The Kraków International Festival of Composers has been part the cultural life of the city since 1989 (formerly known as the Days of Music by Kraków Composers and, from 2014-2019, the International Festival of Kraków Composers). The main purpose of the Festival is the promotion and presentation of contemporary professional work of Kraków composers—classics and…Continue Reading 2021 Kraków International Festival of Composers
“Usually hidden behind their sounds, giving the floor to the performers of their works, during the Festival of Premieres composers are in the center of attention. Celebrating their creativity and courage to confront us with habits, to provoke, challenge and surprise us” – emphasizes Ewa Bogusz-Moor. In 2021, the Festival of Premieres will be…Continue Reading 9th Festival of Premieres “Polish Modern Music” Program
On 25 April 2021 at 7.00 p.m. the world premiere of Krzesimir Dębski‘s Job—an opera based on Karol Wojtyła’s drama—will be held online through the YouTube channel of the Polish Royal Opera. “I myself wrote a new drama with Greek form, Christian spirit, eternal content […]. A drama about suffering: Job”. This is how the…Continue Reading Online Premiere of “Job” by Krzesimir Dębski, text by Karol Wojtyła
A teaser for the new electroacoustic work by Tomasz Jakub Opałka, entitled Party Crasher, is now up online. It features performances on the cello by Magdalena Bojanowicz-Koziak and the composer on synths, percussion, and trombone. Headphones or a good sound system are recommended for listening, because of the very interesting and loud low frequencies in…Continue Reading Preview of Opałka’s Party Crasher
Amazingly enough, Józef Beer (1908-1987), a very successful composer of operas, operettas and other stage works, is still largely unknown in Poland. Born near Lwów (now Lviv), he came from a well-to-do family of bankers and, at his father’s insistence, first studied law at the University of Lwów. After getting a law degree, Beer entered…Continue Reading Polish Operetta Premiere by Józef Beer
The premiere of Krzysztof Herdzin’s Te Deum in memory of St. John Paul II will take place on 16 October 2020 at 7:00 p.m. at the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz. The concert will also be broadcast on the Philharmonic’s YouTube channel. Te Deum by Krzysztof Herdzin was commissioned by the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship…Continue Reading Premiere of Herdzin’s “Te Deum” in Bydgoszcz
On Sunday September 13, the newly re-branded Holocaust Museum LA (formerly the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust) will present a livestream broadcast of Cracow Duo: Live From Krakow’s Jewish Quarter. This special live performance by cellist Jan Kalinowski and pianist Marek Szlezer—known collectively as the Cracow Duo—will be streamed from the Center for Jewish…Continue Reading Cracow Duo: Live From Krakow’s Jewish Quarter
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Solidarność, or Solidarity, and the signing of the Gdańsk August Agreements. Founded in 1980 as a trade union in the Gdańsk Shipyard, Solidarity became a leading political force in the defeat of the Communist regime in Poland. Eventually the Polish government was forced to negotiate…Continue Reading Sikora & Mykietyn Premieres in Gdańsk
Some of today’s best contemporary music ensembles performed premieres of new Polish works on the stage at Grochowska 272—home of Sinfonia Varsovia—during the first three Tuesdays in August,. This new series, called “Experimental Tuesdays,” were a part of the 20th edition of the Sinfonia Varsovia ‘To Its City’ Festival. The featured ensembles, famous for their unconventional…Continue Reading Premieres at Experimental Tuesdays
Great works by Krzysztof Penderecki and Józef Kozłowski, Mikołaj Gomółka’s psalms, piano music of Chopin’s time and the first performance of the original version of Karol Kurpiński’s opera Jadwiga, the Polish Queen – this is, in a nutshell, the 16th edition of the Festival of Polish Music, which will run from 6 to 9 August 2020 in Kraków. Live…Continue Reading 16th Festival of Polish Music: Triumph of Live Music