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"Vivat Academia!", a concert devoted to the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, will take place on March 21, 2019 at 6.00 p.m. in the Archdiocesan Museum in Katowice (16 Wita Stwosza St.). 

Prof. Tomasz Miczka, Rector of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in the years 2009-2016, will be a guest performer of the evening. Miczka graduated from the Katowice Academy in the oboe class of Prof. Edward Mandera and in the chamber music class of prof. Andrzej Janicki. Since 1986 he has been a lecturer at his alma mater. He was an oboist in the Great Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio and Television and for many years he has  been active as a soloist and chamber musician. He made recordings for the Philips, Naxos and Dux labels as well as many archival recordings for Polish Radio.

During the concert, prof. Tomasz Miczka will perform together with Dr. habil. Prof. AM Grzegorz Biegas, an outstanding chamber musician who was the prorector of the Katowice Academy of Music in the years 2009-2016. Among the performers, there will also be a current student of Prof. Miczka, oboist Weronika Flisek. The artists will present works by C. Saint-Saëns, W.A. Mozart, G. Silvestrini and C. Debussy.

Admission free!

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

More information at: https://www.silesia.art.pl/strona-glowna/koncerty/374_vivat-academia-koncertnbspinbspspotkaniebrz-prof-tomaszem-miczka 

The great works of the masters of the Romantic era, energetic contemporary pieces and a unique combination of string and marimba sounds ‒ another concert in the new cycle "Sinfonietta po krakowsku" is a real treat for music lovers. The event will take place on March 20, 2019 at 8.00 p.m. in the concert hall of the Kraków Philharmonic.

"Sinfonietta po krakowsku" is a cycle in which Sinfonietta Cracovia promotes the most talented young artists from Kraków. This time the ensemble will perform under the baton of Jurek Dybała with Jakub Frączek, the laureate of the competition "I play with orchestra" organized by the Academy of Music in Kraków. The marimbist will perform with Sinfonietta Cracovia a virtuoso, thrilling Concerto for marimba and string orchestra by Ney Rosauro ‒ the most popular composition for this instrument in history, extremely appreciated by music lovers and critics around the world.

We will also listen to Franz Schubert's famous Symphony No. 8 in B minor "Unfinished" and the third part of the Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, immersed in the fairy-tale world, in which the Christian mystery meets the convention of a medieval epic about the Holy Grail guardians. The evening will end with the extremely popular Suite "Carmen" from the famous opera by Georges Bizet in the arrangement of the Russian composer Rodion Szczedrin dedicated to his wife, the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, Maja Plisiecka.

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

Information on tickets at: www.sinfonietta.pl 

Both organ and percussion are instruments that impress with their sound possibilities as they possess many colors, textures and shades. Album Patmos. Music for organ & percussion (UMFC CD 109) is the first recording of its kind on the Polish phonographic market. The premiere will take place on March 20, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in the concert hall of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music.

Pieces for organ and percussion are not often performed in Poland, which meant for the artists – Bartosz Jakubczak (organ) and Miłosz Pękala (drums) – additional motivation to create a project that would show four different musical ideas for such set of instruments. In addition, the CD includes Letter from faraway Island for organ and percussion (2018) by Aleksandra Chmielewska, specially written for the album. The motif of the Patmos island in Chmielewska's composition refers to the Landscapes of Patmos by Petra Eben, hence the title of the album. A creative input to the repertoire concept includes the works by Christopher Dean – Mourning Dove Sonnet,  Magdalena Białecka – Landscape in White (premiere), Thierry Escaich – Ground II, and Marek Jasiński – Psalmody (world phonographic premiere).

Media patronage: Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC.

SEE: Facebook Event

On March 6 −April 14, 2019, the 10th Interdisciplinary Lenten Festival "The New Epiphanies" will take place in Warsaw.

Better if he was not born? At first, Judas was only an addition to us, a biblical exemplification of the subject of money, consumption and betrayal. But he dominated our thinking very quickly. Why did he depart from what he believed in? What were his motivations? Why are there different versions of the events?

There are five theater premieres ahead of us. Bartosz Żurowski and Dawid Zalesky will present contemporary revisions of the history of Judas. The spectacle #chybanieja, which will open the festival's theatrical discussions, was made by the duet Paweł Passini and Artur Pałyga. In their performance, Judas's story seems to run throughout contemporary situations of betrayal like a silver strand. Paweł Passini is also the author of music for this play.

The festival also includes film, culinary and music events. On March 30 at 4.00 p.m. in the Temple of Divine Providence, the "Gloria Patri" concert will take place – a tribute to John Paul II on the 14th anniversary of his death. We will hear eleven Warsaw choirs from academic and church environments that will perform, among others, works by Jakub Neske, Janusz Dąbrowski, and Michał Dąbrowski. There will also be the premiere of Gloria Patri polychoral work by Paweł Łukaszewski, which was composed to the words of doxology. The concert will close with the composition of Zuzanna Falkowska to the words of John Paul II given at the Victory Square in 1979 – Let Your Spirit Descend.

Full programme available at: https://noweepifanie.pl/ 

This year's Classical Music Gala and the presentation of "Fryderyk" Awards were held in the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall in Katowice on March 12, 2019.

Most of the statuettes – in the categories of "Choral Music, Oratorio and Opera Music", "Early Music" and "Contemporary Music" – were awarded to musicians associated with the Witold Lutosławski National Forum of Music in Wrocław. In the Year of Stanisław Moniuszko, the album Stanisław Moniuszko. Phantoms performed by the NFM Choir and the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Andrzej Kosendiak, received a "Fryderyk" award in the first category. Best album in the "Early Music" cateogry is Marcin Mielczewski II Wrocław Baroque Ensemble under Andrzej Kosendiak. In the "Contemporary Music" category the winner is the Supernova album by Atom String Quartet, NFM Orchestra Leopoldinum and Christian Danowicz, featuring works by Hanna Kulenty-Majoor, Mateusz Smoczyński, Dawid Lubowicz, Michał Zaborski, and Krzysztof Lenczowski.

The award for the best album with solo recital went to Janusz Wawrowski and Jose Gallarda for Hidden Violin, presenting works of Henryk Wieniawski, Grażyna Bacewicz, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Ludomir Różycki, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Witold Lutosławski and Karol Szymanowski. "Fryderyk" in the "Chamber Music" category was awarded to the album Giovanni Battista Pergolesi "Stabat Mater" / Paweł Łukaszewski "Luctus Mariae", released by the Chopin University Press. In the category of "Symphony and concert music", the award went to Błażewicz, Łukaszewski and Czarnecki. Polish Contemporary Concertos, released by DUX. The Silesian Quartet received the statuette for the most outstanding recording of Polish music – The Silesian Quartet and friends. Grażyna Bacewicz.

In addition to the statuettes in the eight main categories, two "Golden Fryderyk" Awards were given for lifetime achievement to conductor Jacek Kaspszyk and jazz vocalist, composer and poet Wanda Warska.

A complete list of the winners is available at: http://fryderykfestiwal.pl/zwyciezcy-fryderyk-2019/