 | Polish Music Newsletter |
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October 2005, Vol. 11, No. 10. ISSN 1098-9188. Published monthly. Los Angeles: Polish Music Center, University of Southern California
Anniversaries |
Awards |
Calendar of Events |
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During the 10th annual Festival of Polish Composers, held from October 13-15 in Bielsko-Biała, Poland (see below), H.M. Górecki's new work, String Quartet No. 3, will be given its world premiere. The piece will be performed by one of world's leading contemporary music ensembles, the Kronos Quartet, on October 15 at 8:00 p.m. in the Church of Maksymilian Kolbe in Bielsko-Biała.
© Photo by Gerry Hurkmans, Amsterdam 1997
Joanna Bruzdowicz's newest work, Fanfare for Celebration of Women in Music will have its world premiere in Los Angeles this month. The premiere will be played by the "Borealis Brass Ensemble" from Alaska during the Gala Concert of the International World Forum for Music (UNESCO) on October 3rd, 8:30 pm in the Ricardo Montalban Theatre. The forum will take place between the 1st and the 5th of October and is organized with a help of "Donne in Musica" Foundation (Patricia Adkins-Chiti, President). Joanna Bruzdowicz gave the 2003 Paderewski Lecture at USC, and she is pictured at the right during her visit.
 Photo by Betty Freeman, Los Angeles, 1993
The Kosciuszko Foundation's Chamber Music Series is acknowledged as one of the most distinguished in New York. The Paderewski Trio will inaugurate the sixteenth season of this series on Sunday, October 16, at 3 PM. Rarely-heard works of Smetana, Lalo, and contemporary Polish composer Romuald Twardowski are featured in the concert, which is hosted by Candice Agree, of WQXR-FM. The program will be broadcast on WQXR on Sunday October 23 at 6 PM. The Paderewski Trio is made up of Krzysztof Kuznik, violinist; Rafał Jezierski, cellist; and Juny Jung, pianist. Winners of the 32nd Artists International Annual Debut Prize in 2003, this is their third annual appearance in the KF Chamber Music Series. Born in Poznań, Poland, Rafał Jezierski, cello, first studied with his father, a professional cellist and singer. After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, he is currently a completing his Master's Degree at The Juilliard School, where he is studying with Bonnie Hampton. Krzysztof Kuznik, violin, graduated from both the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and the Manhattan School of Music. A founding member of the Elsner String Quartet, he is currently on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and frequently performs with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Korean born pianist Juny Jung is the music director and founder of the Simons' Pond Music Festival in Pennsylvania. He graduated from both the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music. The Kosciuszko Foundation building is located at 15 E. 65th St., between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Tickets for the concert are $30 ($25 for KF members) and include a reception and discussion with the artists after the concert. Call (212) 734-2130 for reservations. www.kosciuszkofoundation.org
This October, the Witold Lutosławski Society will inaugurate a cycle of concerts dedicated to the piano music of the 20th century. The event is produced in cooperation with Warsaw Royal Castle. It is no coincidence that the concerts will take place in the Castle, because the piano that has been used in concerts at the castle for the last 10 years was donated by Lutosławski. It is the same instrument that is pictured with the composer in all the photos from his studio.
The first recital of the cycle will take place on October 9 and will be dedicated mostly to French music (with the exception of Bukoliki by Lutosławski). Included in this concert is the Polish premiere of Préludes by Henri Dutilleux and an un-published piece by Claude Debussy, Les soir illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon. The soloist will be a renowned French pianist, Jean-Pierre Armengaud. Also included on the program are three pieces by Erik Satie and other works by Dutilleux and Debussey. Before the concert, at 5:00 pm, the Society will award medals in recognition of the propagation of the music by Witold Lutosławski. This is he first time the medals are awarded and the recipients are: Danuta Gwizdalanka, Martina Homma, Krzysztof Meyer, Irina Nikolska, Jadwiga Paja-Stach, Charles Bodman Rae, Zbigniew Skowron, Steven Stucky and Adrian Thomas. The medals will be presented by the honorary member of the Society, Andrzej Wajda.
On the 1st of October, the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz was given the status of "National Institution" by the Polish Minister of Culture, Waldemar D±browski. In Bydgoszcz, the Opera Nova also has a similar status and, in the region, soon there will be a National Museum of Contemporary Art in Toruń. For the honored institutions this status means greater prestige and financial support of the Ministry of Culture.
World-famous Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo and highly acclaimed German director, Achim Freyer will be the stars of the 2005/2006 artistic season at the National Opera in Warsaw - Grand Theatre. Placido Domingo will perform the part of Siegmund in Richard Wagner's Die Walküre on October 22nd. This performance will be led by an outstanding Polish conductor, Jacek Kaspszyk. According to Kazimierz Kord, director of the Opera, the October 15 Polish premiere of Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chenier, directed by Polish filmmaker and opera director Mariusz Treliński is another very important upcoming event (read more about this opera in the October 2004 Newsletter).
