Polish Music Reference Center Newsletter Vol. 1, no. 1
Wednesday, February 1, 1995. A Marathon Concert Of Polish Music will be held on campus at USC in the United University Church from 12:00 – 4:00. It will feature Polish pianist and composer, Andrzej Dutkiewicz, professor at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, who is a visiting scholar at USC this semester. He will be joined by local artists and musicians, including Rodney Oakes of Harbor College and others. Music on the program will include: Chopin, Szymanowski, Moniuszko, Panafiuk, Malawski, Sierocki (Swing Music), Paderewski, Bacewicz and others.
For the listeners in Los Angeles area, Fred Hyatt will present Szymanowski’s opera “King Roger” in two recorded versions for your comparison. Tune in to KPFK 90.7 FM on Sunday, January 15th from 1:00 – 5:00 P.M.
Noteworthy News
Polish composer and percussionist Marta Ptaszynska, who has been living in the U.S. for some years now, is presently (January 2 – March 17) a visiting composer at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
She was commissioned to write a “Fanfare for Peace” for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Centennial Celebration. The concert on November 18, 1994 opened with the world premiere of Ptaszynska’s “Fanfare“. The Cincinnati Post music writer, Mary Ellyn wrote “the muted trumpet calls and brash harmonies were worthy of Beethoven himself (Eroica symph.). The Cincinnati Enquirer stated that the Fanfare, “which combined ancient Polish fanfares with modern techniques, was compelling for its luminous counterpoint, echo effects and orchestral colors….. the audience stood and cheerer“.
Time To Look Up The Schedules For The Chopin Piano Competitions!
This year:
March 9-11: Kosciuszko Foundation Chicago Chapter (Chicago)
March 4-12: American National Chopin Competition (Florida)
May 11-13: Kosciuszko Foundation (New York)
Oct 1-22: Chopin International Piano Competition (Warsaw)
For details see: Competitions & Festivals Section
RESERVE THE DATE: April 18, 1995 on your calendar to see and hear pianist Krystian Zimerman in recital at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Celebrity Recitals Series.
For Your Information
Music of Polish-American composer, Walter Legawiec, was conducted by Eva Michnik in Krakow, Poland on December 17, 1994. Legaviec is a violinist and composer trained at the Juilliard School of Music and the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood. Look for his name in the music credits for the movie “Grumpy Old Men“.
His First String Quartet (which premiered in 1951 to critical acclaim from the NY Times, NY Herald Tribune & Musical America) was recently heard on radio station WQXR-FM in New York. It can be ordered from Polish Cultural Foundation, 177 Broadway, Clark, NJ 07066. Tel.: (908)382-7197.
Featured Artist of the Month
Wojciech Kocyan
A pianist, Wojciech Kocyan, is working on his DMA degree at the University of Southern California School of Music under professor John Perry. He was born in Poland and graduated cum laude from the Music Academy in Katowice under prof. Andrzej Jasinski (Krystian Zimerman’s teacher).
Kocyan is a laureate of many international piano competitions. Among them, First Prize plus a special prize in the Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz; International Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy; and the G. B. Viotti and V. Bellini Competitions, also in Italy.
He has performed with several orchestras (the famous WOSPRiTV of Katowice; Symphony orchestras of Gdansk and Krakow; Shreveport, Louisiana; Radio & Tv Orchestras in Turin and Milan. Many recitals in Europe (Poland, England, France, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Hungary), as well as in Canada, USA and Japan.
Last September he performed in Poland to excellent reviews and capacity audiences: An All-Chopin recital closing the 10th Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis Festival; performed Rachmaninoff’s II Piano Concerto in c-minor, op. 18 at the Piano Festival in Slupsk. He has also recorded for Polish and Hungarian Radio & TV.