Sunday, October 20, 2013 | 7:00 p.m.
Alfred Newman Recital Hall, USC, Los Angeles (See AHF on campus map)
3616 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA
Reception to follow the concert
Admission: FREE | USC Parking: $10 [Enter USC Gate #3 at McCarthy Way & Figueroa St for Parking Structure X]
Celebrating the 60th birthday of one of Poland’s greatest composer of film and stage music, with a lecture by Dębski and a recital of his works performed by the Panic Duo, Midnight Winds and vocalist Anna Jurksztowicz on October 20, 2013.
2013 Paderewski Lecture-Recital Preview
From September 2013 PMC Newsletter
The PMC’s 2013 Paderewski Lecturer is Krzesimir Dębski, a favorite of audiences throughout Los Angeles and the world. Celebrating his 60th birthday this year, Dębski is a prominent Polish composer who is also a virtuoso violinist and pianist, and a celebrated orchestral conductor. Equally at home in the world of jazz and classical music, Dębski is chiefly known in Poland for his numerous and highly popular film scores. In addition, he is also famous as a songwriter and arranger, and a composer of music for theatre.
However, Dębski’s Paderewski Lecture and the recital of his music—which will be held on October 20 at 7:00 pm on the USC campus—will focus on his lesser-known but extensive output of compositions for the classical concert stage. The program will include the World Premiere of his Violin Sonata (2013) as well as a selection of his works for wind ensemble and voice. Performers will include the Panic Duo (Pasha Tseitlin – violin and Nic Gerpe – piano), the Midnight Winds (Amy Tatum – flute, Jennifer Johnson – oboe, Andrew Leonard – clarinet, Maciej Flis – bassoon, and Allen Fogle – horn), Dębski’s wife, vocalist Anna Jurksztowicz, and the composer himself.
Born in Wałbrzych on October 26, 1953 into a musical family, Krzesimir Dębski studied music from an early age. Already during middle school Dębski played in various musical ensembles, including The Hazards and Maszyna Rytmu [The Rhythm Machine], and made his debut in 1973 at the Rack Avant-Garde Festival in Kalisz. He later joined the group Warsztat [The Workshop] as a jazz violinist, performing at the Jazz on the Odra River Festival in Wrocław in 1975. Later Dębski worked with the Tey Cabaret in Poznań, Jonkisz Jazz Orchestra, Górny Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Eighth Day.
Starting in 1973 Dębski studied composition with Andrzej Koszewski and conducting with Witold Krzemieński at the Poznań Academy of Music. In 1980 he began touring all of Europe and North America as violinist with the celebrated String Connection ensemble. Winner of the First Prize in the International Jazz Competition in Belgium, Dębski was also honored by Jazz Forum Magazine with its Best Violinist and Best Arranger Prizes. Listed in 1985 as one of the ten best jazz violinists by Down Beat Magazine, Dębski had since then scored over seventy feature films, and numerous TV series. Among his best-known feature film credits are Ogniem i mieczem [With Fire and Sword], W pustyni i w puszczy [In Desert and Wilderness], and Stara baśń[An Old Tale]. Dębski’s soundtrack for Ogniem i mieczem went platinum in Poland, selling over two hundred thousand copies, and earned him the 2000 International Film Academy’s Philip Award. He was also the recipient of the Fryderyk Composer of the Year Award in 2000. His most recent film scores include a soundtrack for the first Polish 3D film, Battle of Warsaw 1920, Sztos 2 [Polish Roulette], and Siberian Exile. Dębski’s film scoring projects in the United States have included writing new soundtracks for the early short and medium length films of Charlie Chaplin.
As a song writer, Krzesimir Dębski has over one hundred pop songs to his credit. Many of them are written to texts by Jacek Cygan and feature prominently in the repertoire of many well-known artists, including Edyta Górniak, Anna Jurksztowicz, Grażyna Łobaszewska, Ryszard Rynkowski, Zdzisława Sośnicka, Mieczysław Szcześniak, Natasza Urbańska and Borys Szyc. Dębski has also scored hundreds of episodes of popular Polish TV series, including Klan [The Clan], Złotopolscy [The Zlotopolski Family], Ranczo [The Rancho], and Na dobre i na złe [For Good and Ill].
