Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej

Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej - Polmic.pl
In the world of Polish music, the year 2008 abounded, as usual, in major events. A
comprehensive survey of music life is virtually impossible, so the following ought to be seen as
a subjective attempt, from our point of view. Could we point to one single most important event
of the year, Probably not – but we also encourage our readers to share their own observations,
the most interesting of which will be published on our site.
The Polish Parliament proclaimed the year 2008 the Zbigniew Herbert Year to commemorate
the 10th anniversary of the poet’s death. These celebrations occasioned numerous musical
events as well, including the Zbigniew Herbert Festival “The Music of Words” (Gdynia and
Gdańsk, 2nd-3rd August 2008) and the special concert “Zbigniew Herbert’s Silk of the Soul”
under the Honorary Patronage of Katarzyna Herbert (Warsaw, 23rd November 2008). In the
Zbigniew Herbert Year, the PROBALTICA Foundation for Baltic Culture and the Polish
Composers’ Union organised a competition for composers.
The previous year was also marked by the 75th birthday celebrations – at home and abroad
– of Poland’s two most eminent composers of today:
Krzysztof Penderecki (on 23rd November) and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (on 6th December)
. In Poland, Penderecki was honoured with a festival of his name (on 20th-23rd November in
Warsaw), which culminated in the world’s first performance of the composer’s String Quartet
No. 3 by Shangai Quartet (21st November). The Music Academy in Gdańsk granted him an
honorary doctorate (on 6th November), the Music Academy in Cracow organized a series of
concerts, conferences, lectures, and master classes, as well as the 1st International K.
Penderecki Cello Competition (14th-20th December), and on 13th December the premiere of
The Devils of Loudun inaugurated the new Cracow Opera House.
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Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej - Polmic.pl
In the year of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s birthday, the Festival of Polish Composers in
Bielsko-Biała was dedicated to that composer (2nd-4th October). There were also festivals
dedicated to both composers: the 2008 International Festival of Chamber Music “The Silesian
Quartet and its Guests” (23rd November – 6th December) and the Festival “GÓRECKI ●
PENDERECKI on their 75th birthday” organized by the National Polish Radio Symphony
Orchestra (28th November – 9th December 2008), which was the largest artistic event
celebrating the two masters, with 6 concerts presenting all the stages of their artistic careers
from the avant-garde to the most recent works.
Other well known artists also had their round anniversaries: Andrzej Hundziak (80th birthday),
Adam Walaciński (80th birthday), Zbigniew Bujarski (75th birthday), Krzysztof Meyer (65th
birthday), Marian Borkowski (75th birthday), Zygmunt Krauze (70th birthday), Henryk Melcer
(80th death anniversary), Stanisław Wisłocki (10th death anniversary), Tadeusz Paciorkiewicz
(10th death anniversary), Henryk Czyż (5th death anniversary), as well as Zbigniew Rudziński
(35 years of teaching), Elżbieta Towarnicka (a double anniversary – 30 years of artistic work
and 25 years since her first soundtrack). Many music centres celebrated the 10th death
anniversary of Roman Maciejewski, and his greatest work, the
Requiem
, was frequently performed (e.g. on 5th April 2008 in Leszno’s cemetery church, near the
composer’s grave; in Poznań during the inauguration of the Poznań Music Spring; in
Częstochowa during the final concert of the “Gaude Mater” Festival; as well as in Bydgoszcz,
Cracow, Rzeszów, Warsaw and Łódź. Research conferences dedicated to the memory of
Roman Maciejewski were held in Poznań and Warsaw, while Leszno hosted a festival of his
name (2nd-5th April).
As in previous years, numerous new Polish compositions were first performed in 2008. The
world’s first performance of Bogusław Schaeffer’s new piece
Fűr Elise
was given on 16th January 2008 at the Polish Embassy in London. Two days later, the Grand
Theatre in Warsaw presented the world premiere of the opera for children
Magic Doremik
by Marta Ptaszyńska to a libretto by the composer after Gianni Rodari’s novel
Gelsomino in the Country of Liars
, translated by Hanna Ożogowska. The European first performance of the full version of
Krzysztof Penderecki’s
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Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej - Polmic.pl
Symphony No. 8 "Lieder der Vergänglichkeit" (“Songs of Transience”)
was held on 31st January 2008 in Warsaw, and the world premiere of
Crime and Punishment
, a drama in nine scenes with prologue and epilogue after Dostoyevsky, with music by
Bernadetta Matuszczak – on 3rd February 2008. Several days later, on 15th February 2008, the
26th “Musica Polonica Nova” Festival of Polish Contemporary Music presented in Wrocław
Opera House the premiere of Joanna Bruzdowicz’s new opera
The Penal Colony
. March brought the first performances of Paweł Łukaszewski’s
Concertino for piano and brass
(on 9th March 2008 in Cracow) and Mikołaj Hertel’s
Athos concerto
for harp and chamber orchestra (on 14th March 2008 in Lublin), as well as new works by
Dariusz Przybylski, Mirosław Bukowski, Zbigniew Bujarski, Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil and
Artur Kroschel, performed at the Poznań Music Spring Festival between 6th and 13th April. On
16th May, Jerzy Maksymiuk’s new composition
…but do not stop your flying…
was first performed in Gdańsk, and on 9th October –
Trajectories
for symphony orchestra by Dagmara Jack – in Dresden. The 17th Upper Silesian Festival of
Chamber Music "Ars Cameralis Silesiae Superioris" included two first performances: of
Called Back
by Aleksander Lasoń (23rd November) and the Polish premiere of Wojciech Kilar’s
Veni Creator
(28th November). At the Festival of Polish Music in Cracow, Wojciech Kilar’s
Te Deum
had its world premiere (on 9th November), and Paweł Mykietyn’s
Passion
– its first Cracow performance. Six new Polish compositions: by Alicja Gronau, Paweł
Łukaszewski, Andrzej Dziadek, Aleksander Kościów, Artur Cieślak and Bronisław Kazimierz
Przybylski – were premiered during the Laboratory of Contemporary Music in Białystok
(21st-24th November).
Among the first performances, an event of special significance was the world premiere on 6th
December during the Gaude Mater Festival in Częstochowa) of a piece signed by Mozart – the
aria
J
esu Dulcis Memoria
for soprano and clarinet concertante, discovered in the Jasna Góra Monastery archive and now
performed by Morphing Vienna Chamber Orchestra conducted by Tomasz Wabnic. There are
18 scores with Mozart’s signature recently found in the Jasna Góra collection – the first to be
performed in our times was
Jesu Dulcis Memoria
.
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Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej - Polmic.pl
Apart
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performances,
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major
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Thousand
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by
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Wspomnienia
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three-volume
monograph
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Szymanowski
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jazz
The
year
2008
also
sad
farewells.
Moszumańska-Nazar
editor-in-chief
December.
Jerzy
of
Polish
Jasieński
–Information
Radio
on
27th
died
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September,
the
following
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after
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director
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18th.
and
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the
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Music
Centre,
mainly
due
to
the
launch
of
anamed
2008
was
an
important
year
for
many
reasons,
but
Internet
website:
new
version
of
our
w.polmic.pl
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. 4/4