary of the birth of St John Paul II

The Polish Chamber Choir will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II with a concert entitled "From the Polish Land", which will take place on 30 October 2020 at 7.00 p.m. in the Holy Trinity Church in Gdańsk without the participation of the audience. The event will be broadcast on the websites www.gdansk.pl and www.polskichorkameralny.pl.

Performed by the excellent ensemble conducted by Jan Łukaszewski, we will hear mainly Polish music, including a piece by the recently deceased composer Juliusz Łuciuk to the words of our Great Compatriot O Poish Land, from which comes the title of the concert, as well as works awarded in the Musica Sacra Nova International Composers' Competition 2020 and world premieres of Paweł Łukaszewski's works Sub Tuum praesidium and Corpus Christi Hymnus published this year by PWM Edition.

The concert will feature outstanding instrumentalists: saxophonist Paweł Gusnar, percussionist Leszek Lorent and organists Michał Sławecki and Andrzej Szadejko.

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the "Music" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.polskichorkameralny.pl/pl/

"Escape from the shadow – online premiere

The online premiere of the concert entitled "Escape from the shadow", presenting works by Polish composers of Jewish origin, will take place on 29 October 2020 at 9.30 p.m. on YouTube and Facebook.

The material recorded in the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio is a collection of Polish and world phonographic premieres of works by outstanding artists in the interpretation of the violist and curator of the project Aleksandra Demowska-Madejska, secretary of the Association of Polish Musicians, and pianist Wojciech Pyrć. The concert premiere took place as part of the 4th WarszeMuzik Festival in 2020.

The programme includes valuable, almost forgotten works for viola and piano, among others, Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 28 by Mieczysław Weinberg, Notturna Rhapsody, Op. 66 by Karol Rathaus, Romance, Op. 32 by Ignacy Friedman, Serenade by Jerzy Fitelberg and Kaddish, Op. 6 by Alexander Weprik.

Co-financed by the National Centre for Culture as part of the "Culture on the Web" programme.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Kraków | For 4 and 6 hands – grand finale of the concert series "Faces of pianism"

The Association of Polish Chamber Musicians is organizing the grand finale of the concert series "Faces of pianism", which presented pianists, graduates of prof. Stefan Wojtas and invited guests. During the last concert, we will hear amazing compositions for 4 and 6 hands and 3 premieres. The event will take place on 6 November 2020 at 6.00 p.m. in the concert hall of the Władysław Żeleński State Secondary School of Music in Kraków.

The "Faces of pianism" project is a two-year concert series presenting various faces of piano music – from solo pieces to chamber works for various ensembles. The finale of the series will be an unprecedented event, featuring performances of the Extra Sounds Ensemble conducted by Grzegorz Brajner and pianists Ireneusz Boczek, Anna Duda, Monika Gardoń-Preinl, Dominika Grzybacz, Beata Koniuszy, Grzegorz Mania, Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler, Agnieszka Plata, and Piotr Różański. The programme will include works by Alfred Schnittke, Franz Schubert, Mike Cornick, Ludwig van Beethoven, William Gillock and Xaver Scharwenka.

The concert will also premiere a cycle for piano 4 hands by Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler, miniatures for 6 hands by Ireneusz Boczek and Marta Mołodyńska-Wheeler, as well as a composition for piano 4 hands and string orchestra by Michał Pawełek, which was created as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme of the Institute of Music and Dance.

Free passes are available at: https://app.evenea.pl/event/4i6rak/

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

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

Audio Stage 2020 – The Evening of Premieres!

The Polish Society for Contemporary Music invites you to the presentations of this year's edition of the "Audio Stage" project, combining contemporary music, theatre and dance. The Evening of Premieres of preludes and audio-stage works will take place on 8 November 2020 at 6.00 pm at the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw. The event will take place without the audience and will be streamed live at: www.ptmw.art.pl and https://www.facebook.com/ptmw1923/live_videos/.

"Audio Stage" is one of the original, cyclical projects of the Polish Society for Contemporary Music. It consistently promotes experiment in performing arts, striving for close integration of music, theatre and dance. Audio-satge works are commissioned and presented in the interpretation of talented creators of various generations who are open to experiment.

The latest audio-stage works in the form of monodramas (each lasting 15-20 minutes) were created by composers and performers: Anna Jędrzejewska, Marzena Majcher, Piotr Marcin Łopacki and Jarosław Siwiński. Katarzyna Markowska, Magda Jędra, Paulina Horajska and Waldemar Barwiński will also participate in the premiere of the works during the Evening of Premieres.

