On Friday November 11, the Łódź Philharmonic hosted a very special, all-Polish Independence Day concert. The program began with the world premiere of three movements of the orchestral version of Roman Ryterband’s Suite Polonaise: IV. Kołomyjka, V. Zbójnicki, X. Oberek. The program also included Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s Piano Concerto and Zygmunt Noskowski’s Symphony No. 2….Continue Reading Ryterband in Łódź: Independence Day Premiere & Beyond
Augustyn Plays Bacewicz The month of August began with a parcel that arrived at the Polish Music Center from our friend and collaborator Kinga Augustyn, an award-winning Polish concert violinist based in New York. Her growing discography is now enriched by a new CD dedicated exclusively to Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), a prolific composer as well…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: August 2022
(L-R): Consul General Jarosław Łasiński, PMC Director Marek Zebrowski, Dianne and Tad Taube, Executive Director Shana Penn of Taube Philanthropies, and Thornton Dean Robert Cutietta.Shown at the California Dreamin’: Taube Celebration at USC on March 26, 2022 In late 2019, the Polish Music Center received a transformational $2 million gift from Dianne and Tad Taube of…Continue Reading Taube PMC Digital Archive has launched!
The 2022 Paderewski Lecture-Recital celebrates Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961), a brilliant contemporary composer who divides time between her native Poland, the Netherlands and France. With works commissioned and performed by renowned ensembles and musicians throughout Europe, Kulenty’s catalogue ranges from intimate solo explorations of form to large-scale triumphs of ensemble sound. Selections of these works…Continue Reading Save the Date: 2022 Paderewski Lecture-Recital
In addition to four manuscript scores of works by Krzysztof Meyer personally delivered by the composer during his recent PMC visit, we have received other fascinating items for our library, including a variety of CD recordings as well as books and commemorative albums. Most importantly, our Manuscript Collection has been augmented by four new scores…Continue Reading A Spring Shower of Gifts to PMC
By Marek Zebrowski At long last, in early April 2022 the Polish Music Center had the great honor of hosting Krzysztof Meyer, a distinguished composer and author, as well as a longtime and cherished friend. Originally invited as PMC’s Paderewski Lecturer in 2007, Meyer was denied the U.S. visa only a few days before his…Continue Reading Krzysztof Meyer at PMC
For almost two decades now, four manuscript scores by Joanna Bruzdowicz—Trio dei due mondi, Tre contre tre, Concerto pour piano et orchestre symphonique, and Marlos Grosso Brasileiras—formed an important part of the rich and unique Polish Music Center’s Manuscript Collection. They were donated by the composer herself, beginning with her initial visit to USC as…Continue Reading New Bruzdowicz Collection at the PMC
During the second half of March, the celebrated Cracow Duo—comprised of cellist Jan Kalinowski and pianist Marek Szlezer—returns for a tour of California. The Strad magazine described the ensemble thus: “Kalinowski and Szlezer, friends since childhood, have a wonderfully natural rapport and there is an arresting quality to their playing that gives life to the music”….Continue Reading Cracow Duo Back in California
The Holiday Season brought us a few nice surprises as soon as we returned to campus after the New Year and collected the PMC mail. Music for the Accordion Accordionist Wiesław Ochwat sent us a fascinating CD, Maciej Zimka—Out of the Circle, a series of chamber works for accordion and violin and accordion and guitar….Continue Reading PMC Gifts: January 2022
February 5th marked the 120th anniversary of Bronisław Kaper’s birth. This Oscar-winning composer of film music was celebrated in Poland a few years ago with an excellent CD album, Spotkanie, featuring performances by the Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Maestra Monika Wolińska. Eight tracks on this 2015 release present the selection of cues…Continue Reading Kaper Remembered