News
Jerzy Maksymiuk’s compositional output will be included in the PWM Edition catalogue
2026-04-09
On the occasion of Jerzy Maksymiuk’s 90th birthday, we are delighted to announce that his rich and diverse compositional output will be published by PWM Edition. Until now, most of the maestro’s compositions have remained in manuscript form, but thanks to the establishment of an ongoing partnership with the publishing house, this situation will gradually begin to change.
Jerzy Maksymiuk was born in 1936 in Grodno and spent his youth in Białystok, where his first musical mentor was Jan Tarasiewicz. “My passion for music began with him. […] It was my second home, yet my first artistic home. My musical enclave,” he recalled about his teacher in an interview with Ruch Muzyczny in 2016. Maksymiuk continued his artistic development in Warsaw, where he studied with Piotr Perkowski (composition), Jerzy Lefeld (piano), and Bogusław Madey (conducting). Particularly important stages in Maksymiuk’s career included his artistic leadership of the Polish Chamber Orchestra (1972–1983, currently Sinfonia Varsovia) and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (1983–1993).
Jerzy Maksymiuk is one of the most distinctive artists on the Polish music scene. Although he is more widely recognised as a conductor, he continued composing throughout his life. His creative output includes dozens of orchestral works across various genres, as well as chamber and piano pieces (including works for children). He has also composed nearly 120 scores for feature Polish motion pictures, documentaries, and animated films, collaborating with directors such as Wojciech Jerzy Has, Krzysztof Zanussi, Ewa and Czesław Petelski, and Jan Łomnicki.
Photo: Janusz Marynowski, courtesy of Sinfonia Varsovia
Securing Jerzy Maksymiuk’s legacy by including his works in the PWM Edition catalogue is a long-term project planned for the coming years. New publications will soon be available in the PWM Edition store and in the regularly updated Orchestral Materials Catalogue.
Most popular:
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.
