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The first edition of the International Józef Madeja Festival will be held on 6-9 October 2019 in Greater Poland, featuring concerts, lectures, master classes and meetings with exceptional artists from Poland and abroad.

The festival’s patron is Józef Madeja – clarinettist, outstanding professor of the Music Academy in Poznań, distinguished organizer of the musical life of Greater Poland. As part of honoring Madeja’s activities, the Józef Madeja Association has created a festival that will not only maintain the memory of this musician and composer, but also influence the development of culture in Greater Poland. The most important goal of the Festival is to present the most outstanding achievements of Polish music literature and commemorate the important anniversaries of the music world.

The guest of the first edition of the event will be the world-famous Ukrainian clarinettist Volodymyr Dobrynchuk, who will inaugurate the festival with a recital at the Jankowice Palace on 6 October at 3 p.m. The concert will also feature Paweł Kroczek (clarinet), Hanna Lizinkiewicz (piano) and the Festival Clarinet Orchestra, composed of students of the Local Government Music School in Tarnowo Podgórne and students of the I.J. Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań conducted by prof. Zdzisław Nowak.

The other two concerts of the Festival – on 7 October at 5 p.m. at the Wacław of Szamotuły State Primary Music School in Szamotuły and on 9 October at 6 p.m. at the Stanisław Moniuszko State Primary Music School in Zbąszyń – will feature outstanding artists associated with Greater Poland, active in the country and abroad: Piotr Kosarga (violin), Jan Czaja (cello), Paweł Kroczek (clarinet), Julian Paprocki (clarinet), Maria Bielewicz (cello), Kamil Grandmother (viola), Barbara Tritt (soprano), Marcin Sikorski (piano), Hanna Lizinkiewicz (piano), Piotr Pawlik (electronics). Besides the compositions of the festival's patron, we will listen to woks by such composers as Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Fryderyk Chopin, Witold Lutosławski, Jan Adam Maklakiewicz and Andrzej Panufnik. The final concert will also feature the premiere of Piotr Pawlik's work.

Admission to all concerts is free!

Media patronage: Polish Msuci Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: http://festiwalmadei.pl/en/

The guest of the next meeting of the "Vivat Academia" series, which will take place on Thursday, 26 September 2019 at 6 p.m. in the Archdiocese Museum in Katowice, will be Prof. Leon Markiewicz – outstanding musicologist, pedagogue and publicist. The meeting and the accompanying concert will be hosted by Grażyna Brewińska.

The Institution for the Promotion and Dissemination of Music "Silesia" joined the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, which is the oldest academic institution in Upper Silesia. Once again, the organizers invite music lovers to a meeting held as part of the "Vivat Academia!" series, which gives the opportunity to meet the rectors of the Katowice Academy of Music.

In 1949–55, Professor Leon Markiewicz studied pedagogy and theory of music at the PWSM in Katowice – today's Academy of Music, becoming its rector in 1979–81. He has also been the head of the Music Theory Department and the head of the Music Education Department. For many years he was a lecturer at the Pedagogical University in Częstochowa. He was the director and secretary of the jury of the International Grzegorz Fitelberg Competition for Conductors in Katowice. The impressive achievements of Prof. Markiewicz covers around 140 publications, and nearly 300 reviews that appeared in the music and daily press. His research interests are focused on music analysis, Silesian music culture, all aspects of music pedagogy, and the popularization of music.

As always, the meeting led by Grażyna Brewińska will be accompanied by music. We will listen to the works by Manuel de Falla, Maurice Ravel, Karol Szymanowski and Grzegorz Fitelberg in the interpretations of graduates and current lecturers of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music – violinist Adam Mokrus and pianist Katarzyna Makowska.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/

The Polish Composers' Union invites you to another concert from the "Musical Seasons – Autumn" cycle, organized by the Warsaw Branch of the Polish Composers' Union as an accompanying event of the "Warsaw Autumn" Festival. The concert will take place on Monday, 23 September 2019 at 4 p.m. in the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph the Betrothed (52/54 Krakowskie Przedmieście).

The concert will feature four premieres: Sławomir Czarnecki – O crux benedicta (2015), Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska – Agnus Dei (2019), Paweł Łukaszewski – Gwiazd siewco i księżyców to words by Jan Lechoń (1989), and Pacierz za zmarłych to words by Artur Oppman (1988). The programme will also include works by such composers as: Romuald Twardowski – Chwalitie Imia Gospodnie (1990), Aldona Nawrocka – Agnus Dei (2002), Jerzy Bauer – Hymne des premieres Vepres de Saint Martin (1995), Jakub Szafrański – Tu es filius meus (2015), Miłosz Bembinow – Beatus servus (2008), Two loves I have to words by William Shakespeare from the cycle ShakeSpired (2015), Sławomir Zamuszko – Serce roście to words by Jan Kochanowski (1999, rev. 2004), Bartosz Kowalski – Where are you to the composer's words  (2012), Zbigniew Bagiński – Inventores rerum, nr 4. Dzwonów głosy to words by Jan Protasowicz (1992), Jerzy Bauer – Pieśń o żołnierzach z Westerplatte to words by Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (1968).

The concert will be performed by the VOCORE vocal ensemble composed of: Adrianna Żołnierczuk – soprano, Julia Gniazdowska – soprano, Apolonia Golachowska – alto, Katarzyna Karbownik – alto, Kacper Szemraj – tenor, artistic director, Filip Ejlak – tenor, Michał Malec – baritone, Michał Kijewski – bass.

Admission free!

The 10th anniversary edition of the International Sfogato Music & Arts Festival will be held betwwen 23 September and 5 December 2019 in Krakow. The Artistic Director of the event in Marta Polańska.

International Sfogato Music & Arts Festival is the only regular festival event in Krakow, for which the music and the creative personality of Frederic Chopin is the main inspiration. This symbolized the name of the event – Sfogato – the Italian word used for the first time by Frederic Chopin as a musical term to describe one epizode of his Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60. Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz interpreted sfogato epizode, definited by Chopin with an adjective dolce, as a moment that brings catharsis, ecstasy and purification. By using this parallel he referred to the function, which art, and music, served in ancient times. The aim of the festival is to present the multifaceted role of music and art in human life.

September 23, 2019 begins the 10th Jubilee International Sfogato Music and Arts Festival in Krakow. During this edition of the festival, we will celebrate many anniversaries, including the 170th anniversary of the death of Fryderyk Chopin, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Moniuszko, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Clara Schumann, the 110th anniversary of the birth and the 50th anniversary of the death of Grażyna Bacewicz and the 50th birthday anniversary of Alexei Sultanov. The presence of Japanese artists is related to the 100th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Japan and Poland. The Opening Gala Concert, which will take place on 23 September at 7 p.m. at Villa Decius, will feature works by Frederic Chopin, Franz Schubert, Clara Schumann, Henryk Wieniawski, Stanisław Moniuszko, and Grażyna Bacewicz.

The festival programme will also includ  the Sfogato International Composers' Competition for the works for bell and signal, walk along the Krakow trail of Frederic Chopin and Stanisław Moniuszko, "Master and Student" concert, music workshops conducted by eminent pedagogues from Russia and Poland, and the conference under the slogan Psychology: Music–Art–Media, which will be chaired by prof. Helena Wrona-Polańska. Admission to all festival events is free!

The festival is held under the honorary patronage of: Marshal of the Lesser Poland Province Witold Kozłowski, Mayor of Krakow Jacek Majchrowski, Metropolitan of Krakow Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Krakow Dr Michael Groß.

Media patronage: Polish Miusic Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.sfogato.org, www.sfogatofestival.com