Polish Music Center Newsletter Vol. 12, no. 2
PMC News
Fund Drive Continues
Following a year of concerts, lectures and other special events celebrating the 20th anniversary of Polish Music Center at USC, in December 2005 the PMC staff launched a winter fund drive to support future activities of the Center. To date, a number of our long-time supporters have contributed toward our shared mission of promoting Polish culture. We are truly grateful if you are one of them already.
If you did not have a chance to help us, please consider sustaining our day-to-day operations that include such budget items as maintaining our library, presenting concerts of Polish music, producing the online Newsletter, publishing a series of books on Polish composers, and paying our student staff. We hope to attract the widest possible participation of the general public in many different activities that the Center organizes. Your contributions may be sent to:
Payable to: POLISH MUSIC FUND
Polish Music Center USC
840 W. 34th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0851
Categories of membership:
Regular member (annual dues)………………$50.00
Sustaining member (annual dues)……………$100.00
Sponsor member…………………………..$500.00
Patron member…………………………..$1,000.00
Benefactor………………………………$10,000.00 (Benefactors receive a name plate in the PMC)
News
NOSPR Joins Symphonet
Symphonet is an international project of four symphony orchestras, and this year NOSPR (Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice) is joining it as the fifth member. The project is meant to help the orchestras with the exchange of experiences, ideas, and soloists and creation and production of joint artistic events. Carsten Dufner from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra visited Katowice and presented the concept of Symphonet and NOSPR’s role in it. Besides the Frankfurt Radio Symphony the other members are: Orchestre National de Lyon, City of Birmingham National Orchestra, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra from Helsinki.
NOSPR is already involved in one of the Symphonet’s projects. Within a year, a newly commissioned piece by Mikołaj Górecki (son of Maestro Henryk Mikołaj Górecki) will be completed and incorporated into the repertoire of all the six orchestras. NOSPR will also present works commissioned by the other members of the network. The networking of multiple orchestras allows the institutions to cut cost on larger events and also gather grant money from the European Union.
Présences With Penderecki
Between February 3rd and 18th, Radio France presents the 16th edition of “Présences—Festival de Création Musicale.” This year the festival will feature the music of Polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki, marking the first time that all of his works will be presented collectively in public. During the inaugural concert the audience will hear the 8th Symphony: Lieder der Vergänglichkeit in its latest 2005 version, conducted by the composer himself.
These concerts are presented free of charge. All of the concerts will take place in the Maison de Radio France, with the exception of the concert featuring The Seven Gates of Jerusalem, performed on February 10th in the Église de la Madeleine. For more information visit the Radio France web site at: www.radio-france.fr.
Łukaszewski Premiere
The world premiere of Paweł Łukaszewski’s Mass for choir and wind instruments took place in London’s Temple Church on January 28, 2006. The Mass, along with the 7th Antiphone, was performed by the Holst Singers and conducted by Stephen Layton. Layton became interested in the music of this Polish composer, previously unknown in England, while judging the choral competition in Warsaw. Apart from Łukaszewski’s works the program also featured pieces by Górecki, Pãrt and British composers. The concert will be repeated on April 8, 2006.
Kaczmarek Lecture In Seattle
On February 4th, the University of Washington Polish Studies Endowment Committee Distinguished Speakers Series presents eminent Polish composer and Oscar winner Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, discussing “Music without Borders.” In his talk, Mr. Kaczmarek will discuss the significance of film music as well as his own artistic journey, from the avant-garde Polish theatre to the Academy Award in 2005. He will also present his new work, Cantata for Freedom, which was composed for the 25th anniversary of the Polish Solidarity movement. Mr. Kaczmarek will be introduced by an expert in film music, Prof. Claudia Gorbman.
Before he became an internationally renowned musician, Mr. Kaczmarek toured with his own orchestra and recorded albums in Europe and the US, composed for theatres in Chicago and New York, and worked on music scores for films. He achieved recognition as a film composer with scores for Total Eclipse, Bliss, Washington Square, Unfaithful, and—most importantly—for Finding Neverland, which earned him his first Oscar in 2005. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe and BAFTA’s award for Achievement in Film Music, and won the National Review Board’s award for Best Score of the Year.
Inspired by the Sundance Institute, Mr. Kaczmarek is setting up Instytut Rozbitek in Poland to serve as a European center for the development of new productions in film, theatre, music and new media (www.rozbitek.org).
