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
Dear Friend, This year marked the completion of the fortieth anniversary of the Polish Music Center’s presence on the USC campus. Since 1985, we have continued the work and sustained the legacy of Wanda Wilk, our founder and first director. Last fall we launched our celebrations with a concert of music by Henryk Wars, whose…Continue Reading 2025 PMC Year-In-Review
During the past two months our library holdings have been expanded by a few significant donations. Dr. Piotr Hapanowicz, curator and head of the Krzysztofory Palace Museum, gifted us a fascinating book, Zagadkowy Kraków [The Puzzling Kraków], covering the history of Poland’s first major capital. Filled with engaging facts, captivating stories and graced by fine…Continue Reading Gifts to PMC: Sept-Oct 2025
On Saturday, October 25th, 2025, the USC Polish Music Center welcomed a group of students from the Polish School in Los Angeles (Polska Macierz Szkolna) for a special educational event dedicated to Polish music and history. The lecture, delivered by PMC Director Marek Zebrowski, focused on the life and legacy of Ignacy Jan Paderewski—one of…Continue Reading Polish School Students Visit the PMC for Lecture on Paderewski
Magdalena Majewska’s Paderewski, published by PWM as part of their “little monograph” series, was a huge hit with Polish readers almost as soon as it appeared in 2024. Now, thanks to editing assistance from the Polish Music Center, this entertaining little volume has been published in an English translation. This new version was officially introduced…Continue Reading New Paderewski Biography in English
The long-awaited premiere of string arrangements of music by Henryk Wars based on the materials held in the PMC Wars Collection was finally realized thanks to the Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association (SPMK) and a grant they secured for this unusual project. They were presented at the Kraków Music Salon, an annual concert series organized by…Continue Reading Wars/Vars World Premiere & SPMK Performances in the US
Organized by the USC Polish Music Center, celebrations across Los Angeles of the artistic and intellectual legacy of Szymon Laks (1901-1983) will be held on October 19. Paris-based Polish Jewish composer and writer Szymon Laks’s music uniquely balances elements of French modernism, Polish folk music and American jazz. The composer survived imprisonment at Auschwitz by…Continue Reading 19 Oct 2025: Paderewski Lecture-Recital & Conversation with André Laks
By Marek Zebrowski During the gloriously sunny summer months in Los Angeles, just as it seemed that vacation time is upon us with slower-than-usual traffic on campus, we were kept rather busy at the PMC. Besides working on preserving items from the Stojowski Collection with great and invaluable assistance from Anna Czajka, our expert in…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: July 2025
August was a time of many guests and meetings at the Polish Music Center, where there is truly never a dull moment in our summers! An excellent visit and knowledge-sharing session with our colleagues from the Wende Museum took place in mid-August, and included other esteemed PMC partners—Sonia Matheus from the Museum of Tolerance and…Continue Reading PMC Gifts & News: August 2025
From June 22 to July 12, 2025, the Polish Music Center was honored once again to host Anna Czajka, world-renowned preservation specialist from the Archive Conservation Laboratory of the Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych [Central Archives of Historical Records, AGAD] in Warsaw. Czajka has been a longtime partner of the PMC through our ongoing collaboration with…Continue Reading Anna Czajka Helps Preserve PMC Collections