 | Polish Music Newsletter |
 |
May 2004, Vol. 10, No. 5. ISSN 1098-9188. Published monthly. Los Angeles: Polish Music Center, University of Southern California
Anniversaries |
Awards |
Calendar of Events | |
 | 
|
| Polish Music Newsletter |
|
May 2004, Vol. 10, No. 5. ISSN 1098-9188. Published monthly. Los Angeles: Polish Music Center, University of Southern California
Anniversaries |
Awards |
Calendar of Events | |
|
|
|
 The 10 new European Commissioners (economic branch of the EU), with Commission President Prodi. Polish commissioner Danuta Hübner is 2nd from the right, bottom row.  Events in Poland
 Events in the U.S.
 Events Around the World
May - December, 2004Waldemar D±browski, the minister of culture, said, "This is—in our history—the most important panorama of Polish culture organized abroad". Nova Polska will cover all manner of performance arts, including music and drama, and visual arts, such as painting and cinema, as well as literature and scientific study. This amazing feat of international cooperation and appreciation has been called a French bouquet comprised of Polish flowers: it includes more than 600 concerts, exhibitions, theatrical spectacles, film screenings and seminars taking place over the course of 9 months in 180 different French towns, possible only because of the cooperation of over 480 French institutions. The concert programs organized for Nova Polska provide a rich feast of Polish music, highlighting contemporary music while providing the historical context as well. The Gala Concert will take place on May 3rd at Notre Dame in Paris, featuring the Boys Choir of Poznan and K. Szymanowski's Stabat Mater. On May 25 in Paris, the National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio, under the direction of Stanisław Skrowaczewski, will play K. Penderecki's Fifth Symphony and W. Lutosławski's Fourth Symphony as part of the "Musical Inauguration of the Polish Season in France". A day later in Toulouse, l'Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, under the direction of Gerard Causse and with the participation of Elżbieta Chojnacka, will perform H. M. Górecki's Three Works in Old Style and his Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra, K. Penderecki's Concerto for Contralto, String Orchestra and Percussion, W. Kilar's Orawa and H. Czyż's Canzona di barocco. In June, W. Kilar's Orawa will be heard in Hallencourt, Amiens, Bray-sur-Somme and Gamaches performed by l'Orchestre de Picardie under the direction of Jerzy Maksymiuk. Please visit the official website of Nova Polska, www.nova-polska.pl, for more information and a complete list of presentations and venues.
Korczak's Orphans is based on the life of a visionary individual who not only endured the horrors of life in Nazi-occupied Poland, but emerged as a prescient figure in child-psychology while struggling to protect the orphans under his care. Korczak visualized orphanages as communities, and established such novel practices as a children's court and newspaper that taught children responsibility, compassion, and fairness. In the orphanage that he built to shelter children left homeless in the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto, he created a "Children's Republic," complete with flag. When the Nazis finally came for him, he led the children in a "dignified processional out of the gates of the orphanage, past a stunned citizenry and muted cadre of SS officers," Gubernat says, "the children carrying the flag of their 'Children's Republic' into the waiting cattle cars," which then transported all of them to certain death at Treblinka.
Conducted by NYCO's music director George Manahan, the opera features Janusz Korczak as its central character, which will be sung by tenor Paul Mow, who starred in New York City Opera's production of Of Mice and Men as Lennie Small. Also featured on the concert are works by Richard Danielpour (to an original libretto by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison), John Eaton, Tom Cipullo, Daniel Felsenfeld, Jennifer Griffith, Donald Hagar, Elodie Lauten. Admission is free, no tickets are required.
Act II from Korczak's Orphans May 26th at 2:00 PM Peter Jay Sharp Theater in Symphony Space 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, NY, NY Admission is free
Opera Nova - Panstwowa Opera w Bydgoszczy Director: Maciej Figas ul. Focha 5, 85-070 Bydgoszcz POLAND tel. (+48 52) 325 49 31 fax (+48 52) 322 59 50 www.opera.bydgoszcz.pl
Festival Cultural de Mayo is held in the most prestigious concert halls and cultural centres of Estado de Jalisco in Mexico. The opening concert on May 7th features Polish pianist Stanislaw Drzewiecki in a program including Chopin's Piano Concerto in e minor Op.11, Lutosławski's Concerto for orchestra, Wagner's The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. Other concerts featuring Polish composers and musicians include Gergely Bogányi in a Chopin recital on May 16th, the "Great Polish Composers" recital featuring Józef Olechowski on May 26th, and Manuel Delaflor in a Chopin recital on May 27th.
