This year’s International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC) Annual Meeting, General Assembly, Conference and Concert—collectively referred to as IAMIC 2014—will be held from October 3-8 in and around the south-western Polish city of Wrocław. During the same time period, Wrocław will be the site of the 2014 World Music Days, a festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). Organized by the Polish Music Information Centre in Warsaw on behalf of IAMIC, the conference will have many confluences with ISCM’s World Music Days.
The theme of the 2014 IAMIC Conference is “Tradition and New Music,” and is linked to the 2014 Kolberg anniversary celebrations. This year in Poland is dedicated to Oskar Kolberg (1814-1890), the first Polish folklorist, still considered a very important figure in Polish folklore studies and in Polish culture in general. Poland did not exist on the map of Europe during Kolberg’s lifetime, as it had been occupied and divided among three powers: Russia, Prussia and Austria. Still, Kolberg managed to cover with his field work all the territory of the former multinational Republic of Poland (or the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and he collected a great wealth of folk songs, tales, proverbs, riddles, as well as many other ethnographic documents. He published 33 volumes of his lifetime work titled Lud (Folk), and his unpublished legacy is still being uncovered. The Oskar Kolberg Institute has already published around 70 volumes containing material from present-day Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, as well as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and even from Łużyce (Lausitz) – today a region stretching across the Polish-German border.
On October 7, the New Music Orchestra (OMN) led by conductor Szymon Bywalec will present a program of works from around the world that either use folk instruments or are inspired by traditional music. The program consists of: Savvas Savva (Cyprus) – Drepani for chamber orchestra; Jana Kmitowa (Slovakia) – Metamerie for fujara and chamber orchestra; Cândido Lima (Portugal) – Momentos-Memorias II for Portuguese and classical guitars and chamber orchestra; Gunnar Andreas Kristinsson (Iceland) – Arma Virumque Cano for chamber orchestra; and Zygmunt Krauze (Poland) –Aus aller Welt stammende for złóbcoki and string instruments. Other performers for the concert will be Michal Paľko – fujara, Miguel Raposo – Portuguese guitar, and Philippe Raposo – guitar.
October 7, 2014 | 3:00 p.m.
IAMIC Concert “Tradition and new music”
Książ Castle, Wałbrzych, Poland
Information: polmic.pl
[Sources: polmic.pl]
Panufnik – BBC3 Composer Of The Week
Starting on September 22, for a week the music of Sir Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991) reigned supreme on British radio station BBC Radio 3. Panufnik, whose 100th birth anniversary is celebrated around the world in 2014, was chosen as Composer of the Week. In celebration, BBC announcer Donald Macleod did 5 consecutive programs about the life and music of this Warsaw-born composer.
Having been one of the most sought-after composers in his home country, and the conductor of the Krakow and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras, in 1954 Panufnik escaped the creative persecution of Communist Poland and sought asylum in the UK. In his new home, one his first permanent occupations was as conductor at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 1991, he was honored with the title of nobility form Elizabeth II for services to the UK.
Below is as listing of the BBC3 programs:
Survival (1/5) Donald Macleod focuses on the difficult war years and the beginning of Panufnik’s career
From No 1 to No-one (2/5) Donald Macleod introduces music from around the time of Panufnik’s defection to Britain
Marriage (3/5) Donald Macleod with music written in the years after Panufnik’s marriage to Camilla Jessel
Recognition (4/5) Donald Macleod focuses on works from the 1970s and 80s as Panufnik’s popularity grew.
Celebrations, Honours and a Glorious Homecoming (5/5) Donald Macleod introduces music from the last years of Panufnik’s life