The Adam Mickiewicz Institute has recently published “A Foreigner’s Guide to Polish Jazz.” In this ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ style article, readers are given many ways to digest the complex and glorious history (and present) of jazz in Poland. The article was adapted from Cezary Lerski’s article “Polish Jazz – Freedom at last” by Wojciech Oleksiak, who provided…Continue Reading Foreigner’s Guide To Polish Jazz
From the Boosey & Hawkes website: The lost score of Benjamin Britten’s orchestration of Les Sylphides was recently rediscovered and revived by American Ballet Theater, and is now available on hire from Boosey & Hawkes for other ballet companies. Michel Fokine’s classic one-act ballet, with its orchestrations of music by Chopin, dates back to 1908…Continue Reading Dancing To Chopin (By Way Of Britten)
Two Polish musicians taught and performed at the 16th edition of the International Keyboard Institute & Festival hosted by the New School for Music at Mannes College in New York City: Grzegorz Niemczuk and Magdalena Baczewska. Thursday, July 17: 6:00pm Prestige Series Concert: Magdalena Baczewska Friday, July 18: 3:00pm Master Class – Goldmark Hall –…Continue Reading Poles at IKIF in NY
On August 17, an “Organ Concert of Three Polonaises” featuring organist Agnieszka Rybak will be held in commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Rising at Our Lady of the Bright Mount Church in Los Angeles. Program: M.K. Ogiński – Polonez a-moll „Pożegnanie Ojczyzny”; H. Purcell – Trumpet Tune; L. Boellmann – Suita Gotycka…Continue Reading ‘Three Polonaises’ In L.A.
On Tuesday, June 18, President Bronisław Komorowski installed Małgorzata Omilanowska as Poland’s new Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Omilanowska replaces outgoing Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski, who has served in the post since November of 2007 but was recently elected to a seat in the European Parliament. According to the external service of Polish Radio: Former…Continue Reading Poland’s New Minister Of Culture
From June 14-15, Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr hosted the 3rd ‘Instalakcje’ Festival of musical installations, curated by composers Wojciech Blecharz and Paweł Mykietyn. The theme of this year’s Festival is the body and its metaphor in music. Held on June 14 at 8:00, the inaugural concert of the 2014 Festival was comprised entirely of World Premieres,…Continue Reading World Premieres at the Instalakcje Festival
The World Premiere of Nikola Kołodziejczyk’s Concerto brzeziński for trumpet, two typewriters, sewing machine, brass quartet, trombone, vocals, and jazz trio will take place on July 6 during the ‘Kolory Polski’ Festival. The composition was commissioned by the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra, who are the organizers of the Festival, and the town of Brzeziny, where the…Continue Reading Kołodziejczyk World Premiere In Brzeziny
On June 20, the Deutsche Oper Berlin gave the World Premiere of two chamber operas by young Polish composer Dariusz Przybylski: Fall (2013) and Musical Land (2013). The June 20th program, which also featured new chamber operas by Birke J. Bertelsmeier, was called LoveAffairs and was given repeat performances on June 21 and 24-27. These…Continue Reading Przybylski World Premiere In Berlin
The Passenger—Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s uncompromising 1968 opera about the Holocaust, set to a libretto by Alexander Medvedev and based on the book The Passenger by Polish writer and concentration camp survivor Zofia Posmysz—will have its New York premiere July 10, 12, and 13, in a co-production with Lincoln Center Festival and Park Avenue Armory. The Houston…Continue Reading Weinberg & Posmysz At Lincoln Center
“Felder’s rapturous, emotionally charged playing of more than a dozen pieces by Chopin is the show’s most glorious element…Music was Chopin’s solace. And when Felder sits down to play the composer springs to life in a way that says more about the soul of this quintessential Romantic than any words can convey.” —Chicago Sun-Times Hershey…Continue Reading ‘Monsieur Chopin’ in Berkeley