Each work will be preceded by a musical prelude – a kind of small overtures with elements of instrumental theatre. The author of the series of preludes is Bartosz Smorągiewicz, who will perform them together with cellist Izabela Buchowska. During breaks between presentations, the authors and performers will talk about individual works.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme is available at: www.audiostage.pl

Podkowa Leśna | 20th Musical Confrontations Festival "The beauty of lyricism – from Chopin to Górecki"

The Museum of Anna and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz in Stawisko invites to the 20th Music Confrontations Festival, which will run from 8 November to 13 December 2020 under the motto "The beauty of lyricism – from Chopin to Górecki".

This year's Music Confrontations Festival in Stawisko celebrates its 20th anniversary. Each edition takes up a different topic / problem, introducing the most important phenomena and processes taking place in the history of music (mainly Polish) in connection with other arts, especially literature. The 2020 Festival will be a confrontation of works by Polish composers inspired by Chopin's poetics, lyricism and expression. The event will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, who visited Stawisko in 1992.

Seven chamber concerts will feature instrumental and vocal music, including original arrangements of pieces by composers presented at the Festival, and traditional jazz pieces. Among the performers will be Magdalena Bojanowicz, Mariusz Bonaszewski, Anna Górecka, Urszula Kryger, Włodek Pawlik, Jadwiga Rappe, Piotr Sałajczyk, Jan Stanienda, Janusz Prusinowski Kompania, Cup of Time Quartet and Royal String Quartet. In addition, the festival will feature a literary and music evening referring to the tradition of the meetings in Stawisko, entitled "The Academy of Thought and Sound", devoted to the life and work of Ludomir Michał Rogowski – a Polish composer (also gifted with literary talent), who spent most of his life in exile.

The festival will end with a presentation of selected texts by Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz devoted to Chopin and statements by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki characterizing his view on the question posed by the composer during his visit to Stawisko in 1992: "Why are some notes only notes, and others are music?"

The festival concerts and literary meetings will be enriched by the exhibition "The shades of lyricism in Stawisko: the lyricism of work, the lyricism of home". For the safety of the public, a limited number of free tickets will be available. Seat reservation is required (tel. (22) 758 93 63 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

The festival was co-financed as part of the "Music" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Media patronage: Polish Music Informatio Centre POLMIC.

All concerts will be availbale on the Museum's website shortly after the fesival.

Music for National Independence Day online

The Elbląg Chamber Orchestra is preparing a special concert on the occasion of National Independence Day. Polish patriotic songs and works by Stanisław Moniuszko will be performed on 11 November 2020 at 7.00 p.m.

We will listen to the works arranged by multi-instrumentalist and composer Bartosz Smorągiewicz, who has performed in numerous European countries as well as in the United States and Japan. He is a laureate of a number of competitions, including the Krzysztof Komeda Composers' Competition. The soloists will be Aurelia Luśnia and Piotr Kosewski, vocalists famous for thier interpretation of songs by Jeremi Przybora and Jerzy Wasowski of the Old Gentlemen's Cabaret.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information on tickets at: https://eok.elblag.eu/

Elbląg | Accordion Colours of Autumn

The accordion virtuoso, well-known teacher and rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Klaudiusz Baran will perform with the Elbląg Chamber Orchestra on 15 November 2020 at 6.00 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the State Music School Complex in Elbląg.

Klaudiusz Baran's artistic achievements have changed the perception of the accordion in Poland, elevating it to the status of a fully-fledged instrument capable of shaping a real musical world. In his interpretations, the artist is capable of intertwining humility and deference to the work with a wealth of ingenuity, a personal perception of time in music, extraordinary charisma on stage and natural character of expression. The merits of his performances have been noted many times in numerous enthusiastic reviews and reflected in competition prizes, nominations and artistic awards. Baran is the first accordion player to receive a Fryderyk award, for the album "Astor Piazzolla – Tango", recorded for Sony Classical.

The artist navigates freely in a varied repertoire of many periods, but is most appreciated for his performances of contemporary music. With the Elbląg Chamber Orchestra, Klaudiusz Baran will perform, among others, Mikołaj Majkusiak's Chamber Concerto for accordion and string orchestra – one of the composer's latest works, premiered in February this year. The Orchestra conducted by Sabrina Stachel will also present Ottorin Respighi's Suite and Edvard Elgar's Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information on tickets at: https://eok.elblag.eu/

Results of the H.M. Górecki International Composers' Competition

2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. In order to commemorate the composer and give young artists the opportunity to premiere and promote their works, the Silesian Philharmonic announced a composition competition named after its Patron, connected with this year's 8th edition of the International Days of H.M. Górecki.

37 compositions were submitted to the competition and all of them met the competition conditions. After analyzing all the submitted works, the Jury awarded the following prizes.

