Sundays Live at LACMA is a venerable concert series that for many years attracted large audiences to the Museum’s spacious Bing Theatre. Somewhat coincidentally, the last two Sundays of July featured Polish artists, who presented two very diverse and fascinating programs to a uniformly rapturous reception from the audience. On 22 July, guitarists Ewa Jabłczyńska…Continue Reading Polish Artists at LACMA
by Marek Żebrowski Kuba Stankiewicz, a distinguished Polish jazz pianist, presented a series of jazz trio concerts in California during the first part of May. Stankiewicz’s performances spotlighted his recently-released recording of music by Victor Young on the Warner Records label. With extensive liner notes and fascinating photos, this attractively presented CD features eight signature…Continue Reading Stankiewicz Shines In California
Award-winning composer and vocalist Agata Zubel will be featured at the FERUS Festival in New York City. Presented by VisionIntoArt (VIA), a multimedia production company with a belief that collaboration sustains artistic innovation that facilitates “flamboyant, confounding, and enticing collaborations” (New York Times), the festival presents some of today’s most exciting creators of music and…Continue Reading Zubel At Ferus Festival In NY
The Early Music Season is an event organized by the Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall (FCCH), each spring presenting three different ensembles. In 2015, the event featured “Early Music Season: Polish Focus”, which gave the Chinese music lovers a chance to listen to two ensembles from Poland, giving the event a distinctly Polish flavor. The…Continue Reading Polish Early Music In Beijing
A very rare opportunity to hear Michal Urbaniak and his Urbanator Group in Washington D.C. happened on Thursday, May 21 at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club. It was the first time in years that this living legend of Polish Jazz, co-founder of Fusion style, the only Polish jazz musician who ever recorded with…Continue Reading Urbaniak In DC
On March 17 in the Colburn School of Music’s Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, pianist and contemporary music specialist Susan Svrček performed Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz’s Sonata No. 2 (1953). Entitled “Oh, for the love of…,”this Piano Spheres program also included Domenico Scarlatti’s Three Sonatas, Lou Harrison’s Six Sonatas, Chen Yi’s China West Suite and Julia Gomelskaya’s Gutsulka-dance (performed with…Continue Reading Svrček & Bacewicz in Los Angeles
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
A Review by Marek Żebrowski As the sun disappeared behind the western horizon on the evening of June 3, dark blue skies became the backdrop for the Fowler Museum amphitheater, where the audience gradually took their seats. Besides the piano, a large screen and several speakers were set up, with a lectern and a microphone…Continue Reading Stankiewicz At UCLA
A Report by Maja Trochimczyk On April 28-29 in the Paris Division of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), the Second International Conference “Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831) and her Times” took place. The conference was organized by Elisabeth Zapolska Chapelle, president of the Société Maria Szymanowska in Paris. Following the pattern created for the first Conference…Continue Reading Maria Szymanowska Conference In Paris
PMJ Vol. 6 No. 1 The late January 2014 theft of the Stradivarius violin in Milwaukee served to highlight not only a famous violin but also its namesake, Karol Lipiński (1790-1861), Poland’s foremost virtuoso violinist in the first half of the 19th century. An outstanding performer in solo, chamber ensemble and orchestral concertmaster capacities, Lipiński…Continue Reading A Portrait Of A Polish Violinist