It is the time of year when we reach out to the Friends of the USC Polish Music Center, to celebrate our accomplishments of the last year and ask you to support us into the next. Since our last report, there have been many exciting developments at the PMC, and we’d like to take this…Continue Reading Year-in-Review: PMC in 2024
Thanks to the ongoing support of the Head Office of the State Archives (NDAP) in Warsaw, we recently received a large shipment of archival-grade boxes and folders, purchased by NDAP and produced for us by the Beskid Plus Company. These materials are vital to our preservation work, including the Zygmunt and Luisa Stojowski Collection, which…Continue Reading Preserving Collections with Support from State Archives in Warsaw
Following his August recital in San Francisco, Polish pianist and composer Tomasz Kamieniak came down to Los Angeles and visited the PMC. This Berlin-based musician came bearing several gifts that will expand our score and sound libraries. Kamieniak As Composer In the pride of place among the gifts is the set of solo piano pieces…Continue Reading Kamieniak Visit & PMC Gifts
Ryterband—More Correspondence! Another tranche of fascinating letters sent to Roman Ryterband during the years 1939-1949 was recently donated to the PMC by the composer’s younger daughter, Diana Eisele. Her extraordinary gift includes correspondence from Abraham Ritterband to pianist and composer Roman Ryterband, who spent the World War II years in Berne, Switzerland. They include six…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: March 2024
Two Treasures from the National Film Archives During her recent PMC visit, Dr. Dorota Lekka, Head of the International Department of the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute (pictured at left with PMC Director Marek Zebrowski and Assistant Director Krysta Close), donated to us two fascinating items: a DVD of Stanisław Moniuszko’s opera Halka, and…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: February 2024
Dear Friends of the Polish Music Center, Another year has passed very quickly and, again, quite a lot has happened at the USC Polish Music Center throughout 2023. As you peruse the summary below of our major events, milestones, and accomplishments achieved this year, we hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation to support…Continue Reading Year-in-Review: PMC in 2023
Exciting Library Additions Sławomir Dobrzański, concert pianist, professor at Kansas State University and a biographer of Maria Szymanowska (PMHS Vol. 9), recently sent us several very interesting publications and recordings that will enrich our holdings. First, there are two orchestral scores, Canto di Aspirazione for Orchestra by Felix Łabuński (1892-1979) and Magnificat for soprano and…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: August 2023
By Marek Zebrowski Christmas in July! Amazingly enough, this rather overused turn of phrase in this particular instance actually correctly describes the shower of amazing gifts and donations that the Polish Music Center received throughout the month of July. The first and historically most significant among them is a tranche of correspondence between Nancy Fierro,…Continue Reading July 2023 Gifts
Wojciech Stępień—a noted composer, music theorist and musicologist who, for the past year, was a visiting Fulbright Scholar at UCLA—recently dropped by the USC Polish Music Center. This wasn’t his first visit with us because, during the past year, Dr. Stępień attended several concerts we produced on the USC campus and at the Holocaust Museum…Continue Reading The New Voices Collection Grows!
Sounds from New York City Jakub Polaczyk—friend of the PMC, composer and enthusiastic promoter of Polish music in New York City—sent us a monographic CD featuring variety of his compositions. The works on this Albany Records Troy1926 release include compositions for solo trombone, clarinet, percussion, and piano, string quartet, as well as songs for bass…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: May 2023