Sinfonietta Cracovia: “Beat the Virus with Music!” artistic and educational offer

To provide artistic and educational outlets during this time, Sinfonietta Cracovia is presenting free content for adults and young music lovers through its media channels. 

Every other day at 7:00 p.m. in Europe, Sinfonietta will premiere concert recordings of music by Ludwig van Beethoven—on his 250th birth anniversary—as well as the music of Polish artists on their Youtube channel. Every second day at 12:00 p.m., children can sing and play along during “Sinfonietka’s karaoke.” The karaoke version of a new song by a Polish composer—from Wasowski to Penderecki—recorded by Sinfonietta in cooperation with the Children’s Sinfonietta Choir will be published on the Orchestra’s media channels.

Students and amateurs can also participate in “Virtual Master Courses” for violin, viola, cello and double bass with Sinfonietta musicians. To register, email booking@sinfoniettacracovia.com with information on which instrument you play.

Lastly, Sinfonietta will recognize the best artworks and video clips on their media channels. For more information, visit them at sinfonietta.plfacebook.comtwitter.cominstagram.com.

[Source: polmic.pl]

Stay at home with PR2 at NOSPR

On 19 March, Polish Radio Program 2 [PR2] began a special online series of concerts performed by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra [NOSPR]. Music lovers who are deprived of the opportunity to participate in musical life can now listen to these concerts on the PR2 and NOSPR websites every day at 12:00 and 9:00 p.m. CEST.

Most are concerts of past seasons, including symphonic works, solo concerts, vocal-instrumental compositions, and Polish music of the 20th and 21st centuries such Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki.

The series was initiated by Małgorzata Małaszko-Stasiewicz, director of PR2, and selections were made by Jacek Hawryluk, deputy director of PR2.

[Source: polmic.pl]

#stayhome with Chopin 

In order to encourage the #stayathome movement in Poland and worldwide, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute [NIFC] in Warsaw has over 120 albums and 3,000 movies, as well as educational materials, Chopin playlists, and recordings of concerts available online in the highest quality. For example, there are documentaries devoted to such topics as musical sources, historical instruments and the ‘Chopin and His Europe’ Festival that premiere every Wednesday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. CEST on the NIFC YouTube channel. Also, in this year of the upcoming International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, one can listen to over 240 hours of performances from previous competitions in 2010 and 2015.

These various resources are available on NIFC’s social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google Arts & Culture and other streaming services.

[Source: nifc.pl]

Let’s support each other! Toruń Symphony Orchestra Online Activities

Since all concerts have been cancelled, the Toruń Symphony Orchestra is hosting several online activities to fulfill its cultural and educational goals:

  • #TOSeducates – a series of educational materials, presenting basics of music theory, puzzles, riddles and word searches.
  • #TOSmusicfunfacts – a series of fun facts and trivia about the orchestra, their concerts and Polish composers.
  • #TOStechnicalfunfacts – the orchestra’s behind-the-scenes materials.
  • #TOSmusicianstalk – a series of video materials and photo-reports made by the orchestra’s musicians who will talk about the instruments they play.

The orchestra is also working on the Beethoven cycle “Viva Beethoven! – the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.” Video productions will appear soon on the Toruń Symphony Orchestra’s social media.

Check out the Toruń Symphony Orchestra on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

[Source: polmic.pl]

Explore Polish folk instruments

In 2014—the Oskar Kolberg Year celebrating the bicentenary of the prominent Polish folklorist and ethnographer—Poland’s Institute of Music and Dance launched the Polish Folk Musical Instruments online project. The database brings together nearly 300 Polish folk instruments from across the country, captured in over 1000 high quality photos and 360 degree imaging.

The database contains most kinds of folk instruments found in Poland, their most interesting types and variants. The items date from different eras (18th-21st century) and display changes in construction and adorning that took place over time due to different factors.

Polish folk instruments and sound-making tools belong to different collections across the country, including the Museum of Folk Musical Instruments in Szydłowiec, the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, the Musical Instrument Museum and the Ethnographic Museum in Poznań (departments of the National Museum in Poznań), the Jadwiga and Marian Sobieski Collection, as well as the Municipal Museum of Żywiec – The Old Castle. Yet for reasons of proper conservation, exhibition scheduling, and limited space, they are mostly kept in museum storerooms, and are not available for viewing on an everyday basis. However, this website allows people around the world—both casual visitors and musicological scholars—to see and hear them played. 

[Sources: culture.pl, ludowe.instrumenty.edu.pl]

Poznań Philharmonic Recommends Internet Concerts

The Taduesz Szeligowski Philharmonic in Poznań is streaming “Internet Concerts” every Friday on filharmoniapoznanska.pl. Live music cannot be replaced by recordings, however, this offers music lovers and a potentially new audience regular concerts in these unique times. The concerts will be performed by the Poznań Philharmonic orchestra, conductors and soloists. They will be streamed only once, on Fridays at 7 p.m.

[Source: polmic.pl]

For more experiences in other areas of the arts and culture, visit the Adam Mickiewicz Institute or the Polish Cultural Institute in NY.