The University of Washington Polish Studies Endowment Committee lectures series is part of a larger effort to create a Polish Studies Center, which would serve students as well as the whole community, increasing knowledge and understanding of historical and contemporary Poland.
Mr. Kaczmarek’s lecture is free and open to the public.
Saturday, February 4
7:00 PM
Kane Hall on the UW Campus (room 210)
www.polishstudiesuw.org
Performances/Premieres at Kosciuszko Fdn.
The Paderewski Trio will perform a concert on Sunday, February 5 at 3 PM. The program includes works of Robert Volkmann, a friend and contemporary of Schumann, and contemporary American composer Paul Schoenfield. Featured is the tango-based “Four Seasons” of Astor Piazzola.
The Paderewski Trio is made up of Krzysztof Kuznik, violin (right); Rafal Jezierski, cello (left); and Juny Jung, piano (center)—winners of the 32nd Artists International Annual Debut Prize in 2003. Born in Pozńan, Poland, Rafal Jezierski first studied with his father, a professional cellist and singer. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he is currently completing his Master’s Degree at The Juilliard School, where he is studying with Bonnie Hampton. Krzysztof Kuznik graduated from both the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and the Manhattan School of Music. A founding member of the Elsner String Quartet, he is currently on the violin faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and frequently performs with the New York Philharmonic. Korean-born pianist Juny Jung is the music director and founder of the Simons’ Pond Music Festival in Pennsylvania. He graduated from both the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music.
The Verdehr Trio returns to the Kosciuszko Foundation on Sunday, February 12, at 3 PMwith the World Premiere of a new Polish work commissioned especially for this concert. The Kurpia Triptych is based on folk music from the Mazowsze region in central Poland, and was composed by Grzegorz Duchnowski. The program also includes music of Mozart, Bright Sheng, and Grieg.
An acknowledged leader in the field of new music, the Verdehr Trio has concentrated on works for their unusual violin-clarinet-piano ensemble for over thirty years. During this time, the Trio has created a large repertoire by commissioning over 160 new works from some of the world’s most prominent and exciting composers, known and unknown, young and old, from this country and abroad. To round out its repertoire with Classical and Romantic works, the Trio has rediscovered as well as transcribed 18th and 19th century pieces for inclusion in its concert programs.
Members of the Verdehr Trio are Walter Verdehr, violin, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, clarinet, and Silvia Roederer, piano. The group is in residence at Michigan State University. Their website is www.verdehr.com.
Tickets are $20 for the Paderewski Trio concert and $25 for the Verdehr Trio, including a reception and discussion with the artists after the concert. You can reserve your place by calling (212) 734-2130.
Ochlewski Composition Competition
PWM Edition has announced the subject for this year’s 4th Annual Ochlewski Composition Competition. The instrument is trumpet and the competition is open to Polish citizens under 30 years of age. The works have to be in before April 30, 2006. For detailed regulations and information please visit: www.pwm.com.pl.
Makowicz At Birdland
February 8th through 11th, 2006
Adam Makowicz is an internationally acclaimed jazz piano virtuoso who has dazzled audiences throughout the world with his touch, articulation, and rich harmonic textures. Recently returned from a three-month European tour, Makowicz teams up again with two exceptional artists whom he has performed and recorded with before—George Mraz on bass and Al Foster on drums—for four nights at New York’s legendary jazz club Birdland, which took its name from Charlie “Birdyard” Parker, the opening-night headliner when the club was launched in 1949. Performing in trio, Makowicz will offer both American standards and original compositions from his two solo-piano CDs: Songs from Manhattanand his newly released From My Field.
Born to Polish parents in Czechoslovakia and raised in Poland from the age of six, Adam was being trained to fulfill his parents’ wish that he become a classical pianist when, at 16, he discovered jazz on Willis Conover’s “Music USA Jazz Hour” on the Voice of America—at a time in early fifties’ Stalinist Poland when jazz was officially regarded as decadent and subversive.