The second prize in the form of the premiere performance of the piece during the International Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Days with professional audiovisual recording was awarded to Piotr Pudełko for Pater Noster for mixed choir a cappella. The third prize, ex aequo, was awarded to Hubert Żmudzki for Je est un autre for mixed choir a cappella and Adrianna Kubica-Cypek for L'été to words by Victor Hugo for mixed choir a cappella or 16 solo voices.

The first prize and honourable mentions were not awarded.

The jury was composed of: Eugeniusz Knapik, Mikołaj Piotr Górecki, Jerzy Kornowicz, Jarosław Wolanin and Adam Wesołowski.

Media patronage: Pollish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra: Opera and musical. Saint Andrew’s Day concert

Music is always a good way to improve one’s mood in difficult moments, and although we all experience them we do not give up. Thus, The Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra also wants to bring some sunshine and smile on a November evening before St. Andrew’s Day with a unique concert on 28 November 2021 at 8 p.m., different from most of the concerts this season!

This time there will be lots of beautiful singing and a dazzling cross-section of vocal music (with orchestral interludes) from different periods and genres. Excellent soloists admired on different concert scenes in Poland and abroad will present several opera’s “greatest hits” – famous arias by Italian grandmasters of this genre: Donizetti and Verdi. The French Romantic art will resound in Bizet’s aria from the immortal Carmen. The artists will also recall the humorous and charming world of operetta in fragments from compositions by Kálmán, Lehár and Zeller. The impressive programme will be complemented by popular, film and musical music, composed by both still famous artists and those somewhat forgotten, who deserve to be recalled.

The concert will be conducted by Sławomir Chrzanowski, the long-standing artistic director of the Zabrze Philharmonic, the orchestra with which he performed at over 2000 concerts in several countries! The artist has also given concerts with the majority of Polish orchestras and numerous prestigious ensembles abroad, including the MWC Symphony Orchestra in Fredericksburg (USA), of which he is the honorary conductor, Chicago Philharmonic or Wuhan Symphony Orchestra (China).

Piotr Maculewicz

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

The concert will be broadcast on YouTube and on the website: https://sinfoniaiuventus.pl/

Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf's debut album "ReViolation" out for sale

The title of a debut album of Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf, ReVIOLAtion, is far from coincidental and implies a "viola revolution". The disc released by Naxos Records will be out for sale from 27 November 2020.

To many music professionals and aficionados, the viola continues to occupy a lower position on the podium in a unique competition for the laurels of primacy among string instruments. Krzysztof Komendarek- Tymendorf goes out to prove (and does so most convincingly!) the viola to be a truly versatile medium. In that his efforts are in line with Prof. Piotr Reichert’s opinion that only a performance delivered by an excellent violist is distinguished by both the level of virtuosity typical of a violinist and the cello’s depth of sound. At the same time, the titular “revolution” refers to promoting a repertoire hitherto unknown to the general public.

In the case of the artist’s first solo album, the works worth mentioning in this respect are sonatas by Fyodor Druzhinin and Mieczysław Weinberg. The musician got to know them in-depth while preparing his doctoral dissertation. He was also the first in Poland to perform a recording of the above works (he is the author of their bowing and fingering arrangement). ReVIOLAtion should also be understood as reinterpretation of the program presented on the album. For Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf, it entails extremely important artistic freedom since he decodes each work individually through the prism of his own experience, which often results in an intriguing – sometimes controversial – interpretative concept. The repertoire chosen by the artist, including Capriccio “Hommage à Paganini” Op. 55 by the Belgian violin genius Henri Vieuxtemps, offers an excellent opportunity to present this interpretative vision and to show the full range of sound and technical capabilities of the instrument. The album could not lack a Polish accent, hence Grażyna Bacewicz’s Polish Caprice (1909–1969). The final piece on the album is a true virtuoso gem which requires the performer to overcome a number of technical problems while maintaining a dance-like, folk character in the neo-Classical spirit.

The word "ReVIOLAtion" lies close to "revelation", and a "revelation", paraphrasing the definitions of the term offered by the Oxford Dictionary of English, makes people witness something they have hitherto been unaware of, something extraordinary, secret or reverend. Undoubtedly, the repertoire on the album and its creative rendition by Krzysztof Komendarek-Tymendorf meet these criteria.

Agnieszka Nowok-Zych (Translation by: Dominika Pieczka)

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.551432

Concert of the Laureates of the 13th Competition of 20th and 21st Century Music for Young Performers

The Polish Society for Contemporary Music invites you to the concert of the laureates of the 13th Competition of 20th and 21st Century Music for Young Performers, which will be held online on 19 November 2020 at 7.00 p.m.

