On April 24, 2017 during the ceremony at the Polish Radio’s Lutosławski Concert Studio, the 23rd annual ‘Fryderyk’ Awards in the ‘Classical Music’ category were presented by Związek Producentów Audio Video (ZPAV). Representing Poland’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the ceremony for the ‘Classical Music’ section of the ‘Fryderyk’ Awards was opened and closed with a performance by the Polish Radio Orchestra under the direction of Michał Klauza. Other performers included Piotr Orzechowski (aka “Pianohooligan”), Aleksandra Kuls-Koziak and Marcin Koziak, and the “Camerata Silesia” Choral Ensemble from Katowice directed by Anna Shostak. The Gala was led by Jacek Hawryluk.
The Golden Fryderyk Award for Classical Music was awarded to Piotr Paleczny for his outstanding artistic accomplishments. Other top award winners were the Silesian Quartetand Paweł Łukaszewski, both awarded with two statuettes as listed below.
Piotr Paleczny | Silesian Quartet | Paweł Łukaszewski
Album of the Year: Choral, Oratorio & Opera
DE PROFUNDIS – Polish Psalms of the 20th and 21st Century (Composers: M.T. Łukaszewski, A. Koszewski, M. Bembinow, M. Jasiński, R. Twardowski, J. Świder, M. Zieliński, A. Bielerzewski, P. Łukaszewski, Ł. Urbaniak). National Forum of Music Choir, dir. by Agnieszka Franków-Żelazny.
Witold Lutosławski NFM / CD Accord 221
Album of the Year: Early Music
J.S. BACH: Sonaty BWV 525-530
Marek Toporowski, Irmina Obońska, Mark Caudle
Stowarzyszenie PRO MUSICA ORGANA / DUX 1339
Album of the Year: Solo Recital
SEQUENZA. Janusz Wawrowski – violin (Composers: Eugène Ysaÿe, Bjarne Brustad, Grażyna Bacewicz, Krzysztof Penderecki, Luciano Bario, Tomasz Jakub Opałka, Dariusz Przybylski)
Warner Music Poland / Warner Classics
Album of the Year: Chamber Music
PAWEŁ ŁUKASZEWSKI – MUSICA PROFANA 1
Ewa Guz-Seroka, Anna Mikołajczyk-Niewiedział, Anna Lubańska, Robert Gierlach, Kamila Wąsik-Janiak, Piotr Hausenplas, Romuald Gołębiowski
DUX 1276
Album of the Year: Symphonic & Concert Music
MAKSYMIUK & SINFONIA VARSOVIA (Composers: Debussy, Prokofiev, Straviński, Baird, Maksymiuk, Jarzębski, Bacewicz, Bach, Rossini, Mozart, Bartok)
Sinfonia Varsovia , Jerzy Maksymiuk cond.
Warner Music Poland / Warner Classics
Album of the Year: Contemporary Music
PAWEŁ ŁUKASZEWSKI – IV Symfonia – Symfonia o Bożym Miłosierdziu [Symphony on the Mercy of God]
Anna Mikołajczyk-Niewiedział, Maciej Nerkowski, Violetta Bielecka, Barbara Ewa Rafałko, Podlasie Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Wojciech Michniewski – cond.
Musica Sacra Edition MSE 048
Best Polish Album Recorded Abroad
GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ: Complete String Quartets
Silesian Quartet
Chandos 10904 (2CD)
Most Outstanding Album of Polish Music
GRAŻYNA BACEWICZ: Complete String Quartets
Silesian Quartet
Chandos 10904 (2CD)
On April 26, the main Fryderyk Award ceremony celebrating popular music and jazz was held at the Polish Theater in Warsaw and broadcast live on TVP2. Golden Fryderyk Award for Jazz was awarded to Urszula Dudziak, and it was presented in a very moving fashion by piano legend Adam Makowicz, who had flown in from New York just for this special occasion. Other winners in the jazz category were:
Album of the Year: Jazz
ROBERT MAJEWSKI “Tribute to Henryk Majewski”
Performed by trumpeter Robert Majewski (Henryk’s son), saxophonists Jan Ptaszyn Wróblewski and Henryk Miśkiewicz, pianists Andrzej Jagodziński and Wojciech Majewski (Henryk’s son), bassist Adam Cegielski and drummer Czesław Bartkowski
Studio Realizacji Myśli Twórczych
Jazz Artist of the Year
Jazz Debut of the Year
[Sources: pwm.com.pl, zpav.pl, zpav.pl, zpav.pl]