The annual award from the Chopin International Society was received by Swiss author and musicologist Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger. An honorary award was bestowed uponn the late pianist/professor Halina Czerny-Stefanska, who died in July.

The National Radio Symphony Orchestra of Katowice under Antoni Wit received the Cannes Classical Award 2002 during the International Cannes Festival.

Sixteen-year-old violinist Alena Baeva of Russia won First Prize and $25,000 at the XIIth International Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań, Poland. The competitions are held every five years. For more information contact the Competition's organizers

Valery Voronov won First Prize at the V International Witold Lutosławski Composition Competition organized by the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Poland. The composer from Russia won for his work entitled, "Andante luminoso." No Second Prize was awarded. The Third Prize was shared by Naomi Sekiya of Japan and Bartlomiej Krcha of Poland.

Aleksander Tansman 4th International Competition of Musical Personalities in Lodz.The guiding principle of the competition is the promotion of the most promising musical personalities, irrespective of their specialities. The competition will be held in Lodz, Poland, in 16-21 November 2002. The competition is open to clarinettists, violinists, pianisits, cellists, guitarists under age 30, and offers a grand prize of 12.000 USD. Applications must be posted by September 9th 2002. The rules, program and application forms may be found at the competition's web site www.tansman.lodz.pl. For more information contact Andrzej Wendland, Competition Director.

There are numerous stories circling the internet. A charming story about Paderewski's kindness to a little boy is one of them. It is reproduced below. This legend may have been inspired by a war-time poster, featuring Paderewski and a little boy, "Jasio-wędrowniczek" [Johnny the wanderer] at the piano. The title of the music "Poland's not lost" is the first line of the national anthem, Dąbrowski's Mazurka. The poster advertises a general meeting of the supporters of Polish Relief Fund organized by Paderewski.

Paderewski and a Polish Boy. Poster for Polish Relief Fund (1940).

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage.

In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Then, leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative, experience. And the audience was mesmerized.

Visit a new website about Paderewski: www.paderewskirowny.org. This site is a pet project of former ambassador and retired Lt. Gen. USA (ret.) Edward Rowny and Associates, who are working to promote the legacy of Ignacy Jan Paderewski. The active associates are Dr. Bertram Brown and Colonel L. Kirk Lewis who worked with the Ambassador to plan the return of the great statesman/musician's body to Poland in 1992. Comments or anecdotes concerning Paderewski are welcome.

"I deeply believe in the healing power of classical music. If even for a couple of minutes, in one phrase, we gave comfort to the listeners - it is good that we came."

It feels funny to quote oneself, but this is what I said in a TV interview aired in New York the day of our downtown lunch concert. (October 22, 2001)

We played Mozart and Beethoven Quartets at the Federal Reserve Bank for people who work near Ground Zero. Our audience, which overflowed the auditorium, included policemen and firemen. We received a standing ovation and an overwhelming satisfaction of having done the right thing.

The downtown area of Manhattan below Canal Street is like a battle zone. The atmosphere is extremely tense, with police presence everywhere. As more and more buildings reopen, there are thousands of people coming to work everyday. Yet those people have the horror of SEPT. 11th engraved in their minds. They witnessed it from "the front row." Even today at ground zero above all the strong stench of death and destruction (there are still fires which burn underground) makes it very hard to go on with onešs work.

To bring some release and beauty into these difficult days, the New York Philharmonic is offering free one-hour lunch chamber music concerts to be held through November. I am indeed privileged to participate in those and will cherish the memory of it.

In my many years on concert stages around the world there are few other performances which stand out. Those that did also carried extra musical messages.

In the late eighties, the diplomatic relations between Argentina and US were severed as a result of a war with the United Kingdom over the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands. It took a good-will free concert by the New York Philharmonic to open up the dialogue again. I was then a chairperson of our tour committee and remember vividly the meeting when the musicians took a vote to play that concert.

In 1989 when the Berlin wall fell, I was one of seven Americans who participated in the special Christmas concerts. An international orchestra, composed of musicians from New York, London, Rome, Paris, Munich and St. Petersburg and conducted by Leonard Bernstein, played the Beethovenšs IX Symphony in both EAST and WEST Berlin. The East Berlin concert with its universal message of peace, hope and unity was televised to millions people around the world. The West Berlin concert was tele-beamed to the Stephen Kirche Platz and I was told that twenty thousand people joined hands and danced to the last movement "Ode to Joy."

Yet another powerful experience took place this past September. Instead of a festive opening night of the new season, we performed the German Requiem by Brahms. It could not have been a more appropriate choice. Preceded by our national anthem there were not many dried eyes in Avery Fisher Hall, and for that matter in many living rooms, as the concert was broadcast on PBS. All the performers (NYP, chorus, soloists and production crew donated their services, more then $350,000, to the relief fund for the World Trade Center victims.

NOTE: This essay is forthcoming in The Waterville WigWag. Hanna Lachert is a Polish-born violinist based in New York.

• NOV 2: Music by Lutosławski, Mozart, Williams & Respighi. St. Matthew's Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Neenan, cond., Yi-Huan Zhao, v.; Patricia Massey, cl. St. Matthew's Church, 1031 Bienveneda Ave., Pacific Palisades. (310) 573-7787. 8 p.m., $10-$15.