Thrilled by the freedom of improvisation in the work of jazz piano greats like Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, and Earl Fatha Hines, Adam realized that jazz was his calling. But he faced obstacles of a kind that his counterparts in Western Europe, for example, did not. When he was forbidden to play jazz not only by his parents but also by his music school, Adam ran away from home and went to Krakow. For a couple of years he lived mostly on the streets, usually hungry, sleeping at the railroad station in winter and on park benches in the summer. Occasionally a friend would hear of an empty dormitory bed, or spare him a couple of food vouchers. But his main goal was to find any and every available moment at some unused piano. There were no jazz teachers, no tape recorders, and no recordings except those smuggled in from the West. So Adam and his friends had to learn jazz by remembering what they heard on the radio. As restrictions were loosened following the death of Stalin, Adam could sometimes earn pocket money doing gigs in bars.
Eventually, Adam found a semi-clandestine cellar jazz club where, in return for doing chores, he was allowed to practice on the piano and sleep underneath it. His long hours spent at the keyboard soon paid off and he formed a group that performed nightly at the club. Adam dates his professional career from 1964, when a quartet he had helped form, “The Jazz Darings,” won first prize at a jazz group competition in Poland. Soon thereafter he launched the Adam Makowicz Trio, performing in Poland, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Cuba. His first solo album was Live Embers in 1975.
Adam Makowicz could already be heard on 26 albums, had performed on three continents, and been voted Number One Jazz Pianist of Europe six years in a row by the readers of Jazz Forum, when legendary record producer John Hammond invited him to New York in 1977 for a 10-week engagement at “The Cookery” and a solo album, Adam, for CBS Columbia Records. Makowicz went on to perform at Carnegie Hall with Earl Hines, George Shearing, and Teddy Wilson. In 1978 he settled in New York City and was banned from Poland until it regained its freedom in 1989. The Toronto Star called Makowicz “a rare artist who grips and holds attention…. A gifted improviser with splendid technical prowess, the pianist can also offer warmth and affection in melodic lines, the balance of fine taste, pungent swing and a jubilant approach inevitably generating audience cheer.”
A major attraction at jazz festivals worldwide, and a popular soloist with many of the world’s leading philharmonic orchestras, especially in his native Poland, Adam Makowicz has expanded his discography to 53 albums, with 37 of them under his own name. In addition to his brilliant improvisations on Berlin, Gershwin, Ellington, Bernstein and other composers, he brings his extraordinary technical virtuosity to bear upon his own musical roots, building bridges between classical music and jazz, as in the CD, Reflections on Chopin, and his original compositions in both Songs for Manhattan, released on his own label (AM Records) in October, 2003, and his latest release, From My Field (2005).
For more on Adam’s career, concerts abroad, and discography, visit his website at www.west.net/~jazz/.
This article was reprinted from www.polishculture-nyc.org.
Kościow Tours With Dance Group
Joe Alter Dance Group is a contemporary dance group formed in 1996. Between 1998 and 2002 the group was in residence in Poland. The creator of the company, Joe Alter, is currently a professor of dance at San Diego State University. He is still very active in Polish cultural life, taking part in dance festivals all over Poland and cooperating with Polish Dance Theater in Poznań and Warsaw Ballet School and Music Conservatory. In Warsaw he met Aleksander Kościow, an internationally recognized composer and collaborator with the Warsaw Conservatory. Kościow is now touring with the Joe Alter Dance Group, along with Polish musicians Małgorzata Zielińska-Kościow (piano), Michal Zieliński (cello) and Wojciech Piotr Dutkiewicz (cello).
For more information please visit: jadg.org/.
Open Letter From IJF
Dear Jazz Associates,
Can Vienna be the Headquarters of the International Jazz Federation again?
The Constitutional Congress of the IJF held in March 1969 in Venice, Italy elected Vienna, Austria as its seat and the English edition of JAZZ FORUM magazine (published in Warsaw, Poland) as the official mouthpiece of the organization.
As Secretary General and head of the organization I had the privilege of running the IJF office in Vienna from January 1972 to May 1979. In May, 1977 I went to New York City to establish the IJF’s Branch Office in America. Located at the Ed Sullivan Theater Building on Broadway and 53rd St., IJF was incorporated with John Lewis as president, and Willis Conover and John Hammond as vice-presidents of the Board.
Its membership list swelled to include dozens of prominent musicians, such as Dave Brubeck, Benny Carter, Reggie Workman, Dave Liebman, Paul Blay, Howard McGhee, Andrew White, Dorothy Donegan, Andrew Cyrille, Harold Ousley, Illinois Jacquet, Helen Merrill, Maurice Waller, Lou Donaldson, Leon Thomas, Lucky Thompson, Gene Perla, and Ted Cursonto name just a few.
