On March 15, the SUNDAYS LIVE! Chamber Music Series presents violinist Phillip Levy and pianist Rina Dokshitsky performing Paderewski’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op.13. Also on the program are Mozart’s Sonata in G Major, K301, and Prokofiev’s Five Melodies, Op.35. Born in Cardiff, Wales, Phillip Levy received his musical training in Israel and Europe….Continue Reading Paderewski at Sundays Live! in L.A.
Polish classical guitarist Marcin Dylla returns to the Pasadena Conservatory of Music for a performance on the Guitar Nights concert series. Dylla will be joined by Rick Ruskin, contemporary fingerstyle guitarist Rick Ruskin on the same program. Marcin Dylla has been hailed by The Washington Post as “among the most gifted guitarists on the planet.”…Continue Reading Marcin Dylla In Pasadena
Two Polish musicians were recently awarded the Decoration of Honor “Meritorious for Polish Culture” from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage [MKiDN]: virtuoso violinist and cultural organizer Janusz Wawrowski, and pianist, theoretician and composer Marcin Tadeusz Łukaszewski. They were officially decorated at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw by University Rector,…Continue Reading Wawrowski & Łukaszewski Decorated
From February 20 to March 1, the 9th US National Chopin Piano Competition was organized by the Chopin Foundation of the United States in Miami. Following eight days of grueling competition, the nine Competition Jury members—Agustin Anievas, Chair, Sergei Babayan, Ian Hobson, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Kevin Kenner, Dean Kramer, Jon Nakamatsu, Katarżyna Popowa-Zydroń and Margarita Shevchenko—announced…Continue Reading US Nat’l Chopin Competition Winners
An equivalent of the American Grammy Awards, the Fryderyk Awards are organized by the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry to honor the year’s best recordings by Polish musicians and of Polish music. On March 4, the nominations for the 2015 Fryderyk Awards were announced. Highlights from the category of classical music include: PENDERECKI Chamber…Continue Reading 2015 Fryderyk Award Nominations
Szymański & Mykietyn: Music for string quartet Paweł Szymański (b. 1954): Five pieces for string quartet, Four pieces for string quartet, and Two pieces for string quartet; Paweł Mykietyn (b. 1971): String Quartet No. 2 Royal String Quartet: Izabella Szałaj-Zimak – violin I, Elwira Przybyłowska – violin II, Marek Czech – viola, Michał Pepol –…Continue Reading RSQ Perform Mykietyn & Szymański On Hyperion
To celebrate the end of the Kolberg Year, the Masovian Cultural Institute [Mazowiecki Instytut Kultury] published a CD, Z Kolbergiem po Afryce I Azji. Multi Culti Orkiestra Marii Pomianowskiej. Make music not war. This album contains materials gathered by the multi-instrumentalist Maria Pomianowska during her tours of Africa and Asia between 2011 and 2014. This…Continue Reading Polish, African And Asian Folk Music CD
Pianist Rafał Blechacz, now thirty years old, is a rare guest in Poland these days, and the public welcomed his recent appearance with Warsaw Philharmonic under Jacek Kaspszyk on February 24. He was the featured soloist in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, and the orchestra also programmed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 that evening. Writing for Rzeczpospolita,…Continue Reading Belchacz at Warsaw Philharmonic
The Grand Theatre-National Opera began 2015 with one-time performances of two rarely heard but groundbreaking operas, presented by the Poznań Opera Theatre. The first was Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Portrait, with a libretto by Alexander Medvedev based on Nikolai Gogol’s short story, presented at the Moniuszko Auditorium on January 16. The performers of Poznań Opera Theatre…Continue Reading Weinberg and Meyer in Warsaw
A new music series at the Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington, D.C., promoting Polish Jazz had its grand opening with a concert by Bogna Kicińska on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. A jazz vocalist, violinist, composer and an educator now based in New York City, Kicińska was joined on stage by Kuba Cichocki, piano and…Continue Reading New Jazz Series at Kosciuszko FDN in D.C.