Anna Czajka is a world-renowned preservation specialist at the Archive Conservation Laboratory of the Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych [Central Archives of Historical Records, or AGAD]. Czajka is a longtime colleague of the PMC as well. She has been a crucial participant in the 10+ year collaboration between the PMC and the Head Office of the…Continue Reading Anna Czajka Awarded for Cultural Heritage Preservation
On June 15, the Orchestra of New Music, conducted by Szymon Bywalec, presented a thought-provoking program titled “Borders of Cultural Identity” at NOSPR in Katowice. The concert featured Polish premieres of works by Nikolet Burzyńska, Monika Szpyrka, Cristian Lolea, and Raven Chacon, each exploring themes of community, belonging, and identity through contemporary sound. Monika Szpyrka’s…Continue Reading New Music Reflected on Cultural Identity at NOSPR
This year’s edition of the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles is the twentieth since it was restarted as a single concert at Cass Winery in 2006, at the initiative of the USC Polish Music Center. The Festival has since blossomed into a four-day event, filled with music, wine tastings, tours and other events held in…Continue Reading 2025 Paderewski Festival Preview
On Saturday, June 21, the Jerzy Semkow Polish ‘Sinfonia Iuventus’ Orchestra performed the world premiere of Aleksander Tansman‘s He, she and I ballet music, which was composed in 1946. Entitled “Three Landscapes of Polish Émigré Music – Maciejewski, Tansman, and Wars,” the concert was part of the 3rd edition of the “Sztuka Źle Obecna” [Mis-present…Continue Reading Sinfonia Iuventus Performs Wars, Maciejewski and Tansman World Premiere
On May 10, 2025, San Diego’s Balboa Park became the stage for a truly unconventional opera experience with a new staging of Park Opera by Polish composer Wojtek Blecharz. Set entirely outdoors, the performance invited audiences to explore the park with a map in hand, discovering live music, movement, and visual art installations. First commissioned…Continue Reading Wojtek Blecharz’s “Park Opera” in San Diego
Regarding Word War II During the month of June, the Polish Music Center received several books related to Poland’s history. Dr. Jarosław Rabiński, director of the Centrum Badań nad Historią Polskiego Państwa na Uchodźstwie [Center for historical studies of the Polish Government-in-Exile] at the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin sent us a large…Continue Reading June 2024 PMC Gifts – Books on Polish History
The 42nd General Assembly of the Polish Composers’ Union (ZKP), held on June 13–14, 2025, concluded with the election of new leadership and the conferral of honorary memberships. Four distinguished figures of Polish music—Zbigniew Bargielski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Teresa Malecka, and Marta Ptaszyńska—have been named Honorary Members of ZKP, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to…Continue Reading Polish Composer’s Union (ZKP) Elects New Leadership
The Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles announces the Summer 2025 Cultural Exchange Program. Carried out by the Festival Board in collaboration with the USC Polish Music Center, as well as other partners in California and Poland, this year’s Exchange will send two students—winners of the annual Youth Piano Competition in Paso Robles—on all-expenses paid study…Continue Reading 2025 Paderewski Festival Cultural Exchange Program
During World War II, Polish-Jewish luthier Franciszek “Franz” Kempa was imprisoned at Dachau, the first concentration camp established by the Nazis in 1933 in southern Germany. Based on the discovery of a note hidden in a recently examined instrument, it seems that Kempa masterfully crafted a violin out of the crude materials available to him…Continue Reading Violin Made in K. L. Dachau Discovered!
Janusz Wawrowski, acclaimed Polish violinist and professor at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, is using an extraordinary instrument — the Stradivarius Polonia — to record violin works by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz. In his latest project, Wawrowski explores Bacewicz’s dynamic violin works, bringing attention to one of Poland’s most important composers of the…Continue Reading Wawrowski records Bacewicz on a Stradivarius