After a successful and promising start though, disaster came from an unexpected, but not altogether uncommon place—The Communist Authorities in Warsaw, Poland. They refused to renew my passport in New York, making it impossible for me to travel to Europe to attend IJF Board Meetings and later, the General Assembly in Yugoslavia in 1999. Absent, I could not be re-elected as Secretary General. Soon after, without so much as a reason or explanation I lost my post as Editor-in-Chief of Jazz Forum, which I founded in Warsaw in 1966.
The IJF with a new Board became a different organization. The headquarters moved from Vienna to Denmark, to London. Activity diminished, coming finally to a standstill.
Now, in 2006 everything has changed. What was difficult and impossible then is now alive and possible. There is the European Union, the Internet and Open Market. Yet for the jazz artists, problems remain much the same as thirty years ago. They need a large AUDIENCE and direct access to the jazz industry.
Taking into consideration new realities, the following question is alive and open to all interested in the international jazz scene:
Can Vienna, whose government now holds the EU presidency, again be the headquarters of the International Jazz Federation? Is it possible to find jazz individuals interested in the recreation of such an organization?
I believe it is and would be a complement to the common policies across the EU.
I invite all to share their comments on the project. The results will be distributed in the next IJF Newsletter.
I wish you every success in 2006.
Jan Byrczek
jwd@JazzWorldDatabase.com
www.jazzworlddatabase.com
Festivals
“Early Music – Persona Grata” Festival
The 8th season of this festival will start on the 9th of February. This festival was created and is produced by the Arte dei Suonatori orchestra. The year’s festival features Handel’s Concerti Grossi, Op. 6, and includes almost thirty concerts. The Arte dei Suonatori orchestra will be led by conductor Martin Gester in the four planned performances in Kliczków, Poznań, Toruń and Wrocław.
“Musica Polonica Nova” Festival
The 25th annual festival of Contemporary music will take place between 9th and 16th of February in Wrocław. The official website is currently under construction, but check back soon for details: www.musicapolonicanova.pl.
Summer String Institutes
The American National Philharmonic, Piotr Gajewski, cond., has created the Summer String Institutes to nurture the talent and skills of young musicians and to encourage their continued participation in classical music now and throughout their lives. At the Institutes, students perform a variety of orchestral music and have the increasingly rare opportunity to study chamber music literature.
The 100 young musicians are selected based on their applications and teacher recommendations, and will study with Maestro Piotr Gajewski, National Philharmonic musicians, and other distinguished faculty. Each week concludes with performances by the student orchestra and student chamber ensembles.
Institute activities include:
Orchestra rehearsals
Sectional rehearsals
Chamber music coachings
Private lessons (two during the week)
Movement classes
Sight-reading and rhythm training (middle school institute)
Student chamber music concert (Friday afternoon)
Student orchestra concert (Friday evening)
The two weeks of Institutes are followed by the National Philharmonic Summer Chamber Music Festival, which features performances by the Institutes’ faculty members, other National Philharmonic musicians, and guest artists. Attendance at these concerts is free for Institute participants through the ALL KIDS, ALL FREE, ALL THE TIME program.
To learn more or request an application, contact National Philharmonic Education Director Filbert Hong at filbert@nationalphilharmonic.org. In 2005, applications were available in January and the deadline was March 31. A limited number of merit-based scholarships are available.
Awards
Record Academy Award 2005
The recording of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Requiem performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic and Choir and conducted by Antoni Wit has received the prestigious Record Academy Award given by the Japanese music magazine Record Geijutsu. The composition was honored in the contemporary music category.
Zimmerman Wins Midem Award
Deutsche Grammophon picked-up the “Best Concertos” category award with The Complete Concertos by Bartók interpreted by Krystian Zimerman (pictured at right), Leif Ove Andsnes, Hélčne Grimaud and conducted by Pierre Boulez. For more winners go to: www.midem.com.
Blechacz Receives Polityka Passport
The young pianist and winner of the XV Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Rafał Blechacz, was given the 2006 Passport Award in the category of music. The awards are given by the Polish periodical, Polityka, in different areas of social life. In other categories, the winners are: Jan Klata – theater, Marek Krajewski – literature, Przemysław Wojcieszek – motion picture, Robert Kuśmirowski – visual arts and Duet Skalpel – theater. The winners were announced at the Gala in the Polish Theater in Warsaw on the 10th of January 2006.
