Award-winning Polish composer Marta Ptaszyńska will succeed Shulamit Ran as the artistic director of Contempo, the University of Chicago’s renowned contemporary music collective. Ran, the Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor of Composition and a Pulitzer Prize winning composer, will retire in June after more than 40 years of service to the University and 12 years…Continue Reading Ptaszyńska to Lead Chicago’s Prestigious ‘Contempo’
The SYNTHETIS 2015 International Summer Course for Composers will take place in Radziejowice (near Warsaw) between July 13 – 25, 2015, organized by the Music Gardens Foundation. Young composers (up to 35 years old) from all over the world are invited to apply by April 30, 2015 for the opportunity to attend lectures and individual…Continue Reading Synthetis 2015
There was a strong Polish presence at the January 29 opening of the Metropolitan Opera’s new double-bill of two rarely performed operas: Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. A co-production of the Met and Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera, both operas are staged by acclaimed Polish director Mariusz Treliński, in his Met debut. The double-bill…Continue Reading Treliński & Beczała at The Met
One of the newest installments in Google’s Cultural Institute initiative is the exhibit Witold Lutosławski 1913-1994, an interactive exploration of the life and works of the famous Polish composer, through images and text. This is the third Cultural Institute exhibit to be curated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s flagship website, Culture.pl. The images are culled from…Continue Reading Lutosławski on Google
A performance of Zygmunt Stojowski‘s Violin Concerto and Romance for violin and orchestra takes place at the Szczecin Philharmonic on Friday, February 6, at 7:00 p.m. The featured soloist is Bartłomiej Nizioł. Hailing from Szczecin, Bartek Nizioł is considered one of the best violinists in the world. Since 1995 he has lived in Switzerland, where he…Continue Reading Stojowski in Szczecin
The 9th National Chopin Piano Competition of the U.S. will take place from February 20-March 1, 2015 in Miami, Florida. Initiated in 1975, and held in Miami every five years, the National Chopin Piano Competition is designed to offer performance opportunities and financial support for young American pianists and to enable Prize Winners to take…Continue Reading Nat’l Chopin Competition In Florida
Winner of the 2nd prize at the 2012 London International String Quartet Competition, the Meccore String Quartet from Poland will perform across the US throughout the month of February. Their programs will include Karol Szymanowski’s String Quartet no. 1—an uncanny blend of late German romanticism, impressionism, and the avant-garde—and Szymon Laks’s Quartet no. 3 on…Continue Reading Meccore Quartet US Tour
The end of February usually brings annual Chopin celebrations, and this year is no exception. Since 2015 marks the 205th anniversary of Chopin’s birth, a truly special event on February 23—encompassing a film screening and Q&A session with the artists—is planned for all fans of Polish music in Southern California. A Steinway Concert Artist and…Continue Reading Grabsky & Felder Bring Chopin to L.A.
It’s rare for music critics to be invited to compete for prizes but this year they’ll finally have a chance to do so in the first edition of the Kropka [Period] Competition recently announced by the Meakultura Foundation. The Competition is open to all interested in writing about music—professional publicists, journalists, part-time writers and bloggers—and…Continue Reading Competition for Music Critics
From February 4-5, 2015, the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies at the University of Michigan welcomes Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko to campus. The New Yorker has proclaimed Stańko as “one of the most original and creative jazz trumpet players in the world.” Inspired by early Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, he was 20 when he formed…Continue Reading Stańko to Give U-M’s Copernicus Lecture