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Tychy | 17th Silesian Guitar Autumn

The world's leading guitarists and for the first time as many as three orchestras: NOSPR, AUKSO and {oh!} Historical Orchestra, premiere performances of two guitar concerts that were written on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of regaining independence by Poland, and inspirational fringe events for everyone – that's how the seventeenth edition of the Silesian Guitar Autumn, which will last from October 21 to October 27, 2018, looks like.

A unique week with a classical guitar will start with a concert in the NOSPR Concert Hall in Katowice, featuring Marcin Dylla and Łukasz Kuropaczewski, the most outstanding Polish guitarists of our time. The inaugural concert will include Arioso e furioso by Mikołaj Górecki – a guitar concerto written in 2014 especially for the Festival. Then we will move to Mediateka in Tychy, where in the next seven days we will have the opportunity to hear music from Europe and the world performed by guitar virtuosos – Brasil Guitar Duo and European Guitar Quartet (Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany), Marko Topchii (Ukraine), Bireli Lagrene and Cyprien N'tsaï (France), Francesco Buzzurro (Italy), Dávid Adorján (Germany), Avi Avital and Chen Reiss (Israel). The uniqueness of the seventeenth Silesian Guitar Autumn is due to premiere performances of two guitar concerts by Clarice Assad and Marek Pasieczny – world-class compositions with the elements of Polish ethnic music, commissionned by the Festival.

Among the fringe events we will find a scientific-artistic session "Guitar in Poland yesterday – today – tomorrow", a meeting with the Italian luthier Gabriele Lodi, the founder of a concert guitar which is one of the prizes in the Jan Edmund Jurkowski International Guitar Competition, vocal workshops with Clarice Assad and master classes conducted by jurors of the Guitar Competition. The Festival will be also accompanied by the exhibition of photographs by Ireneusz Kaźmierczak.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Full programme available at: http://guitar.tychy.pl/pl/

Warsaw | Teatr Wielki – National Opera: Voices of the Mountains

A concert "Voices of the Mountains", which will take place on October 21, 2018 at Teatr Wielki - National Opera in Warsaw, will feature works by Karol Szymanowski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Wojciech Kilar.

Varsovians and Highlanders. They turn out to have an ideal relationship. This is the eighth time that highland music is being played on the stage of the National Opera in Warsaw. The wondrous and majestic beauty of the Tatra Mountains inspired many authors, to mention Boy, Witkacy, Tetmajer. We will hear the voices of the mountains in works by Karol Szymanowski, Henryk Mikołaj Gorecki and Wojciech Kilar in modern arrangements by young composers. The guides on this unique tour of the mountains include Sebastian Karpiel-Bułecka, Jan Smoczyński, the Atom String Quartet, Janusz Olejniczak, Jan Młynarski, Michał Barański, the Neo String Quartet and Jerzy Maksymiuk.

On November 14th, 2018 the artists will perform at the Carnegie Hall in New York.

Information on tickets at: https://teatrwielki.pl

Concerts for Gdańsk residents: premiere of "Francesco" by Zygmunt Krauze

On October 21, 2018 at 4.30 p.m., the Franciscan St. Trinity Church in Gdańsk will host the world premiere of the cantata Francesco by Zygmunt Krauze. The work commemorates the 400th anniversary of the constraction of the great Baroque organs in the church. The concert will be held within a cycle "Concerts for Gdańsk residents".

The concert within the cycle "Concerts for Gdańsk" will present new compositions by contemporary composers written especially for the great Baroque organ in the Franciscan church of St. Trinity in Gdansk. The programme will include the Francesco cantata for early musical instruments ensemble, a chamber choir and concerting organ by Zygmunt Krauze, based on the texts of Saint Francis of Assisi and Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Prayer for synthesizer and organ by Piotr Jędrzejczyk, and Brzmienia 2 for bassoon and organ by Andrzej Szadejko. The programme will be complemented by fragments of Andrzej Szadejko's Missa Brevis for 8 voices choir a cappella and the premiere of Songs of trumpets by Emil Miszek and Paweł Hulisz.

Among the performers of the concert there will be Goldberg Baroque Ensemble, Chamber Choir 441 Hz, Tubicinatores Gedanenses, Alina Ratkowska, Anna Wilczewska – conductors, Andrzej Szadejko – organ, artistic director, Piotr Jędrzejczyk – synthesizer, Leszek Wachnik – baroque bassoon.

Concert co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the "Composing Commissions" programme, implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance, and the Local Government of the Pomeranian Voivodship.

Warsaw | Polish Radio Choir Jubilee

Sonoris Foundation for Art Development and Programme 2 of Polish Radio invite you on October 21, 2018 at 6.00 p.m. to the Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio for a concert on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Polish Radio Choir.