Honoris Gratia Medals
Prof. Jacek Majchrowski, President of the City of Kraków, honored Dr Elżbieta Dziębowska, Jan Krenz and Wojciech Kilar with this year’s Honoris Gratia medals. They were honored during a ceremony in the city hall on January 24, 2006. Last year’s honorees include: Zbigniew Bujarski, Teresa Chylińska, Waldemar Dąbrowski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Adam Neuer, Anna Oberc, Agnieszka Odorowicz, Leszek Polony and Mieczysław Tomaszewski. Grażyna Adamczyk has received the medal post mortem.
Discography
New Wieniawski
Wieniawski In Two Volumes
The Polish-born violinist Piotr Janowski and the Norwegian pianist Wolfgang Plagge have teamed up to record the complete music of Henryk Wieniawski for the Oslo-based 2L label. Their first disc, released in 2001, contains some of Wieniawski’s best known war horses (Polonaise Brillante in A major, Obertas, and Dudziarz) as well as his lesser-known gems (Souvenir de Poznań, Ręverie, Gigue, and Le Carnaval Russe). The second Wieniawski disc, issued in 2005, provides more of the same fascinating mix of the familiar and almost completely forgotten works. The most interesting items on the latest Janowski-Plagge release are the world premiere recordings of Wieniawski’s Grand duo polonais, Op. 8, and the Fantaisie orientale, Op. 24. The swaggering Op. 8 is a result of the collaboration between Henryk, the violinist, and his pianist brother, Józef, who jointly toured Europe in the 1850s, conquering audiences as two teenage prodigies. The introspective Op. 24 is a brooding work, anticipating the musical language and style of composers such as Max Bruch or Ernest Bloch. Having Wieniawski’s Grand duo and Fantaisie included on this recording will hopefully lead to a revival of the unjustly neglected repertoire of compositions by this pre-eminent 19th century Polish violinist.
On both recordings, Janowski, who has enjoyed almost four decades of international career following his 1967 triumph at the Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań, Poland, comes across as a sensitive and brilliant interpreter of Wieniawski’s music. Performing these romantically supercharged showpieces with elegance and charm requires considerable musicianship, breathtaking virtuosity, and the unerring sense of style. Under Janowski’s fingers, Wieniawski’s demanding passagework and the cantilena phrases unfold naturally and musically, transporting the listener to the world of the 19th century salons where this music found such an enthusiastic welcome. Wolfgang Plagge’s intuitive playing-he is a composer as well as pianist- completes this accomplished ensemble and makes the two Wieniawski discs a welcome reference in the library of the 19th century violin repertoire recordings. It will be interesting to see what new Wieniawski discoveries this duo may present on their upcoming releases in the series.
[MZ]
Piotr Janowski-Biography
Hailed as “a musician of remarkable gifts” by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and “a world-class artist” by Dagbladet in Oslo, Norway, Piotr Janowski is a native of Poland, where he began to study violin at the age of eight. Mr. Janowski was the First Prize winner at the Fifth International Wieniawski Competition in Poznań, Poland, when he was only 16. An impressive string of international awards followed, and in subsequent years Mr. Janowski became First Prize winner at the Philadelphia Orchestra Competition, the G.B. Dealy Competition in Dallas, Texas, and a two time top-honors recipient at the prestigious Naumburg Competition in New York, with his New Arts Trio.
After graduating from the Frederic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, Piotr Janowski continued his studies with some of the greatest violin virtuosos of our times-Zino Francescatti at the Curtis Institute, Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music, and Jascha Heifetz at the University of Southern California. Since then Mr. Janowski performed throughout the world, appearing as a soloist with major American and European orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, and collaborating with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Slatkin, and Erich Leinsdorf.
A consummate recitalist and a dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Janowski toured Asia, Europe, and the Americas, performing at numerous festivals, including Marlboro, VT, Chautauqua, NY, Warsaw Autumn, and Dimitrios, Greece. Also widely recognized as a teacher, Mr. Janowski was on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He has given master classes at the Bologna Conservatory, Barratt Due Institute in Oslo, the Oberlin College, and the Northwestern University, Chicago, among others.
Piotr Janowski’s extensive catalogue of recordings includes performances on Muza, Pantheon, Aura, Phoenix, Norske Gram (Sony), and 2L labels. He plays on a 1722 violin by Guarneri del Gesù.