For more information and a list of concerts, see www.festivaldemayo.org or www.infochopin.pl
"Sources and Inspirations"
The 2nd International Percussion Festival of the Academy of Music in Krakow will be a meeting of outstanding artists from culturally distant regions of the world presenting their musical fascinations. The percussion world is composed of a numerous and broad family of instruments. Their dynamic development since the beginning of the 20th century has resulted in the creation of innumerable pieces of music, a large and continuously developing branch of the music industry and a multitude of festivals and contests all over the world to support a new type of musician. Out if these same needs was borne the International Percussion Festival in Krakow.
Although concerts are an important part of this festival, they are by no means the only activity. The festival also encompasses lectures, workshops, discussions as well as exhibitions of instruments and music, aimed primarily at the instrumentalists themselves. And the final important aspect of this festival—young musicians from all over the world take part in the concerts. The festival is a chance for them to perform with famous artists and to show their skills to a wider audience.
For a detailed program, visit the website of the Academy of Music in Krakow, www.amuz.krakow.pl.
7 May - 11 May Krakow, Poland 
Henryk Wieniawski (b. 1835, Lublin - d. 1880, Moscow) owes his early introduction to the world of music to his mother, Regina, a professional pianist and the daughter of a Warsaw physician. His mother was also the driving force behind his musical training and subsequent development into a violin child prodigy. At the age of five he began violin lessons and three years later was admitted to the Paris Conservatory, overcoming the obstacles of being under-age and of foreign nationality. After completing with gold medal the accelerated course of study at the Conservatory he remained in Paris perfecting his technique under the care of professor Joseph L. Massart. It was then that he met in his mother's Paris salon of the two most famous Polish emigrées: Adam Mickiewicz (poet) and Fryderyk Chopin. Wieniawski's first, somewhat childish,compositions were written during that time (he was thirteen years old). During his life time he was unquestionably considered "a violinist of genius," an artist of great individuality, intensity of expression, and original technique. The influence of his technique is still evident in the style of some violinists of the Russian School. Wieniawski's grueling travel and concert schedule obviously interfered with his work as a composer. The comparatively modest body of compositional work which he left behind attests to the demands of the life of the traveling virtuoso. The relatively stable period of his residence in St. Petersburg (1860-1872) yielded the finest of his compositional works: Etudes-caprices op.18, Polonaise Brillante op.21, and the 2nd Violin Concerto in D-minor. The latter, a small masterpiece, has become a standard in the violin repertoire. While demonstrating the virtuoso possibilities of the violin technique,the composition is also characterized by Romantic lyricism and passionate melodic expression. 
The 2nd Violin Concerto will be featured, along with Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, on May 14th and 15th at 8 pm and 6 pm respectively during the New Mexico Symphony's Classical Series. Krzysztof Zimowski (pictured at right), the NMSO Concertmaster since 1999, will be the soloist on this program. Mr. Zimowski was born in Wrocław, Poland. He has won numerous awards and has served as Concertmaster around the world, from Poland to Mexico to the U.S.
New Mexico Symphony Orchestra 4407 Menaul Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87110 Tickets: 800-251-NMSO or (505) 881-8999
The Polish Singers Alliance of America (PSAA), was founded in Chicago in 1889. It is an organization of choral groups primarily interested in the preservation and promotion of Polish choral music. Member choirs are assigned to one of six active districts, and are located throughout the United States and also in Canada. District IV will host the 47th International Convention in Troy, Michigan starting May 27. Delegates will assemble at the Troy Marriott, the convention headquarters and location of the Grand Ball on May 29th, and Awards Banquet on May 30 at which time trophies will be awarded to the top three choirs in each competition category: Male, Female and Mixed Choir. Local venues have been chosen for the gala concert, choral competition, Saturday evening Mass, and brunch on Sunday. Other activities include receptions for delegates at Orchard Lake, tours of museums and galleries on Thursday, and a reception for delegates at the Polish American Cultural Center including dinner and entertainment on Friday. For more information, visit the PSAA website at www.polishsingersalliance.org. |
 Stephen Beus, 22, was named the Second Prize Winner in the 2004 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition. A Washington State native, he will enter The Juilliard School in New York City. Sharing Third Prize were HUANG Chi-Fang, 21 years old, a Chinese native currently at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia; Pallavi Mahidhara, 16 years old, a high school junior from Bethesda, MD; and Marianna Prjevalskaya, 21, a native of Moldavia currently studying at the University of South Bend, Indiana. There was no First Prize awarded. The Competition was held April 1-3, at the Kosciuszko Foundation House and at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in New York. Jurors included Abbey Simon, Chair, of the Juilliard School and University of Houston; Constance Keene, the Manhattan School of Music; Anne Koscielny, a concert pianist and former Chopin Competition Laureate; Thomas Schumacher, the Eastman School of Music; and Ruth Slenczynska, concert pianist. 
