On July 4, Krakow-based Szymon Mika took the top honors in the Smietana Competition sharing the podium with Second Prize winner Felix Lemerle of France, and ex-aequo Third Prize winners Ronald Baloghow from Hungary and Rotem Silvan of Israel. The Final Gala Concert this year included performances by the prize winners as well as by…Continue Reading Szymon Mika Wins The Jarek Smietana Competition
On October 18, the musical treasures of the late Renaissance and Baroque period in Poland will be showcased at this year’s Paderewski Lecture-Recital in celebration of the PMC’s 30th anniversary. Presented by Adam Knight Gilbert and the USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia ensemble, this program will feature rarely-heard vocal and instrumental masterpieces by Wojciech Długoraj (1550-1619),…Continue Reading 2015 Paderewski Lecture-Recital
Two distinguished guests from Poland and Ukraine paid a courtesy call at PMC in early August. Adam Bala, Director of the Discovering Paderewski Festival, and Marianna Humetska, Artistic Director of the same Festival, came on a brief visit to California and were given a tour of the Polish Music Center and the USC campus. During…Continue Reading Polish and Ukrainian Visitors at PMC
On Saturday, August 8, 2015, the Discovering Paderewski Festival in Lviv, Ukraine, represented by Director Adam Bala and Artistic Director Marianna Humetska, presented the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles with a handsome bronze bust of Paderewski, an award recognizing the Festival’s contributions to promoting Paderewski and Polish music. This tribute is granted annually to five…Continue Reading Paderewski Fundraiser in Paso
From Gajusz Keska: “Szymanowski – Piano Sonatas” (CD) From Krzesimir Debski: “The Greatest Vol. I” (CD) From Agata Zubel: “Dream Lake” (CD) From Tadeusz Owczak, Zelazowawsla: “Chopin: Mazurki, Walce, Nokturny, Polonezy” (CD) III Festiwal Pianistyczny im. Apolinarego Szeluty (DVD) From Maciej Siekierski, curator of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University: Helena Paderenska: Memoirs,…Continue Reading Recent Donations to the PMC Library
Several works by young Polish composer Wojtek Blecharz will receive their world premieres and other performances during the month of September. AUSTRALIA (9/4/15): World premiere of Counter-Earth, commissioned by Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music (BIFEM) for Aviva Endean Having wowed audiences in 2013, Aviva Endean returns to the BIFEM with the premiere of her…Continue Reading Wojtek Blecharz World Premeries
Polish guitar virtuoso, Łukasz Kuropaczewski, gave a world premiere of Krzysztof Meyer’s Triptych for Guitar Solo at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York, on 23 July 2015. Just a few weeks later, on 3 August 2015, Kuropaczewski followed up with the European premiere of the Triptych at the 24th…Continue Reading Meyer’s Premieres And Reflections
For all fans of Chopin, here is an opportunity to participate in one of the most sumptuous feasts of Chopin’s music, as performed by the young pianists competing in the 2015 Chopin International Piano Competition, without having to travel to Warsaw. One of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world, the Chopin Competition is…Continue Reading Chopin Competition Live Stream
On September 4, 2015, the much-anticipated Narodowe Forum Muzyki [National Forum of Music, or NFM] in Wrocław celebrated its inauguration with performances by the Choir of Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny, the Baroque Orchestra, the Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra, and the pianist Piotr Anderszewski, among many others. In Wrocław’s new home for music, audiences will be…Continue Reading Inauguration Of Wrocław’s National Music Forum
The Institute of Music and Dance (IMiT) has published the Annex to the Report on the Presence of Andrzej Panufnik’s Music in Poland and in the World. Written by Beata Boleslawska-Lewandowska, the report is a complement to the previous volume, exploring the presence of music by Andrzej Panufnik during the years after his death, 1991-2013….Continue Reading Panufnik Report: Annex