As far as the future of the National Opera is concerned, in celebration of next year's 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the National Opera has invited Achim Freyer to prepare the staging of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. The performance will take place on the 16th of June, 2006. The company has commissioned a children's opera from Krzysztof Penderecki, which should be ready in the coming four years. Kord has also announced plans for creating a master school to attract and keep in the country young and talented Polish singers. In addition to artistic development, there are plans for improving the sound characteristics of the hall and restructuring personnel structures of the institution.
Paweł Kowalski is one of Poland's most versatile musicians, with long list of performances and recordings all around the world. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, from which he graduated with honours in 1989 and at the Vancouver Academy of Music on a personal grant from Witold Lutosławski. His current repertoire includes over 50 piano concertos, chamber music and jazz compositions. For information about the artist go to: www.pawelkowalski.art.pl
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FESTIVALS OF FALL | 
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For a program of the festival go to: www.bck.bielsko.pl/docs/f_prog.htm
The Poznań Festival of Baroque Strings and Bows is being organized for the first time this year from October 1st -9th. The main ensemble is the Baroque Orchestra Arte dei Suonatori. Many of the musical guests are from Denmark, England, Japan, Finland and Italy. From the huge repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries, the organizers have chosen pieces written for instruments which produce sound by way of strings: violins, violas, cellos, basses and also viola da gamba, lutes, viole d'amore, viole da braccio, liras and instruments that are no longer part of the standard instrumentation. The official web page (in Polish) of the festival is:www.barokowesmyczki.pl/2005.
Between September 17 and October 13, in the Grand Theatre in Poznań, the 5th annual festival of operas by Giuseppe Verdi is happening. The key event this year was a premiere of Don Carlos directed by Gianfranco de Bosio on September 24. In October the audiences will be able to see seven operatic titles by Verdi: Otello, Traviata, Rigoletto, Macbeth, Don Carlos, Aida and Nabucco. For the info on the Festival go to: www.opera.poznan.pl.
For a detailed program go to: www.polmic.pl.
Between 17-23 October this festival will take place in Wrocław, Opole, Piekary ¦l±skie and Poznań. This is the 14th edition of the festival and it is organized by Polish Percussive Association. The stars of the festival include Mike Mainieri (vibraphone), Tommy Aldridge, Mike Mangini, Tony Royster Jr. (drum-set). In addition to performances, many of the artists will also teach master-classes. The festival is also accompanied by two competitions: 4th National Drum-set competition and 3rd Open Vibraphone Competition. For the Festival program go to:www.polmic.pl.
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The 10th Festival of Polish Composers will take place from October 13-15 in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. This festival is organized by the Bielsko-Biała Culture Center under patronage of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. This year's edition is dedicated to works of Krzysztof Penderecki, who will be conducting several of the concerts. Besides the music of Penderecki, there also will be the world premiere of the new String Quartet No. 3 of Górecki by the Kronos Quartet on October 15 at 8:00 p.m. in the Church of Maksymilian Kolbe.
The Garden of Arts and Sciences Society and the Museum of Anna and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz in Stawisko present the 6th Festival of Musical Confrontations - In the salon and in the garden. It will take place between 17-23 October in Podkowa Le¶na. The program consists of chamber music and songs by Stanisław Moniuszko, performed by Patrycja Piekutowska, Maria Szwajger Kułakowska, Wojciech ¦witała with the Camerata Quartet, Tomasz Strahl, Klaudiusz Baran, and Agnieszka Kozło as well as Julita Mirosławska - soprano, Katarzyna Rzymska - mezzo-soprano, Ewelina Wojciechowska - mezzo-soprano, Krzysztof Ciupiński-¦wi±tek - tenor, Michał Janczak - baritone and Maciej Nerkowski - baritone. Additionally there will be a concert of the poetic songs of Grzegorz Turnau, a concert of Polish, Byelorussian, Ukrainian and Jewish music performed by Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim Trio and a jazz concert performed by Włodek Pawlik.
OCT 1: Concert of the Laureates of the 3rd International F. Liszt Piano Competition. Program: works by Chopin & Liszt. Witold Lutosławski Philharmonic, Wrocław, Poland. 7:00 pm. 
October is a month traditionally associated with Chopin. As the golden light of the Polish autumn fades into melancholy mists of late fall, which envelop the Mazovian lowlands of central Poland, we are compelled to reflect on Chopin's untimely death in Paris on October 17th 1849. His burial took place at the St. Madelaine's Church in the heart of Paris two weeks later on October 30th, where there was a huge public display of grief at so great a promise that was forever lost.