Stephen Beus (pictured at right) began his study of music at age 5 as a Suzuki student and
made his orchestral debut before he could read music. Completing the
Suzuki repertoire at age 8, he auditioned and was accepted as a student
of Dr. Leonard Richter, Walla Walla College, with whom he currently
studies. Stephen is a popular performer and has maintained an ambitious
performance and competition schedule since his first symphony performance
at age 9 with the Oregon East Symphony. He has since performed concerti
by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and
Prokofiev with orchestras in the Pacific Northwest, Texas, and Finland.
In 1993, Stephen was a named a finalist in the Junior Gina Bachauer
International Piano Competition and won first place at that competition
in 1996. He was also the winner of the 1997 Corpus Christi International
Young Artists Concerto Competition, pre-college division, in Corpus
Christi, Texas in 1997. Stephen was judged to be the outstanding North
American applicant to the Van Cliburn Institute in Fort Worth, Texas and
was the full scholarship recipient for that summer study program in 1999.
In 2000 Stephen was invited to be a featured soloist at the World Piano
Pedagogy Conference in Missouri and also participated in National Public
Radio's "From the Top" broadcast. Also in 2000, Stephen was named the
national winner of the Music Teachers National Association Competition.
Two weeks after winning the MTNA competition, Stephen won second place in
the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition in New York City.
In September 2000, Stephen accepted a call to serve a two-year mission
for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Finland. While in
Finland, Stephen was able to perform extensively, touring the country,
performing in numerous cities and appearing on television and radio
interviews. Since his return from his mission in August 2002, Stephen has
been attending Whitman College where he is continuing his study of the
piano with Dr. Richter. In March 2003, Stephen won the collegiate
division of the MTNA piano competition in held in Salt Lake City. As
first place national winner, Stephen received an all-expenses paid trip
to New York City where he toured the Steinway Factory and selected his
own Steinway model M, first place prize. Other performances in the Fall
of 2003 have taken Stephen to Chicago, Hawaii and Seattle.
 Wojciech Krzak from the Warsaw Village Band accepts their award from Scottish violinist John McCusker.
 LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI WINS FIRST JOHN W. KLUGE PRIZE Following a thorough-going, worldwide selection process that began two years ago with a solicitation for nominations from over 2000 leading scholars, one of the world's greatest living philosophers, Leszek Kolakowski, has been named the first winner of a prestigious new lifetime achievement award deliberately designed to honor work not covered by the Nobel Prizes, i.e., in the humanities and social sciences, broadly defined. The announcement was made on November 4 by Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress. The award was presented on November 5 at the Library's John W. Kluge Center, a research institute that serves as a catalyst for dialogue between the world's pre-eminent scholars in the humanities and social sciences, on the one hand, and political leaders and lawmakers on the other. Leszek Kolakowski, born in Radom, Poland, in 1927, has had a profound influence not only on contemporary philosophy but on the recent history of Poland in particular and of Europe as a whole. He now lives in Oxford, England, where he was a Senior Research Fellow in philosophy at All Souls College until his retirement in 1995, and where he still teaches an annual course for Polish students at Oxford. "YEAR OF GOMBROWICZ"
The Institute of Polish Studies at Jagiellonian University and the Polish Ministry of Culture organized an international conference, "Witold Gombrowicz—Our Contemporary", from March 22 through 27, 2004, a year officially proclaimed as The Year of Gombrowicz for the 100th anniversary of the writer's birth (August 4) and the 35th anniversary of his death (July 24). An extraordinary gathering of distinguished scholars from all over the world explored the remarkable relevance today of Gombrowicz's work and ideas. The conference was conducted in Polish, English, and French.
The conference organizers believed strongly that thoughts contained in Gombrowicz's oeuvre are very much relevant today and that they possess the unusual quality of continuously relating to the present moment and our most contemporary concerns. Gombrowicz proudly named himself the precursor of existentialism and the "first structuralist"; today, we can find in his writings the harbingers of postmodernism, gender, queer, and post-colonial studies, as well as numerous other currents of thought that came into being after the death of the author of Ferdydurke.
