PMC Gifts: April 2025

Spring surprises kept coming to the PMC during the month of April. Unlike the traditional “donation-by-mail” method, this time most gifts were conveyed to us personally. The first tranche of treasures, handed in by our dear longtime friend, Betty Harford-Naszódy, will benefit the PMC library and our files on composers. A hardbound copy of The…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: April 2025

The Yoder Brothers in Concert in Westwood

As the grand finale of the Westwood Library’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, the LA Musical Salon presents a special concert featuring the Three Yoder Brothers on Saturday, May 10. The three Polish-American pianists Łukasz, Kasper, and Dominik Yoder—all graduates of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music—will present a program titled The Virtuoso Piano. The Yoder…Continue Reading The Yoder Brothers in Concert in Westwood

Winners of the 2025 Penderecki Competition for Young Composers

On March 24, 2025, the winners of the 8th International Krzysztof Penderecki Competition for Young Composers, organized by the Kraków Branch of the Polish Composers’ Union (ZKP), were revealed. The competition jury—comprised of Marcel Chyrzyński (chairman), Zbigniew Bargielski, Ivan Buffa (Slovakia), Federico Gardella (Italy), Jeajoon Ryu (South Korea), and Wojciech Widłak, with competition secretary Aleksandra…Continue Reading Winners of the 2025 Penderecki Competition for Young Composers

Premiere of One-Act Opera Celebrating Sustainability by Baczewski

On April 11 in Italy, the one-act opera Jezioro Popiołów [Lake of Ashes] by Beniamin Baczewski (b. 1991) will had its world premiere. The opera was created as part of the “Project Butterfly“ International Composition Competition, a collaboration between three European institutions: the Teatro Comunale di Modena (Italy), Opera Box in Helsinki (Finland), and the Baltic Opera…Continue Reading Premiere of One-Act Opera Celebrating Sustainability by Baczewski

World Premieres at the 2025 Krakow Int’l Festival of Composers

The Krakow International Festival of Composers has long been a vital platform for showcasing contemporary music, both from Poland and abroad. As it enters its 37th edition this May, the festival continues its legacy of commissioning, supporting, and celebrating new music with an impressive lineup of thirty-one world premieres. Held annually since 1989, this Festival…Continue Reading World Premieres at the 2025 Krakow Int’l Festival of Composers

Kinga Augustyn Across the US in May

Following on her triumphant return to Santiago, Chile to perform Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in April, Polish violinist Kinga Augustyn returns to the US for several concerts across the country in May. It starts with a Spring Concert in her adopted home of New York City at the John Paul II Friendship Center on…Continue Reading Kinga Augustyn Across the US in May

Kamieniak on Stages in England and Poland

Tomasz Kamieniak, a Polish pianist and composer based mainly in Berlin, Germany, will appear as soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58 with the London International Concert Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Alexander Walker. The May 4 concert will be heard at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Free Church in London’s North Square….Continue Reading Kamieniak on Stages in England and Poland

Polish Pianist at Van Cliburn Competition

Piotr Alexewicz, a twenty-five-year-old pianist from the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław, will be one of only thirty pianists representing seventeen countries to participate in the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Held May 21—June 7 in Fort Worth, Texas, he will be the only Polish pianist in this prestigious competition open to…Continue Reading Polish Pianist at Van Cliburn Competition

Paweł Hendrich’s New Album “Fractalized”

On March 28, Paweł Hendrich‘s latest monographic album entitled “Fractalized” was released by the DUX record label. This album (DUX 2136) contains four works performed over the last eight years by artists specializing in new music performance from Poland, Austria and Switzerland. The tracks—containing pieces entitled Phantomaticon, Just a little beat, Hordiaver and Absusurrus—were recorded…Continue Reading Paweł Hendrich’s New Album “Fractalized”

Wołek Awarded 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship & Other Honors

Krzysztof Wolek and Michael Matsuno 2011 New Generations concert, USC Newman Hall, Los Angeles. Photo: Brian King

Krzysztof Wołek—Polish composer, pedagogue, improviser, and installation artist—has been named a recipient of the 100th edition of the Guggenheim Fellowship. Currently a professor of composition and director of electronic music studies at the University of Louisville, Wołek is one of 198 distinguished individuals selected in various categories of science and contemporary art for this prestigious…Continue Reading Wołek Awarded 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship & Other Honors