Several concerts have recently taken place around Poland as part of the Institute of Music and Dance’s “Stage for Polish Music” initiative, including performances by the Ãtma Quartet and pianist Piotr Sałajczyk. As a part of IMiT’s “Stage for Polish Music” project, selected programs featuring Polish music will be presented in cities throughout Poland, as organized in collaboration with arts institutions such as the Warsaw Philharmonic. The goal of the project is to inspire musicians to prepare concert programs featuring Polish music—promoting both Polish music and Polish performers.
The Ãtma Quartet performed at the Warsaw National Philharmonic on 15 January as part of the “Stage for Polish Music” project. Their program featured works by Franciszek Lessel, Andrzej Panufnik, Stanisław Moniuszko, and Karol Szymanowski. Find the full program at filharmonia.pl.
The Ãtma Quartet first appeared as the New Music Quartet in 2016. The four outstanding instrumentalists and graduates of Polish music academies, Katarzyna Gluza (violin), Paulina Marcisz (violin), Karalina Orsik-Sauter (viola) and Dominika Szczypka (cello), have been holding concerts in Poland and abroad, popularizing chamber music and works by Polish composers.
Piotr Sałajczyk’s piano recital took place on 21 January at the Oskar Kolberg Świętokrzyska Philharmonic. The program included Sonata by Franciszek Lessel; Grande Polonaise, Op. 6 by Juliusz Zarębski; Variations, Op. 62 by Władysław Żeleński; Sonata No. 2 by Mieczysław Weinberg; and The Life of Machines by Władysław Szpilman.
Sałajczyk has received a Fryderyk and an Orpheus award as well as a nomination for a Polityka’s Passport award. He graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice where he currently teaches. His interests include modern music as well as unknown music of Polish romanticism. In 2017, he released a four-disc album of the complete set of piano works by Juliusz Zarębski. A year later, he recorded the works of Władysław Żeleński.
[Sources: polmic.pl, polmic.pl, imit.org.pl]