The public is invited to attend the competition from February 9-14 in Murphy Recital Hall at Loyola Marymount University in West Los Angeles. The judges of the internationally acclaimed American International Paderewski Piano Competition reviewed a record number of high-quality applicant videos from 22 countries this year. These applicants are the best of the best,…Continue Reading 4th American Int’l Paderewski Piano Competition
USC Polish Music Center Director Marek Żebrowski has received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa [Honorary Doctorate] from Jan Kochanowski University (UJK) in Kielce, Poland. It is the highest academic distinction awarded by UJK, and he is only the 23rd individual to be honored with this title by this university. The honorary degree was conferred…Continue Reading PMC Director Marek Żebrowski Awarded Doctor Honoris Causa in Poland
Although composed in 1968, The Passenger by Mieczysław Weinberg only reached the operatic stage in its complete form in 2010, at the prestigious Bregenz Festival. Based on the novel by Polish writer and Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz, the opera has since come to be recognized as a significant musical work of the second half of…Continue Reading French Premiere of Weinberg’s ‘The Passenger’
The Krakow Branch of the Polish Composers’ Union announces the 9th Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition for Young Composers. The subject of the Competition is a composition for two accordions, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, with a duration from 9 to 12 minutes. Application deadline: 28 February 2026. The Competition Jury grants one Main Prize of 15.000 PLN….Continue Reading 2026 Penderecki International Competition for Young Composers
Earlier in November, ‘Polish Season‘ in Lyon, France opened with a series of exceptional concerts celebrating the richness and diversity of Polish music. The renowned early-music ensemble Arte dei Suonatori, joined by Marcin Świątkiewicz and Krzysztof Firlus, inaugurated the program with a captivating performance at the Auditorium de Lyon. The Equilibrium String Quartet with pianist…Continue Reading ‘Polish Season’ in Lyon: Poland’s Musical Treasures
Based in New York City since 1925, the Kosciuszko Foundation marked its 100th anniversary with a series of major events in Warsaw and Kraków during October and November. A large delegation of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, led by President and Executive Director Marek Skulimowski (shown below, left) and Chairman of the Board Alex of…Continue Reading A Century of the Kosciuszko Foundation in NY
Dr. Magdalena Baczewska, a Polish-born pianist and harpsichordist as well as Chair of the Music Performance Program at Columbia University, was recognized by the Board of Directors of the Pilsudski Institute with the Ignacy Paderewski Arts and Music Award for her distinguished contribution to promoting Polish classical music worldwide. The 2025 Gala Award Ceremony was…Continue Reading Baczewska Honored in New York
POINTS WELL MADE We recently received a fascinating and richly illustrated collection assembled by Boosey & Hawkes and Sikorski music publishers. Turning Points—Music by Persecuted and Exiled Composers in the Shadow of World War II is a catalogue of works by European Jewish composers interspersed by recordings lists and extensive scholarly articles sharing the most…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: November 2025
On November 22 in Chicago, popular jazz vocalist and culture curator Grażyna Auguścik will present a program entitled “Music of Victor Young” at the Academy of Music of the Paderewski Symphony Orchestra. Auguścik will be joined onstage by the following quartet: Vijay Tellis-Nayak – piano, Ethan Philion – bass, Jon Deitemyer – drums and John…Continue Reading Auguścik & the Music of Victor Young
On November 11, 2025, the Art Mintaka Foundation presented the world premiere of Rafał Gorzycki’s contemporary opera Lustro [The Mirror] in the Opera Hall of the New Campus of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. The performance, directed by Kamila Siwińska with a libretto by Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk, brought together several leading Polish ensembles…Continue Reading Premiere of Gorzycki Opera “Lustro” – Recording Now Available