The 53rd “Poznan Music Spring” Festival of Contemporary Music began on May 23 and came to its conclusion this past weekend on May 26. This festival of contemporary music featured an incredible variety of composers as well as their pieces. Premieres of works by Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska, Artur Kroschel, Monika Kędziora and Sławomir Czarnecki took place…Continue Reading 2024 ‘Poznań Music Spring’ Festival
On Saturday May 25, the Polish History Museum in Warsaw hosted a concert to commemorate the 110th anniversary of composer Andrzej Panufnik. In this concert, the Andrzej Jagodziński Trio and Sinfonia Iuventus (conducted by Maciej Tomasiewicz) performed Panufnik’s Sinfonia rustica and Sinfonia sacra, as well as Jagodziński’s Piano Concerto in G minor for Jazz Trio…Continue Reading Panufnik 110th Anniversary Concert
On May 28, the Silesian Philharmonic hosted a birthday gala for Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa, featuring works of the outstanding composer. The event featured a screening of the film Under Pressure of Sound and Word, followed by a celebration with the composer on her new monographic album on the Anaklasis label (ANA 030). It concluded with a…Continue Reading Wnuk-Nazarowa Birthday Gala in Katowice
by Marek Zebrowski The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra presented two concerts last weekend that opened with Overture for Orchestra, a brief and brilliant 1943 composition by Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969). Bacewicz—a virtuoso violinist and excellent pianist—showed her very best neo-classical side in this compact, six-minute-long work. Effective and challenging string writing coupled with bright woodwinds and…Continue Reading New Bacewicz: On Record and On Stage
On May 11 in Georgia, the Augusta Symphony will be led by their Music Director—German conductor Dirk Meyer—in the US Premiere of City Sketches by Henryk Wars. This jazzy suite fits perfectly on a program that combines works by American composers Leonard Bernstein (“Three Dance Episodes” from On the Town) and Duke Ellington (Suite from…Continue Reading US Premiere of Wars’s ‘City Sketches’
The world premiere of Marta Ptaszyńska’s latest work, Crystallites Polyphony for string quartet and marimba, will take place on May 31 at the Polish Consulate of Chicago. The program will also include several other works by Ptaszyńska—Blue Line for marimba solo (2010) and Elegy in Memoriam of John Paul II for solo viola (2005), —as well as Krzysztof…Continue Reading Ptaszyńska’s World Premiere and Other News
Maestro Wojciech Milewski will close the 20th season of the Summerville Orchestra with Odwieczne pieśni [Eternal Songs], a symphonic triptych by Mieczysław Karłowicz, in concerts on May 17 and 18. Entitled “A Summerville Celebration” and performed just outside of Charleston, South Carolina, the concert program will also include Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute and…Continue Reading Karłowicz in Charleston
Operatic soprano Dominika Zamara will appear in her New York City debut solo recital, An Evening with Dominika Zamara, on May 22 at Mary Flagler Cary Hall. She will premiere eight new works by several of the New York Composers’ Circle members, including Galen Brown, Robert S. Cohen, Eric Heilner, Barrett Kalellis, Timothy L. Miller,…Continue Reading Dominika Zamara: Solo Recital Debut in NYC
Beauty, sublimity and message: two masterpieces by Ludwig van Beethoven and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, which have gone down in high musical culture as embodying these traits, will be performed on April 26 at the Kraków Philharmonic. This concert celebrates the 20th anniversary of Poland joining as a member of the European Union. Beatus Vir Op….Continue Reading Concert: 20th Anniversary of Poland Joining the EU
In another collaboration with the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, the Polish Music Center presents one of the brightest young stars of the Polish chamber music scene: Duo Karolina & Iwo. Both virtuosos in their own right, Karolina Mikołajczyk and Iwo Jedynecki bring great energy to the stage, highlighting not only existing repertoire for accordion…Continue Reading April 2024: Karolina & Iwo Duo at HMLA