Throughout the last decade, Krzesimir Dębski has received a number of commissions for large-scale orchestral works from outstanding soloists and major symphony orchestras in Poland and abroad. He has shared the stage with such internationally acclaimed artists as John Blake, Jose Carreras, The Canadian Brass, Jose Cura, Nigel Kennedy, Adam Makowicz, Ewa Malas-Godlewska, Mark O’Connor, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Vadim Repin. Krzesimir Dębski’s ever-growing catalogue of orchestral compositions currently includes two symphonies, an opera, ballet music, and eleven concertos for various solo instruments and orchestra. In great demand as conductor and performer, his recent foreign tours included performances in Mexico, India, Brazil, and the United States. Dębski’s music has been recorded on MAG Music, Pool Music, Pomarton, EMI Classics, Polstar, Warner Music Poland, Polskie Nagrania, Proton, Koch, BMG Poland, Si Music, Universal Music Polska, and Pol Music labels.
Krzesimir Dębski has served as Deputy Chair of the Polish Contemporary Music Society and has given summer course guest lectures in Ankara, Darmstadt, San Diego, and Los Angeles. In 2010 Krzesimir Dębski received the Ecce Homo Order, a Polish Catholic Church award for “Depicting life with music and a musical imprint on the picture of Poland and the world, as well as for beautiful transformation of everyday reality through good works, orderliness and harmony.”
Polish Musical Heritage Celebrated In CA
From October 2013 PMC Newsletter
Traditionally, October is the Polish Heritage Month. And indeed, throughout the month many events—musical, cultural, and culinary—are scheduled throughout Southern California. Musically speaking, two in particular are worthy of consideration.
The first of the two events is the annual Paderewski Lecture-Recital at USC on Sunday, October 20 at 7 p.m. This event highlights Paderewski’s association with USC, which bestowed upon him an honorary degree in 1923. For well over a decade now, the Polish Music Center had welcomed the most prominent Polish musicians to share their art and learning with local audiences during this annual event. Zygmunt Krauze, Joanna Bruzdowicz, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Marta Ptaszyńska, Krzysztof Meyer, Paweł Łukaszewski, and Grzegorz Nowak were invited to lecture and perform at USC. The PMC had also celebrated gifts of manuscripts to the Center (Henry Vars in 2005 and Zygmunt and Luisa Stojowski in 2006) by organizing concerts honoring these composers within the Paderewski Lecture-Recital series. The Paderewski Lecture-Recital had also served as a vehicle for commemorating important Polish musicians’ anniversaries—such was the case with Wojciech Kilar in 2008, Ignacy Jan Paderewski in 2010, and Karol Szymanowski in 2012.
This year, the Paderewski Lecture-Recital will celebrate the 60th birthday of Krzesimir Dębski, a prominent Polish composer, a virtuoso violinist and pianist, and a celebrated orchestral conductor. It will feature performances by the Panic Duo, Midnight Winds, Dębski’s wife, the highly popular singer Anna Jurksztowicz.
I have worked in nearly all the fields of the music world. Rock men greet me as a rock musician, jazzmen—as a jazzman, still others—as a film composer. But I am personally convinced that classical music is my proper domain. I dedicate about 80 per cent of my time, or more in some periods, to the composition of contemporary classical music. Unfortunately, the world of contemporary music is so small that at times I cannot help having the impression that I could easily suffocate in it. And, for that matter, I do not seem to be fully accepted in that world. […]The Warsaw Autumn has never presented my works, but I hope to be found worthy of this honor when I celebrate my 80th birthday… […]. My pieces are performed every month, also frequently abroad. I feel happy that my works are played at usual philharmonic concerts, not only at festivals.
–Krzesimir Dębski, Studio Magazine 1999 no. 5
The PMC’s 2013 Paderewski Lecturer is Krzesimir Dębski, a favorite of audiences throughout Los Angeles and the world. Celebrating his 60th birthday this year, Dębski is a prominent Polish composer who is also a virtuoso violinist and pianist and a celebrated orchestral conductor. Equally at home in the world of jazz and classical music, Dębski is chiefly known in Poland for his numerous and highly successful film scores, his popular songs, and music for theatre. However, Dębski’s Paderewski Lecture and the recital of his works will focus on his extensive output of compositions for the classical concert stage. The program will include the World Premiere of his Violin Sonata (2013) as well as works for wind ensemble and voice. Performers will include the Panic Duo (Pasha Tseitlin – violin and Nic Gerpe – piano), the Midnight Winds (Amy Tatum – flute, Jennifer Johnson – oboe, Andrew Leonard – clarinet, Maciej Flis – bassoon, and Allen Fogle – horn), Dębski’s wife, vocalist Anna Jurksztowicz, and the composer himself.
Event sponsors:
