In early October, a very large and heavy package arrived at the PMC, bearing the Katalog Zbioru Kratograficznego Towarzystwa Historyczno-Literackiego Biblioteki Polskiej w Paryżu [Catalogue of Cartographic Holding of the Historical-Literary Society at the Polish Library in Paris]. Housed in a decorative sleeve, this beautiful clothbound edition features introductions from Kazimierz P. Zaleski, Director of…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: October 2023
Information Goldmine for Pianists! Grzegorz Mania, a noted concert pianist, author, and President of Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association [SPMK], is a man of many ideas. His latest brainstorm was to start a brand new publication for pianists, called Notatnik pianistyczny [The Piano Notebook]. This quarterly publication covering the months of July through September came out…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: September 2023
By Marek Zebrowski Christmas in July! Amazingly enough, this rather overused turn of phrase in this particular instance actually correctly describes the shower of amazing gifts and donations that the Polish Music Center received throughout the month of July. The first and historically most significant among them is a tranche of correspondence between Nancy Fierro,…Continue Reading July 2023 Gifts
Wojciech Stępień—a noted composer, music theorist and musicologist who, for the past year, was a visiting Fulbright Scholar at UCLA—recently dropped by the USC Polish Music Center. This wasn’t his first visit with us because, during the past year, Dr. Stępień attended several concerts we produced on the USC campus and at the Holocaust Museum…Continue Reading The New Voices Collection Grows!
Sounds from New York City Jakub Polaczyk—friend of the PMC, composer and enthusiastic promoter of Polish music in New York City—sent us a monographic CD featuring variety of his compositions. The works on this Albany Records Troy1926 release include compositions for solo trombone, clarinet, percussion, and piano, string quartet, as well as songs for bass…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: May 2023
By Marek Zebrowski Warsaw Autumn Sounds Mieczysław Kominek, President of the Polish Composers’ Union (ZKP) and Director of the Polish Music Information Centre in Warsaw (POLMIC), recently sent us the sound chronicles of the 2020 Warsaw Autumn Festival. This time around it is a set of three CDs, featuring the highlights of concerts that took…Continue Reading PMC Gifts: Spring 2023
Major Gift of Manuscripts and Published Scores Just a few weeks ago, the Polish Music Center received another priceless donation of manuscripts and various other published materials from our longtime friend and the 2005 Paderewski Lecturer, Marta Ptaszyńska. The large donation of mostly oversized items was graciously conveyed to PMC Director Marek Zebrowski at the…Continue Reading Ptaszyńska at PMC & in the Headlines!
Pump Out the Music! Virtuoso accordionist Wiesław Ochwat (above) teamed up with maestro Maciej Tworek and the Sinfonietta Cracovia ensemble to record two new concertos for accordion and orchestra for the Opus label (86 | 2022). Their CD features Maciej Zimka’s Concerto for Accordion and Chamber Orchestra and Mikołaj Majkusiak’s Concerto In Between for the…Continue Reading Feb 2023: PMC Gifts
The rapid approach of the holidays and the New Year on the horizon must have motivated many of our friends to contribute a number of fascinating items to the Polish Music Center’s book and media libraries at the end of 2022. As always, we are delighted to be on the receiving end of such generosity…Continue Reading A Blizzard of Late 2022 Gifts
Dr. Małgorzata Sieradz sent us recently the Vol. II of Adolf Chybiński—Ludwik Bronarski, Korespondencja 1922-1952. Vol. II of this series covers the years 1941-1952, ending with Prof. Chybiński’s death on 31 October 1952. It is the continuation of a fascinating exchange of letters between the legendary Polish musicologist—who was active in Kraków, Zakopane, Lwów and,…Continue Reading PMC GIFTS/January 2023