Pianist Rafał Blechacz, now thirty years old, is a rare guest in Poland these days, and the public welcomed his recent appearance with Warsaw Philharmonic under Jacek Kaspszyk on February 24. He was the featured soloist in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, and the orchestra also programmed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 that evening. Writing for Rzeczpospolita,…Continue Reading Belchacz at Warsaw Philharmonic
The Grand Theatre-National Opera began 2015 with one-time performances of two rarely heard but groundbreaking operas, presented by the Poznań Opera Theatre. The first was Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Portrait, with a libretto by Alexander Medvedev based on Nikolai Gogol’s short story, presented at the Moniuszko Auditorium on January 16. The performers of Poznań Opera Theatre…Continue Reading Weinberg and Meyer in Warsaw
A new music series at the Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington, D.C., promoting Polish Jazz had its grand opening with a concert by Bogna Kicińska on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. A jazz vocalist, violinist, composer and an educator now based in New York City, Kicińska was joined on stage by Kuba Cichocki, piano and…Continue Reading New Jazz Series at Kosciuszko FDN in D.C.
On January 23, 2015, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki hosted a concert of music by Polish composers performed by the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, one of the two most important orchestras in Greece. The choice of repertoire was not incidental. Conducted by Dariusz Mikulski, the program of the concert included two works of the “Młoda Polska”…Continue Reading Młoda Polska Celebrated In Greece
There was a strong Polish presence at the January 29 opening of the Metropolitan Opera’s new double-bill of two rarely performed operas: Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. A co-production of the Met and Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera, both operas are staged by acclaimed Polish director Mariusz Treliński, in his Met debut. The double-bill…Continue Reading Treliński & Beczała at The Met
A performance of Zygmunt Stojowski‘s Violin Concerto and Romance for violin and orchestra takes place at the Szczecin Philharmonic on Friday, February 6, at 7:00 p.m. The featured soloist is Bartłomiej Nizioł. Hailing from Szczecin, Bartek Nizioł is considered one of the best violinists in the world. Since 1995 he has lived in Switzerland, where he…Continue Reading Stojowski in Szczecin
Winner of the 2nd prize at the 2012 London International String Quartet Competition, the Meccore String Quartet from Poland will perform across the US throughout the month of February. Their programs will include Karol Szymanowski’s String Quartet no. 1—an uncanny blend of late German romanticism, impressionism, and the avant-garde—and Szymon Laks’s Quartet no. 3 on…Continue Reading Meccore Quartet US Tour
Ingolf Wunder is a real master of mellow tones […] and shows his virtuosity not in grandiloquence but in gentle and accurately articulated pieces.” —Sueddeutsche Zeitung (March 2013) On February 8, the La Jolla Music Society welcomes Ingolf Wunder, one of the world’s most exciting young pianists, to the San Diego area for a…Continue Reading Ingolf Wunder in San Diego
A Review by Krysta Close During the weekend of January 16-18, 2015, the Los Angeles Philharmonic gave the US Premiere of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Symphony No. 4, op. 85 at Walt Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Due to ill health at the end of his life, Górecki was unable to complete the orchestration of…Continue Reading US Premiere of H.M. Górecki’s Symphony No. 4
January 27, 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Over 1.1 million people were killed in Auschwitz, including nearly 1 million Jews and tens of thousands of Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war and political opponents from…Continue Reading 70th Anniversary Of Auschwitz Liberation Around The World