Information for these two awards taken from the website of the Polish Cultural Institute, www.polishculture-nyc.org
The San Francisco International Film Festival (April 15-29, 2004) announced its Award Winners at the Golden Gate Awards Ceremony. SKYY Prize Winner for Best Narrative Feature went to SQUINT YOUR EYES (Poland), Andrzej Jakimowski, director. The SKYY Prize is given to a new filmmaker whose work exhibits a unique artistic vision. |
|
|
INTERNET NEWS |
|
|
|
|
|
CONCERTS AND PERFORMANCES |
|
 MOT's Magic Flute production poster, 2004.
The first Poznań Musical Spring Festival, organized in 1961 as part of the 2nd Wielkopolska Region Cultural Festival, presented, above all, the work of Poznań composers. As the years went by, the festival became an important all-Polish artistic event and reached its apogee in mid-seventies of the 20th century: more and more works were commissioned, the program was broadened to include large-scale oratorios, operas and ballets. The most distinguished composers came to Poznań and the concerts were accompanied by musicological conferences. This year, the Festival, which lasted from 16 - 25 April 2004, celebrated its 38th anniversary.
The organizers of the festival have been trying their hardest to maintain the importance of the Poznań Musical Springs by broadening the range of the festival programme to include the classical works of the 20th century, so far unknown to the audiences of Poland and the Wielkopolska region, as well as by the international cooperation with musical academies and the return to the tradition of academic encounters. For several years the involvement of the festival and the Poznań section of the Polish Composers' Union in the international cooperation have been growing. The works of young composers from Weimar, Chicago and Cologne have been regularly performed.
Currently, Maciej Jablonski is the director of the festival and Krzysztof Meyer the author of its programme conception. This year's repertoire included the works by W. Lutosławski, F. Martin, K. Meyer, M. Ptaszyńska and W. Widlak. Performers included Andrzej Bauer, Urszula Krygier, Ivan Monighetti, the piano duo Adrianne Soos and Ivo Haag from Switzerland, the Academic Choir of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań under the direction of Jacek Sykulski, the "Amadeus" Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Agnieszka Duczmal and the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Jose Maria Florencia.
This article is reprinted from Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzycne, www.pwm.com.pl.
Called the "electrifying young Polish pianist," by Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times, Piotr Anderszewski has received glowing reviews from two local newspapers for his performances at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and UCLA. He is currently on tour with soprano Dawn Upshaw, of Górecki's Third Symphony fame, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, led by violinist Richard Tognetti.
Timothy Mangen reported in the Orange County Register that the Polish pianist "could come into this milieu and not only hold his own, but actually steal some of the Australians' thunder." Each performance "closed with Tognetti's arrangement of Szymanowski's challenging String Quartet No. 2 from 1927...The superb arrangement, by the way, was no mere blow-up of the quartet, but an impeccable orchestration, complete with tutti and solo passages. A good crowd was on hand, despite the $75 ticket price."
A recital of Chopin's music performed by pianist Nina Kuzma-Sapiejewska and dedicated to Chopin's lover, novelist George Sand on her 200th birthday anniversary, was held at Carnegie Hall on 18 April. Janusz M. Szlechta wrote a favorable preview about the artist in Nowy Dziennik. Nina is one of the founders of the annual "Chopin and Friends" festivals that has been held in New York in November for five years now.
|
|
|
CALENDAR OF EVENTS |
|
MAY 10: Evgeny Kissin, piano. Chopin: Polonaises &
Impromptus, Medtner & Stravinsky. Bridgewater Hall,
Manchester, Eng. www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk. Tickets: +44 (0)161 907 9000.
 |
|
|
DISCOGRAPHY |
|
|
by Wanda Wilk
Gary Fitelberg of San Fernando valley sent interesting
information on a historic recording of Karol Rathaus and
Jerzy Fitelberg's Piano Sonatas, which were premiered by
Kolja Lessing and are featured together with a sonata by
Grete Von Zieretz on a CD of "Franz Schreker's Masterclass in
Vienna and Berlin."
It is on a German label EDA0192. It is available on the
internet from a British company, Castle Classics Piano &
Harpsichord. They also have BBC Legends Mieczyslaw
Horszowski recital and various Van Cliburn competitions
winners.