• NOV 3: Memorial Service and unveiling of plaque honoring Paderewski on the 60th anniversary of his death. Stanislaus B & M Church (101 E. 7th St, between lst Ave. and A) at ll a.m. followed by the ceremony at Tompkins Square Park (Avenue A at 7th St.). Brief addresses by diplomatic and civic representatives.

• NOV 4: Gala Tribute to Paderewski at Carnegie Hall, New York sponsored by the Kosciuszko Foundation. Sunday, 2:00 p.m. Music of Paderewski, Moniuszko, Kilar, Noskowski. Sinfonia Varsovia, Mariusz Smolij, cond. Karol Radziwonowicz, piano. $19-$61. (212) 247-7800.

• NOV 5: Repeat of Gala Tribute above. George Washington U. Lisner Auditorium, Washington, D.C. (202) 994-6800.

• NOV 11: Lutosławski's Piano Concerto. Leif Ove Andsnes, piano. London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. Barbican Centre, London. 7:30 p.m. 6.50-pounds to 35-pounds. +44 (0) 20 7638 8891.

• NOV 24: Polish-American Christmas Gala. The Lira Ensemble of Chicago. Warren Wood Community Theatre. 8:00 p.m. $23/$11 children. (248) 545-6906.

• NOV 25: Polish-American Christmas Gala. The Lira Ensemble of Chicago. Washington High School Theater. South Bend, IN. 3:00 p..m. $18-$21/children 1/2 price. (219) 288--8966. www.liraensemble.com

RECENT PERFORMANCES

The Cleveland Orchestra's offerings at Severance Hall were called "extremely clever" by music critic Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (10/12 issue.) The program "begins and ends with variations, contains two contemporary pieces and links two old works by way of Haydn." The online newsletter "In the News" of Symphony.org informs that, "Franz Welser-Most led the orchestra in Witold Lutosławski's Piano Concerto" featuring pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, whose performance Rosenberg called "superlative." The program also included Esa-Pekka Salonen's LA Variations, which the Cleveland music critic called "excellent."

Jerzy Stryjniak performed an All-Liszt recital at Alice Tully Hall in New York on 22 Oct. Stryjniak, who received his training in Kraków, where he had been born, is presently the director of the New York Conservatory of Music. The New York Times calls his playing "Impressive, dazzling and compelling." A full-page interview with Renata Pasternak- Mazur appeared in the Polish daily, Nowy Dziennik on 12 October 2001.

Penderecki's Trio was performed by the New York Philharmonic Ensembles on 14 October at Merkin Hall in New York. Hanna Lachert, violin, Irene Breslaw, viola, and Chung Tu, cello made up the ensemble.

The scheduled solo recital by pianist Jacek Zganiacz for October 21st at the Polish Consulate was cancelled and the pianist was asked to replace Polish pianist Piotr Paleczny for an earlier October 1st recital at Carnegie Hall. The program was also changed to include the talented young sisters Anna and Katherine Karkowska, who performed the virtuoso music for violin and piano by Chopin, Wieniawski, Beethoven, Massenet and Sarasate. Jacek Zganiacz, who began the second half of the recital with Paderewski's "Nocturne, Op. 16" devoted the rest of his program to the music of Chopin and received a standing ovation from the audience, as reported by Roman Markowicz in the Nowy Dziennik.

Conductor Leon Botstein included Witold Lutosławski's orchestral masterpiece, Mi-Parti in his concert with the American Symphony Orchestra held at the Lincoln Center on 10 October 2001.

Maestro Skrowaczewski was back on American soil in October conducting the Minnesota Orchestra in Chopin's Second Piano Concerto with Garrick Ohlsson as soloist in four performances of this work. The concerts were held from 3-5 October in Skrowaczewski's home town of Minneapolis. Later in the same month (18-20 October) Skrowaczewski appeared in a dual role of a composer and conductor in three performances of Skrowaczewski's "Music at Night" with the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. [www.stsymphony.org]

Chopin's Second Piano Concerto was also heard in four performances in Seattle, Washington's Benaroya Hall with pianist Nelson Freire and Gunther Herbig conducting the Seattle Symphony (4-7 October).

On October 7th the Cello Octet presented, among other compositions, the music of Chopin, at L.A. Harbor College; On October 23 Chopin was included by Jens Lindemann, trumpet, in a faculty recital at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall; On October 27th the well-known pianist Abbey Simon of New York performed Chopin at Fullerton College in the afternoon followed by more Chopin at Cal State Long Beach in the evening with pianist Edith Hirshtal.

Pianist Piotr Paleczny concluded the IV International Organ Festival in Mielce in a performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto in E-minor accompanied by a string quartet and Marek Bogacz, doublebass.

According to the "In the News" online newsletter Lutosławski's music scheduled (for the weekend following the Twin Towers attack) by Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra proved to be "unusually relevant, both in painful and exhilarating ways." In Lutosławski's "Funeral Music," Dohnanyi "brings to the score a keen grasp of the expressive gestures, from the opening sighs for two cellos through Lutoslawski's compassionate anguished statements to the final cello whisper." The music critic stated also that "the Cleveland strings couldn't have been more controlled or eloquent."