SONORA Music continues to actively promote artists on its roster, despite the pandemic-induced slowdown in live performances during the past year. They have instead used that time to organize a number of concert premieres as well as recordings and album releases.
Celebrations of Krauze, plus Zubel Premiere
Conductor Wilson Hermanto led the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) in a recording of Zygmunt Krauze’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with the composer as the soloist. This year Zygmunt Krauze celebrates the 60th anniversary of his artistic life, and several concerts presenting his compositions are planned for the fall. They include a performance of his Piano Concerto No. 3 by the Łódź Philharmonic on October 15, and Wrocław Opera’s staging of Krauze’s operas The Trap (October 9) and Yemaya (October 10). Zygmunt Krauze will also perform in solo recitals in Lublin (September 19) and at the Ad Libitum Festival (October 16).
On September 5, Krauze’s new carillon work, Hejnał [Bugle Call] was premiered in Gdańsk, alongside the premiere of Pamięć z brązu by Agata Zubel. These works were premiered by Monika Kaźmierczak, the city carillonist of Gdańsk, who also recorded them for a new album entitled “Contemporary Carillon” just released on September 3 on the Anaklasis label (ANA 016)
Recordings & Premieres by Sikora
The Wrocław Philharmonic and Mari Fukumoto recently recorded Elżbieta Sikora’s Organ Concerto with a cadenza especially written by the composer for this occasion. Also, the prestigious Warszawska Jesień Festival [Warsaw Autumn] commissioned two works by Sikora. At the Festival’s opening concert on September 17, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform the premiere of Sikora’s Liquid Air.
Another of Sikora’s compositions to be highlighted at the 2021 Warsaw Autumn is her new radio work, Norwid’Ellipse, a collaboration between the Belgian Musiques et Recherches and Poland’s Radio 3 Program, with ZAiKS, Polish Institutes in Paris and Brussels, le Groupe de recherches musicales, the National Music Forum in Wrocław, Alcôme, Poznań Radio Art Festival and SONORA Music as production partners. As it happens, the world premiere of Sikora’s Norwid’Ellipse on September 21 will also commemorate the bicentennial of Cyprian Kamil Norwid’s birth, which falls on September 24. Along with Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki, Norwid is considered one of the most important Polish late romantic poets.
Koziak, Meyer & Łukaszewski
Briefly, in other news, cellist Bartosz Koziak was invited to record Krzysztof Meyer’s Cello Concerto, Canti Amadei, with the Polish Chamber Philharmonic in Sopot late this summer. A new album with Paweł Łukaszewski’s Symphony No. 3 – Symphony of Angels and the premiere of his Symphony No. 6 recorded by the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic and Choir will be released on October 1. Images of the recording session can be found here.
Congratulations to all composers and performers, and best wishes for the upcoming concerts and recording sessions!
[Sources: press release (Sonora Music, 6 September 2021), gdansk.pl]