Gary sent me a very comprehensive analysis and comparison of
the works of these two important Polish-Jewish composers
[Karol Rathaus (1895-1954) and Jerzy Fitelberg (1903-1951),
who both lived in the U.S.), which he found on
www.eda.records.com.
|
| |
|
|
|
"Not by Accident": A Conversation with Madeleine Forte
by Peter J. Rabinowitz, published in Fanfare, July/August 2001 (Reprinted by permission) Pianist Madeleine Forte may not be widely known, but her recent Ravel recital made something of a splash: Her playing was welcomed on these pages as "vibrant" and "intensely affectionate" by Peter Burwasser (23:1), and her "gorgeous tone and sensuous line" were singled out for praise by James M. Keller in the New Yorker. Her affinity for Ravel is perhaps not surprising. True, she has a wide repertoire that includes such virtuoso blockbusters as the Barber and Liszt Sonatas, and for a while she was even known as a Bartók and Liszt specialist. But as she put it in an interview in April, "I am French, and at this point in my life I think I can bring more to French composers. This is not by accident. Cortot used to quote Debussy as saying 'On parle mieux dans sa propre langue' [One speaks better in one's own language]. It's possible that Debussy really did say that; he was very nationalistic. And I agree that your country does form you, the literature and so on. That doesn't mean that you cannot play Brahms or you cannot play Schumann. But there really is a birthright." No wonder, then, that her orientation nowadays is toward Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen.... And Chopin—for Forte is one of those who consider Chopin part of the French tradition. "Chopin was 19 when he went to Paris. His soul was Polish, but his refinement was definitely French. He was half French, he lived all his adult life in France, he had a French mistress." If you compare his early music to "the Barcarolle and the Ballades, there is an evolution; it becomes more cultivated. Of course, it is the normal process of somebody growing up, but there is also definitely a culture around it, because he spent his whole life in Paris. So we can claim that Chopin is part of our French cultural background." Orientation, of course, is grounded not only in birth but also, as she explains it, in physical and emotional makeup. In addition, it is grounded in training and experience, and Forte has a distinguished pedigree (although it is, significantly, not entirely or unambiguously French). She got her first lessons from her aunt: "She was a wonderful singer, but from a very religious family. They prevented her from being onstage, because only 'bad girls' were on the stage at that time. I could hear the operatic works sung by her and her students, oratorio melodies, Mozart, Puccini, everything, so I already had an ear formed thanks to her. We talk about talent and we talk about education. I don't know how much talent I had, but I definitely had the most wonderful education from her. But she was so smart that she realized her limitations. She wanted me to have great masters, she had high dreams." In particular, her aunt "dreamed about Wilhelm Kempff.  Madeleine Forte: Photo by Allen Forte.   Reprinted with permission from Madeleine Forte. For more information about Mrs. Forte and her students, see the February '04 Newsletter or visit her website, www.madeleineforte.com. |
|
BORN THIS MONTH:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Back
to PMC Home Page
PMC Newsletters
© Copyright 2004 by the Polish Music
Center at USC, Los Angeles.
The publication of this Newsletter is made possible
by a generous donation
from the Dr. & Mrs. Matthew S. Mickiewicz Family Fund, California.
Send your comments and inquiries to: polmusic@usc.edu
Newsletter Editors: Wanda Wilk and Krysta Close.
Contribution by Madeleine Forte.
Other sources of information: Polish Cultural Institute, Adam Mickiewicz Institute,
BBC Music Magazine, PWM, Gramophone, Fanfare, Nowy Dziennik,
Polish American Journal, Fanfare, Orange County Register, Detroit News,
Los Angeles Times, infochopin.pl, The Warsaw Voice.
Formatting by Krysta Close, 5/03/2004.
Waldemar Malicki, born in Lublin in 1958, is one of Poland's most accomplished and popular virtuoso pianists, performing throughout the world as soloist with the country's leading philharmonic and chamber groups and as accompanist to its leading violinists and singers. In the tradition of Leonard Bernstein and Glenn Gould he does educational television programs that blend performance with commentary and analysis. He also enjoys a side-specialty of highly popular improvisational parodies of the great masters of the keyboard, revealing a musical wit that recalls the late Victor Borge, the "Clown Prince of Denmark". His East Coast Tour is presented by the impresario and conductor, Janusz Szporek, director of Brooklyn's Music Education Center.
The month of May will be an exciting one for composer Bettina Skrzypczak. Her String Quartet no. 4, whose scenic premiere in Basle was postponed, will now be premiered in concert on May 9, in Zurich. The work is played by the young, upcoming Amar Quartet who commissioned it.