News
April 2018
Zygmunt Krauze’s A to Z
2018-04-25
Intriguing, inspiring, moving…
The A to Z of Zygmunt Krauze, April’s COMPOSER OF THE MONTH, will be nothing if not stimulating. Not wishing to drop any hints, we leave you the pleasure of following the paths set out by the composer.
'Cleopatra’s Songs' – a new work by Agata Zubel
2018-04-20
‘If we had to burn all of Shakespeare’s plays but one […] I’d choose Antony and Cleopatra’, wrote the British poet and writer W. H. Auden. This work, of outstanding poetical and theatrical qualities, could not have found a better interpreter than the composer and singer Agata Zubel, who has linked her artistic path almost entirely with words. Invoking original excerpts from Shakespeare’s work, Zubel does not tell the ancient queen’s story, but in her music she expresses Cleopatra’s love, anger, fear, sorrow, courage and pride. She shows the truth about the woman-goddess beset by contradictory passions.
Marcin Stańczyk, first Resident-Composer of Musica Polonica Nova Festival
2018-04-11
Upcoming 31st edition of the "Musica Polonica Nova" festival in Wrocław is going to take place on 20-28 april. It is, next to "Warsaw Autumn", among the oldest polish festivals dedicated to new music. One of the ideas of MPN's new artistic director Paweł Hendrich is to show the work of one particular composer during each edition of the festival. The first artist to be invited as a Resident-Composer is Marcin Stańczyk. Congratulations!
Give me some music (…)*
2018-04-09
On 27 April, the world première of Agata Zubel’s Cleopatra’s Songs for voice and instrumental ensemble will take place. The work was inspired by the now-legendary love story of Antony and Cleopatra. In it, the composer utilizes fragments from the text of Shakespeare’s drama.
The work was commissioned by Klangforum Wien and is dedicated to that ensemble. This is the second work, after What is the Word (2012), to be commissioned by Klangforum Wien from Agata Zubel.
The world première will take place in Germany (Witten) during the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik. Cleopatra’s Songs will be performed by Agata Zubel (S) and Klangforum Wien under Emilio Pomárico. The concert will be broadcast by WDR3 radio.
Zygmunt Krauze – COMPOSER OF THE MONTH in April
2018-04-03
The April COMPOSER OF THE MONTH campaign will familiarize music lovers with the œuvre of Zygmunt Krauze. He is an extraordinary figure in the music community: a composer, pianist, teacher and organizer of musical events. This year, the composer will be celebrating his 80th birthday.
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We are proud to announce that Joanna Woźny is joining the ranks of composers represented by PWM Edition. This highly regarded composer has been living and working in Graz, Austria, for many years. She composes music that is in high regard among ensembles and orchestras specialising in contemporary music.
The short documentary “Bacewicz x Bomsori”, directed by Jakub Piątek, is reaching an ever-wider international audience. The film, which explores South Korean violinist Bomsori Kim’s encounter with the music of Grażyna Bacewicz, will be screened at upcoming film festivals in Warsaw, Reykjavik and Barcelona.
Contact. Sonoromanza is an opera by Alek Nowak and Paweł Sołtys’s literary debut in the world of classical music. A contemporary tale of longing, the desire for conversation and the need for closeness, performed by Joanna Freszel, Karol Kozłowski and the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy, conducted by Marek Mos. The debut album, ANAKLASIS, is now available to buy and on streaming services.
October will bring a series of world premieres of the latest compositions by artists represented byPWM Edition. New works by Zygmunt Krauze, Alek Nowak, Joanna Woźny, Ewa Fabiańska-Jelińska, Agata Zubel, Paweł Malinowski, Andrzej Kwieciński and Aleksander Lasoń will be performed in Poland, as well as in Japan, Germany and Austria.
On September 14, the prestigious Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari will host the Italian premiere of Zygmunt Krauze's two-act opera, which tells the poignant story of Bona Sforza d’Aragona. Staging this work in Bari carries deep symbolic meaning – it is the very city where the title heroine spent her final years and was laid to rest.
This autumn, with the September premieres of the latest Polish music, we are stepping forward neither boldly nor timidly – in keeping with Gdańsk’s motto. It is in this city that the first world premieres will take place. In September, we will be listening to new works by Polish composers in Gdańsk, Warsaw and Valencia. For the first time, we will hear works by Tadeusz Wielecki, Lidia Zielińska, Krzysztof Knittel and Agata Zubel.
Karol Augustyniak and Artur Szczepkowski have been selected as winners of the composer.pl programme – an artistic residency in Iceland for young Polish composers. The invited participants’ creative residency in the ‘Land of Ice and Fire’ will last two weeks, from 8 to 25 September.
Today, 2 December, marks the start of the 18th edition of one of Europe's most prestigious conducting competitions: the Donatella Flick – London Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition. Grażyna Bacewicz's Concerto for String Orchestra is among the repertoire as an obligatory piece.
This timeless encounter with the music of ‘Poland’s last Romantic’ Tadeusz Baird and with the interpretative feats of NOSPR Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra features three symphonies and four outstanding conductors in both rediscovered historical and new recordings, released together on a 2CD album from ANAKLASIS.
Iconic songs by Zygmunt Konieczny that audiences of Ewa Demarczyk loved decades ago in a new arrangement by Cezary Duchnowski. The latest ANAKLASIS album with Agata Zubel, Andrzej Bauer, Bartek Wąsik and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Humala is now available for purchase.