The copetition was open to all instrumentalists and vocalists (regardless of citizenship) as well as Polish citizens who study abroad. The competition under the honorary patronage of the Polish Composers' Union aimed at presenting music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The programme had to include at least one piece by a Polish composer. The jury was composed of Dariusz Przybylski, Anna Dorota Władyczka and Maciej Żółtowski. The organizers appreciated the huge work and role of teachers in preparing the competition programme. For this reason, each statury prize was divided in half between the winner and his teacher. Extra-statutory material prizes were provided by PWM Edition.

During the final concert, the winners of the competition – cellist Hanxiang Chen (Complex of Silesian International Schools), percussionist Tomasz Herisz (Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice), flautists Maciej Kasperek (Zenon Brzewski Secondary Music School in Warsaw) and Jagoda Krzemińska (Royal Academy of Music in London), saxophonists Kacper Puczko (Zenon Brzewski Secondary Music School in Warsaw), Wojciech Chałupka and Łukasz Dyczko (Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw) – will perform works by Witold Lutosławski, Mikołaj Majkusiak, Bogusław Schaeffer and Wojciech Chałupka.

Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the "Music" programme operated by the Institute of Music and Dance.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Live streaming will be available on PSCM's Facebook and on the website: www.ptmw.art.pl

Laureates of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music 2020

The winners of the 10th edition of the Coryphaeus of Polish Music Award, organised by the Institute of Music and Dance, were announced on 7 November 2020 at the awards gala on TVP Kultura. This year, for the first time in the history of the Award, the Gala was simultaneously broadcast live on television, radio and on the Internet. The award winners are:

Discovery of the Year: Aleksandra Olczyk – singer, for the special quality of vocal creation and the dynamics of artistic development. Personality of the Year: Lutosławski Piano Duo (Emilia Sitarz and Bartek Wąsik) – pianists, for their non-standard, audacious program and excellent class in interpreting works from various musical periods, including the newest ones. The Event of the Year: The premiere of the opera Drach by Aleksander Nowak during the AUKSODRONE Festival – for emphasizing the local dimensions in the universal impact, for the power of musical and cultural message. Honorary Award: Włodzimierz Nahorny – for the entirety of artistic activity.

The winners selected by the Polish music community were presented with statuettes designed by Professor Adam Myjak. The awards in the Personality of the Year category and the Honorary Award were accompanied by financial awards funded successively by the Union of Artists and Performers STOART and the Association of Authors ZAiKS.

The awards ceremony was accompanied by a concert performed by outstanding artists: Kayah, Katarzyna Moś, Joanna Zawartko, Igor Herbut, Andrzej Lampert, Adam Bałdych, Marta Wajdzik, the Polish Radio Choir and the Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus, all under the musical direction of Adam Sztaba. Works by Marek Stachowski, Stanisław Moniuszko, Adam Bałdych, Włodzimierz Nahorny and Czesław Niemen were performed. The gala was hosted by Katarzyna Sanocka and Radek Brzózka.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Source: www.koryfeusz.org.pl

12th Schaeffer's Era from the New World – Schaeffer in L.A.

Ghost Road Company (Los Angeles) and Warsaw Bauhaus Foundation (Warsaw) present an international real-time collaboration: original works of dance, theatre and film, created to respond to the work of maverick Polish composer and playwright Boguslaw Schaeffer livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 23 November 2020 at 12 p.m. (Los Angeles) and 9 p.m. (Warsaw).

In Warsaw, under the auspices of Aurea Porta — a Polish non-profit organization devoted to disseminating the legacy of Boguslaw Schaeffer’s work through artistic projects—well-known actors Lidia Bogaczówna, Izabela Warykiewicz, Marcel Wiercichowski, Sean Palmer, Witold Jurewicz, and musicians Włodek Pawlik, Michał Urbaniak,Michael Patches Stewart, Janusz Radek, Marcin Wyrostek with Tango Corazon (Piotr Zaufal, Krzysztof Nowakowski, Mateusz Adamczyk, Daniel Popiałkiewicz) will perform Schaeffer’s work Era Schaeffera, while Los Angeles-based actors Peter Mark, Anthony Nikolchev, Paul Outlaw, Izabella Miko and Jessica Emmanuel will interpret an original script adapted from several Schaeffer's plays by the project’s longtime director, Maciej Sobociński performing in situ at REDCAT | CalArts theatre.

Noted Los Angeles choreographers Heidi Duckler, Laurie Sefton and Micaela Taylor are each creating dance films shot in unique outdoor locations in which company members perform short works inspired by or accompanied by Schaeffer's music. This ninety-minute live stream from Warsaw and Los Angeles will consist of simultaneous performances being mixed live by the theatre director as a veritable VJ.

The show will be available online on the Aurea Porta Friends of Arts Foundation's Facebook page and website as well as on the HowlRound streaming platform.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

official patronage

More Articles ...