The Polish Radio Choir is one of the oldest professional vocal ensembles in Poland. It was founded by the famous conductor and composer Jerzy Gert in October 1948. In addition to concert activities, the ensemble participates in numerous archival recordings for Polish Radio as well as recordings for Polish and foreign phonographic companies. Over the past 70 years, the Polish Radio Choir has also made many premieres of the works by outstanding contemporary Polish composers, including Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Krzysztof Penderecki and Wojciech Kilar.

The two gala concerts, which are the highlight of the jubilee year of the Polish Radio Choir, will be held on October 21 in Warsaw and October 22 in the ICE Krakow Congress Center. The repertoire will feature Polish early, 19th-century and contemporary music. Particularly noteworthy are the works of Mikołaj Gomółka – the Polish Radio Choir is currently in the process of recording all 150 psalms by this composer. On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Stanisław Moniuszko's birth, Litanies of Ostra Brama will be recalled. The programme will be complemented by vocal works celebrating Krzysztof Penderecki's 85th birthday. The Polish Radio Choir will perform under the direction of Maria Piotrowska-Bogalecka. The concert will also feature harpist Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett, lutist Ziv Braha, drummer Tomasz Sobaniec, soprano Ewa Biegas, alto Ewa Gorzowska, tenor Tomasz Piluchowski, bass Łukasz Konieczny and Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra.

More information available at: https://fundacjasonoris.org

Gdańsk | Papal Concert. Elegy, vocalises and divertimenti

On October 20, 2018 at 7 p.m., the Oliwa Cathedral in Gdańsk will host a Papal Concert performed by the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Massimiliano Caldi.

The programme of the Papal Concert, proposed by the well-known Gdansk musician Massimiliano Caldi, the first guest conductor of the Baltic Philharmonic, is very diverse this year. It will be composed mainly of short pieces by Polish composers as well as two spectacular divertimeni from completely different epochs, but kept in a similar mood.

The concert will start with Divertimento written at of the 18th century by an aristocrat and amateur composer Michał Radziwiłł. The Elegy for trumpet by Armenian composer Arturian (known from the great trumpet concerto), which dates back to 2000, will introduce an atmosphere of deep reverie. And then the genius music by Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Karol Szymanowski and Wojciech Kilar, interspersed with Hymnos by the Gdansk trombonist and composer Tadeusz Kassak and the energetic Divertimento by Grażyna Bacewicz. Admission free!

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

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

Olsztyn | Master organ recitals – Martin Stacey

The Master Organ Recitals are a series of concerts with the participation of outstanding virtuosos of organ music. In the next recital, on October 20, 2018 at 6.00 pm in the concert hall of the Warmian-Masurian Philharmonic, we will hear an outstanding British organist Martin Stacey.

The organist studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He won all the most important awards for the interpretation of early and contemporary organ music. The artist performs in Europe, ranking among the leading organists of his generation. For eighteen years he has held the position of musical director in the monastery of St. Dominica in London. He is a composer of many organ works. Since 2006, the artist has been organizing the Annual Festival of New Organ Music (AFNOM), promoting the work of contemporary composers of organ music. Martin Stacey teaches organ at University College School in Hampstead and at Heathland School in Harrow.

During the Saturday Master Organ Recital, apart from Johann Sebastian Bach's Passacaglia in C minor, BWV582, the artist will present Dumka, Op. 31 No. 1 by Feliks Nowowiejski. The incorporation of Nowowiejski's work in the repertoire shows the importance of the Patron of the Philharmonic in the world of composers who specialised in organ music. The recital will also be a unique opportunity to get to know the very rich output of British 20th century composers. We will hear organ compositions by Harold Greenhill, Percy Whitlock, John Ireland, Kenneth Leighton, Herbert Howells, as well as New England Suite by Martin Stacey himself.

More information at: www.filharmonia.olsztyn.pl

Warsaw | Concert of the Winners of the 10th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors and the "Young Musician of the Year" competition

Concert of the Winners of the 10th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors and the "Young Musician of the Year" competition will take place on October 27th, 2018 at 7.00 pm in the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio. Sinfonia Iuventus will perform under the baton of Lithuanian conductor Modestas Barkauskas along with flautist Marta Chlebicka.

Modestas Barkauskas is one of the most talented and recognizable Lithuanian conductors of the young generation. Since 2008, he has been the artistic director of the youth orchestra at the B. Dvarionas School of Music in Vilnius, and has performed concerts with the orchestra in Germany, Belgium, France, Poland and Latvia. He also became artistic director and conductor of the St Christopher Chamber Orchestra in Vilnius, lectures at the Faculties of Conducting and Singing of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. In 2017, he won third prize in the 10th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in Katowice, and the October performance with the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra is the realisation of one of the competition awards, which honour its winners in this way. He will conduct the performance of Symphony in E minor No. 1 by Pyotr Tchaikowsky.

