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The 75th anniversary season of the Silesian Philharmonic will be inaugurated on 20 September 2019 at 7 p.m. with a concert featuring the Silesian Chamber Orchestra with a special guest – finalist of the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition in 2014, Sara Domjanić.

Twenty-two-year-old Croatian violinist plays a Stephan von Baehr “Antonio Stradivari – Golden Period” violin, which was made in 2014. Together with the Silesian Chamber Orchestra, she will perfrom Las cuatro estaciones porteñas by Astora Piazzolli. The concert programme will also include Three pieces in old style by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki as well as three three different divertimenti – composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Grażyna Bacewicz and Mikołaj Górecki.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://filharmonia-slaska.eu/production/inauguracja-75-jubileuszowego-sezonu-artystycznego-filharmonii-slaskiej/?=2 

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The inauguration concert  of the 2019/2020 season at the Warmian-Masurian Philharmonic in Olsztyn will take place on 13 September 2019 at 7 p.m., featuring works by Stanisław Moniuszko, Feliks Nowowiejski and Józef Michał Poniatowski.

The Symphony Orchestra of the Warmian-Masurian Philharmonic conducted by Piotr Sułkowski will present selected works of "the father of Polish national opera", as well as fragments of other operatic works by European composers contemporary to Moniuszko, including his predecessors and successors. We will listen to the fiery Mazur from the Haunted Manor and Hanna's aria from the same opera in the interpretation of the soprano Joanna Woś. Józef Michał Poniatowski, Prince of Monterotondo, only three years older than Moniuszko, was a music lover, singer, and author of several operas in the Rossini style, with librettos in Italian and French. The programme will feature Laura's aria from the French opera Pierre de Medicis from 1860, which had its Polish premiere only eight years ago.

Another Polish and Warmian accent of the concert will be the Praetorians' March from the oratorio Quo Vadis by Feliks Nowowiejski. One of the most popular works of the composer from Barczew had over two hundred foreign performances during the artist's lifetime and was one of the most frequently performed oratorio works in the interwar period. The diverse operatic programme will be complemented by the Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky in the orchestration by Maurice Ravel.

More information at: https://filharmonia.olsztyn.pl/ 

The Lublin Philharmonic will begin the 2019/2020 season on 13 September 2019 at 7 p.m.  with a concert celebrating music of Polish composers: Henryk Wieniawski, Karol Szymanowski, Wojciech Kilar and Mikołaj Hertel, whose Mazurka – shades orchestral suite will be premiered this evening.

The mature work of Henryk Wieniawski is represented, among others, by his Second Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 22. The use of a number of original color, articulation and harmonic solutions distinguishes the work from other violin concertos. The three-part scheme with bridges brings the work closer to a homogeneous and monothematic form. Wieniawski dedicated his concerto to a "beloved friend" – Pablo Sarasate, violinist and composer.

The next two compositions refer to the rich culture of Podhale highlanders, combining folk music inspirations with the expression flowing from their own compositional style. Music from the ballet Harnasie by Karol Szymanowski contains almost all the typical features of the music of this region: the characteristic roughness of the sound based on various scales of folk provenance and a specific rhythmic temperament. Wojciech Kilar's Krzesany is a peculiar symphonic poem referring in particular to the title dance – masculine, rough, clear, very fast, and even "mantric". The works will be presented by the Lublin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Wojciech Rodek together with Agata Szymczewska as a soloist.

More information at: http://filharmonialubelska.pl/ 

The inauguration of the 56th season 2019/2020 of the Lower Silesian Philharmonicwill take place on 13 September 2019 at 7p.m.

2019 marks the 110th anniversary of Grażyna Bacewicz's birth and the 50th anniversary of her death. Bacewicz's Overture for symphony orchestra will begin the inauguration concert at the Lower Silesian Philharmonic. The programme will also include Symphonie Fantastique – the most popular of all works by Hector Berlioz, which will be performed by the Lower Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paweł Kotla.

In 2020, the entire music world will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. His Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, certainly one of the most frequently performed works of this genre, will be also included in the programme of the September concert. Janusz Wawrowski will perform as a soloist on the Antonio Stradivari violin from 1685. This precious instrument is currently one of the best-preserved Stradivarius in the world.

More information at: http://filharmonia.jgora.pl/ 

Zdzisław Szostak – composer, conductor and lecturer at the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź, a member of Polish Composers' Union, a man of great heart and talent has died on 7 September 2019 at the age of 89.

Zdzisław Szostak was a graduate of the State College of Music in Katowice. He worked as a conductor at the Silesian Philharmonic and Poznań Philharmonic. In 1967 he became the artistic director of the latter. He performed at the Poznań Concerts, the "Poznań Music Spring" Festival and the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition. He founded the Cantata and Oratorio Choir of the Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society in Poznań. He was also one of the founders of the Academic Choir of Adam Mickiewicz University. In the 1971/1972 season, at the invitation of Henryk Czyż, he moved to Łódź, taking the position of the deputy artistic director and conductor of the State Philharmonic in Łódź, which he held for sixteen years, until 1987. In 1972 he started working at the State College of Music in Łódź, where he lectured until 2000. In the years 1972–95 he led the student symphony orchestra, with which he performed, among others, in Germany and Italy.

Since 1957, Szostak systematically cooperated with the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw and the Educational Film Studio in Łódź. He wrote music for about 20 feature films as well as a dozen or so documentaries and educational films, including two historical series: Queen Bona by Janusz Majewski and Chancellor by Ryszard Ber. The artist has recorded music for about 200 Polish and foreign films, mainly with the Łódź Philharmonic and WOSPR. Zdzisław Szostak conducted almost all symphony orchestras in the country. He accompanied accomplished world-famous soloists. He has received many state awards, including the Golden Cross of Merit, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis.