On January 17, the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio will host a second concert in the “Resounds: New Polish Music” series. The Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra will perform works by Mieczysław Weinberg and Grażyna Bacewicz from the 1940s to show the wider historical context of new Polish music and the changes that have occurred since then. There will be an opportunity to meet the composers’ friends and relatives an hour before the concert.

This year marks two unique anniversaries: Mieczysław Weinberg would have celebrated his 100th birthday, and it’s the 50th death anniversary of Grażyna Bacewicz. Weinberg’s Cello Concerto, Op. 43 will be interpreted by Marcel Markowski, a respected soloist, chamber musician, and leader of the Sinfonia Varsovia cello group. Weinberg made this work after his escape from Warsaw and during his exile in the USSR. Weinberg’s music clearly reflects the death of loved ones, the persecution of the Jews and the horrors of war. The program will also feature Symphony No. 9 in E flat major. Under the baton of Fuada Ibrahimova, the orchestra will perform Bacewicz’s Overture for symphonic orchestra. This vivid miniature was written in 1944, and its first performance took place a year later at the first post-war Festival of Polish Contemporary Music in Krakow.

Aleksander Laskowski will lead the pre-concert event. Andrei Ustinov, an outstanding musicologist and promoter of Weinberg’s work in Russia, and Joanna Sendłak, writer and granddaughter of Grażyna Bacewicz, will talk about their memories related to the composers.

January 17, 2019 | 7:00 p.m.
Orchestra Sinfonia Varsovia
ul. Grochowska 272, 03-849 Warsaw
Tickets & Info: www.sinfoniavarsovia.org

[Source: polmic.pl]