Tag: Premieres

2024 Baird Competition for Young Composers

On April 26, the winners of the 65th Jubilee Tadeusz Baird Competition for Young Composers were unveiled during the Competition’s final concert, which was held for the first time at the Baird Philharmonic in Zielona Góra. Members of the Competition Jury included the following distinguished composers: Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil (chairwoman), Alicja Gronau, Rafał Kłoczko, Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz…Continue Reading 2024 Baird Competition for Young Composers

US Premiere of Wars’s ‘City Sketches’

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’

Ptaszyńska’s World Premiere and Other News

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

Premieres at the 2024 Cracow Int’l Composers’ Festival

The 36th Cracow International Composers’ Festival took place from April 20-28, 2024. It was held under the theme of “Mathematics in music,” which was also the topic of the musicological session held during the Festival. The special guest of this year’s edition was composer and cultural organizer Jerzy Kornowicz who, in the years 2003-2015, served…Continue Reading Premieres at the 2024 Cracow Int’l Composers’ Festival

Sounds of a Bygone Era

A Review by Marek Zebrowski Sunday afternoon, April 21, marked the end of the 2023/2024 concert season organized jointly by the Holocaust Museum LA and USC Polish Music Center. The performers for this occasion were a dynamic duo of violinist Karolina Mikołajczyk and classical accordionist Iwo Jedynecki. They performed in the Childrens’ Memorial, an evocative…Continue Reading Sounds of a Bygone Era

Kapuściński Premiere in Germany

Virtual reality meets composition with “Point Line Piano” in Karlsruhe, Germany. This audiovisual composition experience was created in collaboration with digital artists OpenEndedGroup and Polish composer-pianist Jarosław Kapuściński. “Point Line Piano” is a project that rethinks the composition, performance and reception of piano music by fusing its modes of creating, playing, and listening. “Point Line…Continue Reading Kapuściński Premiere in Germany

2024 POLIN Music Festival

The POLIN Music Festival, a festival celebrating Polish and Jewish music, has recently finished four exciting concert evenings. Held from February 22-25 in the POLIN Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw, this year’s festival explored questions such as ‘What is Jewish music today?’. Performers range from new artists to international stars such the Grammy Award-winning…Continue Reading 2024 POLIN Music Festival

Piotr Moss: 75th Birthday Concert

This month in celebration of the 75th birthday of Piotr Moss, the Polish Orchestra ‘Sinfonia Iuventus‘ performed a program the composer’s symphonic works. Held on February 17, the concert program included Zoo, a five-part Suite for orchestra that is a humorous reminiscence of the composer’s visit to the Warsaw Zoo. The audience also heard Moss’s…Continue Reading Piotr Moss: 75th Birthday Concert

Wnuk-Nazarowa Premiere in Kielce

Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa

On February 16, Polish composer Joanna Wnuk-Nazarowa celebrated her 75th birthday with the premiere of her new piece: Seven Deadly Sins – Tragicomic Suite for Large Symphony Orchestra. The suite contains an ironic and sarcastic interpretation of the cardinal human vices, arranged in seven parts: Pride, Envy, Debauchery, Greed, Anger, Gluttony and Sloth. The piece…Continue Reading Wnuk-Nazarowa Premiere in Kielce

Celebrating Anniversaries: Sikora

The 2023-2024 concert season is filled with special anniversary performances of several composers who recently celebrated their eightieth birthdays. Last summer, it was Marta Ptaszyńska and Krzysztof Meyer who turned eighty, and last October it was Elżbieta Sikora’s turn to pass this important milestone. Stanisław Suchora and his agency, Sonora Music, have done a wonderful…Continue Reading Celebrating Anniversaries: Sikora