The charming Flute Concerto in G major by Carl Stamitz will be performed by Marta Chlebicka, a pupil of the Z. Brzewski Secondary School of Music in Warsaw and the winner of the prestigious "Young Musician of the Year" competition (2018), which selects the Polish participant in the "Eurovision Young Musicians" competition (this year’s edition took place in Edinburgh in August). The style of Stamitz’s music is often compared with the clarity and charm of Mozart’s youthful works (the latter owed much to the achievements of the “Mannheim School”), which is why one of his last masterpieces, the brilliant overture to the Magic Flute, will be the perfect complement of the programme.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: www.sinfoniaiuventus.pl

Prawykonanie „Chamber Piano Concerto” Agaty Zubel w Niemczech

20 października 2018 roku podczas Donaueschiger Musiktage odbędzie się prawykonanie Chamber Piano Concerto Agaty Zubel.

Rok 2018 jest dla kompozytorki niezwykle intensywny i bardzo udany. Za nami trzy prawykonania jej utworów: Cleopatra’s Songs, Fireworks oraz Bildbeschreibung, także kilka nagród, w tym kolejny już Koryfeusz Muzyki Polskiej. Kompozytorka nie powiedziała jeszcze jednak ostatniego słowa. Przed nami kolejne emocje związane z prezentacja najnowszych dzieł Agaty Zubel. Pierwszej interpretacji jej Chamber Piano Concertodokona Ingfrid Breie Nyhus. Pianistce towarzyszyć będzie Cikada Ensemble pod batutą Christiana Eggena.

Tak Agata Zubel pisze o najnowszym utworze: „Mój koncert fortepianowy nie musi przekraczać granic i jest niewrażliwy na rozmiary. Idea koncertowania realizuje się przez wzmożoną aktywność. Aby sztuka ta się udała, wszyscy wykonawcy muszą być gotowi przekroczyć to, co spodziewane. Publiczność zaczyna słuchać koncertu fortepianowego, a muzycy zaczynają grać koncert fortepianowy. Ale nie ma orkiestry, a pianista wykonuje partię rozpisaną na dwa instrumenty. Mimo to, od początku pracy aż po ostatnią nutę nie miałam wątpliwości, że jest to Chamber Piano Concerto na fortepian i zespół instrumentalny”.

Koncert transmitować będzie stacja SWR2.

Więcej – na stronie https://pwm.com.pl

Chińskie tournée Sinfonii Varsovii

Anne-Sophie Mutter, Krzysztof Penderecki, Maciej Tworek i Sinfonia Varsovia wyruszają w dwutygodniową trasę koncertową do Chin, która odbędzie się w dniach 17–31 października 2018 roku. Świętujący 85. urodziny kompozytor poprowadzi 6 koncertów, podczas których Anne-Sophie Mutter, uznawana za jedną z najlepszych skrzypaczek na świecie, wykona dedykowany jej II Koncert skrzypcowy „Metamorfozy”.

Krzysztof Penderecki rozpoczyna swoją urodzinową trasę koncertową po Chinach w towarzystwie muzyków Sinfonii Varsovii, Macieja Tworka oraz Anne-Sophie Mutter. Artyści wystąpią wspólnie w 6 miastach z repertuarem złożonym z VII Symfonii d-moll op. 70 Antonína Dvořáka oraz dwóch dzieł, które Penderecki skomponował specjalnie dla niemieckiej skrzypaczki. La Follia na skrzypce solo powstała jako prezent urodzinowy dla Mutter, która prawykonała utwór w Carnegie Hall w 2013 roku. Ich dotychczasowa współpraca zaowocowała powstaniem czterech utworów, w tym dedykowanego Mutter II Koncertu skrzypcowego „Metamorfozy”.

Tournée zapoczątkuje koncert w National Centre For the Performing Arts w Pekinie. Następnie muzycy odwiedzą Zhengzhou, Szanghaj, gdzie wystąpią w ramach prestiżowego China Shanghai International Arts Festival, a także w Changsha, Xiamen i Zhuhai. Dopełnieniem trasy będą dwa koncerty Sinfonii Varsovii pod batutą Macieja Tworka. W Wuhan i Zhohou zabrzmią dzieła Ludwiga van Beethovena i Antonína Dvořáka, a także I Koncert skrzypcowy Pendereckiego, w którym partię solową wykona tajwański skrzypek Benny Tseng. Współorganizowana przez Instytut Adama Mickiewicza chińska trasa koncertowa jest również elementem obchodów setnej rocznicy odzyskanie przez Polskę Niepodległości. Sfinansowano ze środków MKiDN w ramach Programu Wieloletniego NIEPODLEGŁA na lata 2017-2021.

Więcej informacji na stronie www.sinfoniavarsovia.org