“Sacred Triptych” DVDs
The “Sacred Triptych” consists of three DVDs with the best-known work of three Polish composers: Krzysztof Penderecki’s Credo, Wojciech Kilar’s Missa pro pace and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s 3rd Symphony: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. All three pieces were recorded during live anniversary performances in: Warsaw in 2003 for Penderecki; Zakopane in 2003 for Górecki; and Lwów 2004 for Kilar. The DVDs also contain a bonus 20 minutes of footage of never before published interviews with the composers expressing their views about the music. The idea of these releases came from the director of the NOSPR (Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice), Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, as a result of long time cooperation between theses three composers and the orchestra.
Penderecki’s Credo credits:
Recorded in the Brothers Dominicans Church in Warsaw, with soloists: Bożena Harasimowicz-Haas and Olga Pasiecznik—sopranos, Agnieszka Rehlis—mezzo-soprano, Adam Zdunikowski—tenor, Romuald Tesarowicz—bass. Polish Radio Choir, National Philharmonic Choir, Kraków Philharmonic Boys Choir and Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Krzysztof Penderecki—conductor.
Górecki’s “3rd Symphony” credits:
Recorded in the Holy Cross Church in Zakopane, with soloist: Zofia Kilanowicz—soprano. Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Henryk Górecki—conductor.
Kilar’s “Missa pro pace” credits:
Recorded in the Polish Cathedral in Lwów, with soloists: Izabella Kłosińska—soprano, Anna Lubańska—alto, Piotr Kusiewicz—tenor and Romuald Tesarowicz—bass. Polish Radio Choir and Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra. Kazimierz Kord—conductor. (Wojciech Kilar does not conduct his own compositions)
New Recordings On Acte Préalable
AP0137: Polish Flute Music
Performers: Antoni Wierzbiński, flute; Elżbieta Tyszecka, piano
Program: Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński – Andante e Rondo alla Polacca, Op. 42; Tadeusz Szeligowski – Sonata for flute and piano; Aleksander Tansman – Sonatine à Lois Fleury pour flűte et piano; Bolesław Woytowicz – Sonata for flute and piano; Ignacy Jan Paderewski – Krakowiak – Danse Polonaise Op. 9 No. 5; Fryderyk Chopin – Variations in E major on “Non piú mesta” from Rossini La Cenerentola .
Lutosławski On Arte Nova
Arte Nova Records # 983430
Program: Witold Lutosławski (Concerto for Cello, Sacher Variations, Grave); Claude Debussy (Sonata for Cello and Piano, Nocturne and Scherzo for Cello and Piano); Anton von Webern (Little Pieces (3) for Cello and Piano, Op. 11, Sonata for Cello and Piano, M 202, Pieces (2) for Cello and Piano, M 1 – M 2)
Revolutions of the Past is a program of seminal modern cello music, featuring the young Salzburg-born cellist Bruno Weinmeister. A student of Heinrich Schiff and protégé of Friedrich Gulda, Mr. Weinmeister is much in demand as a performer today, especially in the music of modern composers. This is not his first collaboration with Swedish pianist Stefan Veselka; they have also made numerous recordings including the complete piano music of Dvorák.
Karłowicz On Chandos
Chandos Records # 10298
Program: Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909)—Returning Waves, Op. 9; A Sorrowful Tale, Op. 13; and Episode at a Masquerade, Op. 14 Performers: BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda, cond.
New Album For Pawlik
There is a new album by Włodek Pawlik, the “Horowitz of Jazz”. The album, entitled Anhelli, will be released in Poland on the 9th of February, 2006 on ARMS Records. On the same day Pawlik and his band will perform at the National Philharmonic. For detailed information and a chance to hear music from the album, visit www.anhelli.pl/.
Performances
Christmas Harp Concert
On January 8th, 2006, at the Polish Club in San Francisco, harpist Liliana Osses Adams presented a lovely program of Polish Christmas carols. An annual event, this concert features gentle harp renditions of all the favorite Polish carols.
Born in Poznań, Poland, Liliana Osses Adams is a classically trained musician, concert harpist and music teacher (pedal harp, lever harp, piano). At age seven she began her music education at Poznań Conservatory (piano and music theory). At age fourteen, although she continued to study piano, harp became her principal instrument and she went on to study with J. Rogozinska, then with M. Prokopowicz, K. Zemancova, T. Splawinski. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the Music College and Music Academy of Poznań. Master’s thesis: A Historic Essay on the Harp as a Solo and Ensemble Instrument (1971). She has received harp instruction and participated in master classes in Europe and in USA with Nicanor Zabaleta, Lily Laskine, Maria Korchinska, and Mildred Dilling, and was awarded a scholarship to study harp with Prof. Karel Patras in Prague.
