By Marek Zebrowski Born in 1954, Elliot Goldenthal is primarily known as a very successful film composer with a long list of scores for such highly acclaimed features as Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989), David Fincher’s Alien 3 (1992), Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996) and The Good Thief (2002),…Continue Reading Goldenthal in Kraków
The North Corner Chamber Orchestra, an excellent unconducted chamber ensemble in Seattle, presented the world premiere of A Machine for Entropy by Polish composer Ewa Trębacz on April 23-24. Commissioned by NCCO, this new work will be joined on the program are Scott Joplin’s The Cascades and Paul Hindemith’s Lustige Sinfonietta Op. 4. A few…Continue Reading Trębacz Premiere in Seattle
The world premiere of Elżbieta Sikora’s The Sixth Commandment will take place at the Szczecin Philharmonic on March 27. The piece will be performed together with Quando stanno morendo. Diario polacco No.2 by Luigi Nono. This will be the first presentation in Poland of the Sikora/Nono project, which, under the musical direction of Léo Warynski, involves the vocal ensemble Les Métaboles, SWR Experimentalstudio from Freiburg and soloists: Erik Drescher (flutes), Bartosz Koziak (cello)…Continue Reading Sikora Premiere at the Szczecin Philharmonic
The premiere performance of the opera Ars Moriendi. Requiem Giocoso by Tomasz J. Opałka will take place on March 17 at the Polish Radio Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio in Warsaw. The work was commissioned by the Polish Royal Opera. According to musicologist Marta Dziewanowska-Pachowska, writing for the websites of POLMIC and the Polish Royal Opera:…Continue Reading Opałka Opera Premiere
The East-West Chamber Orchestra has just released their latest under the NAXOS label, Mieczysław Weinberg’s 2nd and 4th Chamber Symphonies. This completes the series, as they previously recorded and released Weinberg’s 1st and 3rd Chamber Symphonies in 2019. These symphonies were written near the final decade of Weinberg’s life when orchestral music was at the…Continue Reading East-West Chamber Orchestra Weinberg Recording
Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020) was one of the progenitors of avant-garde music of the 1960s. Creator of his own compositional idiom, “sonorism,” which became a hallmark of the so-called Polish School of Composition, he was an early recipient of the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers Prize for Threnody to the Victims of…Continue Reading Penderecki Remembered, in Film & Podcast
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
Dariusz Swoszowski’s new work–Dźwięki historii Tarnowa–premiered during a concert at the Music School Complex in Tarnów. The concert, entitled “In the World of Rhythm,” was held on February 21, 2022. Paweł Swoszowski, a percussionist and pedagogue, was the soloist. Swoszowski graduated from Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice and has worked with many renowned…Continue Reading Dariusz Swoszowski Premiere
As the 2022 spring semester gets underway, USC Thornton students are preparing for a return to live performances, and the school is proud to announce that all departmental and ensemble events are open to in-person, limited capacity audiences. After months of closed venues, Los Angeles County and university event regulations have made it possible for…Continue Reading USC Thornton Symphony performs Lutosławski
The National Symphony Polish Radio Orchestra Hall (NOSPR) will host the Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej [New Music Orchestra] in a December 19 concert of world premieres at NOSPR Hall in Katowice. The works to have their world premiere on this program are Dariusz Przybylski‘s Chamber Symphony, Dobromiła Jaskot‘s Magammahm and Paweł Hendrich‘s Piano Concerto ‘Phantomaticon,’ with pianist Ignacy Lisiecki as the…Continue Reading New Music Premieres in Katowice