Piekutowska At Bargemusic
One of Poland’s most talented violinists of the younger generation, Patrycja Piekutowska, performed two recitals devoted to Polish 20th-century violin music with pianist Johnathan Yates at Bargemusic. Program: Karol Szymanowski – Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 9; Krzysztof Penderecki – Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Miniatures for Violin and Piano, Cadenza for Violin Solo; Witold Lutosławski – Partita for Violin; and Grażyna Bacewicz – Sonata No. 4.
Ms. Piekutowska is the winner of numerous prizes and distinctions at the International T. Wroński Solo Violin Competition, Warsaw, 1997; International K. Lipiński and H. Wieniawski Young Violinists’ Competition, Lublin, 1997; and the V International Krzysztof Penderecki Chamber Music Competition, Krakow, 2001; among others. In 1993 Patrycja Piekutowska was granted a scholarship to attend the International Music Camp at Interlochen, USA, where she won the Best Recital Competition. She has also been awarded Poland’s Minister of Culture and Art Scholarship. Most recently, she was the winner of Europe’s 2005 Supersonic Award for her recording of works by Penderecki.
In the middle of the last century, Bargemusic was a hard-working vessel in New York Harbor delivering hand-loaded sacks of coffee to the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Now moored at Fulton Ferry Landing, its present cargo is the sound of music.
Fitelberg Concert In Germany
By Gary Fitelberg
“Warshau-Berlin-Paris-New York: Stationen der Biographie Jerzy Fitelbergs (1903-1951)” was a special tribute and symposium with concert performance and commentary with respect to two Polish composers, father and son, GRZEGORZ FITELBERG (1879-1953) and JERZY FITELBERG (1903-1951). The event was sponsored by the musica reinamatasociety based in Berlin, Germany and was held at the Berlin Konzerthause on March 10, 2005. The lecture presentation was moderated by Professor Dr. Ranier Cadenbach and pianist Gottfried Eberle. This was the sixty-sixth event in a series of such symposiums to recall forgotten or lost composers due to suppression as a result of the Nazi regime.
The concert program included Romance D-Dur, Op. 11.1 (1892), Intermezzo from Violin Sonata nr. 2, Op. 12 (1901), and Romance A-Dur, Op. 11.2 by father Grzegorz Fitelberg. Also Der schlect gesselfte Promtheus (1929), Serenade for Violin and Piano (1943) and String Quartet No. 2 (1928), which was recipient of the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Library of Congress award. These works were brought back to life by violinists Filip Marek Lipski and Izabella Powichrowska, violist James Eccles, violincellist Martin Smith and pianist Gottfried Eberle.
The audience was delighted and enthusiastic to hear a rare concert performance of these compositions by Grzegorz Fitelberg and Jerzy Fitelberg. Peter Sarkar, cellist, musicologist and secretary of the musica reinamata society commented, “Among the many composers whose music I made an acquaintance with, Fitelberg stood out as probably the greatest, at least among the still completely unknown.”
Polish composer Jerzy Fitelberg, born in Warsaw in 1903, son of composer Grzegorz Fitelberg, learned the rudiments of music from his father, at the Moscow and Warsaw Conservatories, and later in the Master Class as a student of Franz Schreker and Walter Gmeindl.
Fitelberg lived in Warsaw until 1922, made his move and musical career debut in Berlin until 1933, when he moved once more to Paris and resided there until 1940 when forced to flee due to WWII. Fitelberg’s final years were spent composing in New York where he lived from 1940 until his early, premature, sudden death in 1951.
Internet News
Kaczmarek Review
A review of the recent concert of the music of Jan A.P. Kaczmarek in Los Angeles, “Journey to Light”, is available online at Variety Magazine.
Chopin Competition Album
A beautiful album of memorable photographs from the 2005 International Chopin Competition is now available at www.wvmarketing.pl/home_eng.php?id=103&id_sklep=84.
Polish Genealogical Conference
The United Polish Genealogical Societies announce their biennial conference to be held in Salt Lake City April 21-24, 2006 at the Family History Library.
Calendar Of Events
Coming Soon: Holly-Łódź!
David Lynch has been a great fan of the city of Łódź ever since his first visit there several years ago. The unique spirit and architecture of this working-class metropolis, located right in the middle of Poland and once famous for its textile mills, had fascinated this celebrated American film director.
Historically, Łódź was the cradle of modern film industry in Poland. Polański, Wajda, Skolimowski, Kieślowski, and scores of other great filmmakers have come from the legendary Łódź film school. Since the year 2000, Łódź has hosted the CAMERIMAGE Festival, the most prestigious film festival in Poland and a unique event in the world of cinema, since it is devoted to the art of cinematography.
For many years Marek Żydowicz, director of the CAMERIMAGE Festival and Chairman of the Tumult Foundation, thought of converting one of the historical textile mill complexes into film studios, production and post-production facilities, film festival center, and art exhibition space. Thanks to David Lynch’s enthusiastic response to the idea and a far-reaching support of Andrzej Walczak, chairman of the Atlas Company, this project is now taking shape.
David Lynch, Marek Żydowicz, and Andrzej Walczak have just signed documents establishing the World Art Foundation in Łódź. The new Łódź Arts Center will be housed in the historic power-generation station that once supplied a textile mill nearby. Lynch’s sound studio will be the first to open, leading to further development of buildings currently on the site. A fully-fledged film studio and a Festival Center, where the annual CAMERIMAGE Film Festival will be held, are the next items on this ambitious and exciting agenda. The founding fathers of this project and the elected officials of the City of Łódź share the idea of creating a unique and highly attractive meeting place for film, art and music in the middle of a post-industrial wasteland. Their noble vision will certainly enrich the cultural offering of the region, and provide much needed employment to the local population. The great popularity of the CAMERIMAGE Festival that attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world had already placed Łódź on the map of important cultural landmarks. With the new Arts Center, the city of Łódź with its fascinating past will surely gain a new lease on life for the foreseeable future.
[MZ]
Anniversaries
Born This Month
- 2 February 1909 – Grażyna BACEWICZ, composer, violinist, pianist (d. 1969)
- 7 February 1877 – Feliks NOWOWIEJSKI, composer, organist
- 8 February 1953 – Mieszko GÓRSKI, composer, teacher (active in Gdansk and Koszalin)
- 9 February 1954 – Marian GORDIEJUK, composer, teacher, theorist (active in Bydgoszcz)
- 14 February 1882 – Ignacy FRIEDMAN, pianist and composer (d. 1948)
- 18 February 1881 – Zygmunt MOSSOCZY, opera singer (bass), chemist (d. 1962)
- 27 February 1898 – Bronisław RUTKOWSKI, organist, music critic, conductor and composer (d. 1964)
- 28 February 1910 – Roman MACIEJEWSKI, composer, pianist (d. 1998 in Sweden)
- 28 February 1953 – Marcin BŁAŻEWICZ, composer, teacher (active in Warsaw)
Died This Month
- 3 February 1959 – Stanisław GRUSZCZYŃSKI, tenor (active throughout Europe, b. 1891)
- 3 February 1929 – Antoni Wawrzyniec GRUDZIŃSKI, pianist, teacher, and music critic (active in Łódz and Warsaw, b. 1875)
- 7 February 1954 – Jan Adam MAKLAKIEWICZ, composer (active in Warsaw, b. 1899)
- 7 February 1994 – Witold LUTOSŁAWSKI, composer and conductor (b. 1913)
- 8 February 1909 – Mieczysław KARŁOWICZ, composer, conductor, writer (b. 1876)
- 9 February 1959 – Ignacy NEUMARK, composer and conductor (active in Copenhagen, Oslo and Schveningen, b. 1888)
- 10 February 1905 – Ignacy KRZYŻANOWSKI, pianist and composer (active in Kraków and Warsaw, b. 1826)
- 14 February 1957 – Wawrzyniec Jerzy ŻUŁAWSKI, composer, music critic, teacher, and mountain climber (b. 1916)
- 23 February 1957 – Stefan SLĄZAK, singer, organist, conductor (active in Silesia, b. 1889)
- 27 February 1831 – Józef KOZŁOWSKI, composer (active at the Russian Court in Petersburg, b. 1757)
- 29 February 2004 – Witold RUDZIŃSKI, composer, music critic and teacher