Wojciech Pszoniak has died
We all adore his roles in such films as “The Wedding”, “The Promised Land”, “Danton” and “Korczak” by Andrzej Wajda or “Austeria” by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, numerous theatre and film performances. And yet the brilliant actor, when he was an adolescent, wanted to become a musician. He had family traditions – his grandfather and his mother played the violin. It was the first instrument he took up in his musical education. He also learned to play the oboe and the clarinet. He was in a military band and in an opera orchestra. Then the studies in the Theatrical Academy in Cracow began as well as acting, to which he devoted his life. He didn’t give up music, though – to the list of the instruments he mastered he added the saxophone (he used this skill in films and theatre plays), and a few years ago he started learning to play the cello.
We were lucky that the Artist was friends with Poznan Philharmonic. He appeared on the stages of AMU Concert Hall and the auditorium of National Philharmonic a few times, taking part in our concerts, which he enriched with his narration. We applauded him i.a. in “Der Bürger als Edelman” by Richard Strauss, “Djamileh” by Georges Bizet or “Lélio, or the Return to Life” by Hector Berlioz… Not so long ago – in May this year – he was our guest in the Q&A cycle presented in our YouTube channel and Facebook profile… To find out what he said about life and art in response to the questions of our listeners check HERE
It is with great sorrow that we acknowledged the death of Wojciech Pszoniak.
We express our deepest sympathies to actor’s wife Barbara and his loved ones.
Wojciech Nentwig, Marek Pijarowski and Łukasz Borowicz along with the artistic ensembles and the staff of Poznan Philharmonic
* Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra and Łukasz Borowicz dedicate the Tuesday concert (20th of October) on the 24th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in the National Philharmonic in Warsaw to the memory of Wojciech Pszoniak.
Do you want to listen how the clarinet or the cello sounds in the orchestra? Or maybe check the difference between the orchestra sound heard from the first and the last row? And, in addition, do it while sitting comfortably in your own armchair, in front of your computer? The concert of Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra was recorded by ZYLIA, a Poznan-based company which develops innovative technologies of 3D sound recording.
Find out more about the sound of this recording here:
- The link to the virtual concert of Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra with navigable audio:
The demo is also available in 360 version for PC VR goggles. The files can be easily downloaded and used with the PC VR headset.
- The link to the virtual concert of Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra making of movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92KIUaNVwlI
For the details on the new technology click here.
When in the beginning of September (1948) I went to Breslau to take part in the concert in the framework of the Recovered Territories Exhibition (…) in Łagów the orchestra was working with the newly employed, young and gifted conductor Jan Krenz. It was his first ever professional engagement.
This excerpt comes from the memoirs entitled ”The Life of a Single Musician” by Stanisław Wisłocki, first conductor of Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra. It was year 1947 when Jan Krenz took the position of the conductor in our orchestra. He resigned at the end of the 1948/49 season, but in the following months of 1949 at the request of Stanisław Wisłocki he continued to lead the rehearsals during the orchestra’s summer projects in Łagów.
He left Poznan for the wider world. He got involved with the Polish Radio Great Symphony Orchestra in Katowice (currently Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra), in which he held the post of the conductor and director from 1953 to 1968. In the years of 1968-73 he was the art director of the Grand Theatre in Warsaw.
He performed all over the world giving guest concerts with such ensembles as: Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Sankt Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony or the leading London orchestras.
We were lucky in the Poznan Philharmonic. He conducted the Orchestra multiple times – the last concert was held in February 2012, when he led: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 by Johannes Brahms, Konzertstück in D major, Op. 31 for Cello and Orchestra by Zygmunt Stojowski and the Overture he composed himself. Earlier (in November 2009) he conducted Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 26 by Ludwig van Beethoven and his Requiem. For Jan Krenz was not only a prominent conductor, but also an outstanding composer. He wrote chamber, vocal and symphonic pieces, as well as film music (including ”Bad Luck” by Andrzej Munk and ”Kanal” by Andrzej Wajda).
Jan Krenz, the remarkable conductor and composer, died on the 15th of September 2020 at the age of 94.
Starting from today (7th of September) you can purchase the season tickets for the artistic season 2020/2021.
We inform you that the Box Office of Poznan Philharmonic (foyer of AMU Concert Hall, Wieniawskiego Street 1) is open from Monday to Friday from 1 pm to 5 pm.
The booked DL and SG season tickets can be purchased from the 7th of September to the 1st of October, while the season tickets for Poznan Concerts – from the 14th of September to the 1st of October.
ATTENTION: if the season tickets aren’t bought in the aforementioned dates, the reservation is cancelled and the tickets are transferred for sale.
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The sale of individual tickets in the box office of Poznan Philharmonic, in the Cultural Information Centre (Ratajczaka Street 44) and via Internet starts on the 1st of October.
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For further information on the tickets and season tickets you can either
- call:
– Department of Audience Relations: tel. 61 852 22 66; 660 405 813; 660 406 918 – from Monday to Friday between 9 am – 3 pm
– box office of Poznan Philharmonic: tel. 61 853 69 35 from Monday to Friday between 1-5 pm or - write: rezerwacje@filharmoniapoznanska.pl
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We remind you to keep a physical distance of 1,5 m while lining up to the box office, as well as the obligation to cover the mouth and nose in the AMU Concert Hall building.
Below you will find more details concerning the organization of concerts and code of conduct during them, resulting from sanitary restrictions due to Covid-19 pandemic:
We would also like to inform that the box office of Poznan Philharmonic sells tickets and season tickets only for the concerts of Poznan Philharmonic.
The management of the Philharmonic reserves the right to amend the dates, places, performers, concert programs and prices of the tickets.
Diapason d’Or, the award of the prestigious French magazine Diapason dedicated to classical music has just been given to an album recorded by one of the best orchestras in Europe: Bamberger Symphoniker led by Łukasz Borowicz. It is another Diapason d’Or for the Chief Guest Conductor of Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra.
The album with the music of Nikolai Tcherepnin (Narcisse et Echo, Op. 40, La Princesse lointaine, Op. 4) was recorded in Konzerthalle in Bamberg in May 2018 and released by German record label cpo.
Nikolai Tcherepnin, forefather of the Tcherepnin musical family, was the student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He cooperated as a conductor with the ballet of Sergei Diaghilev, which influenced his artistic output. After the success of the ballet “Le Pavillon d’Armide” he received a commission for “Narcisse et Echo” (1911) with the choreography of Mikhail Fokin and Vaslav Nijinsky. The Bamberger Symphoniker and Łukasz Borowicz brought the ballet out from the oblivion it fell into (unfairly) due to the tremendous success of Igor Stravinsky’s “Petrushka” staged two months later.
The review published on the pages of the Diapason magazine accentuated that Borowicz explored the textures and often received an unbelievable clarity of sound, at the same time bringing Tcherepnin’s music closer to the influence of the French (Dukas, Debussy, Ravel, Schmitt) without overlooking the impact of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov or Anatoly Lyadov. According to the reviewer, the impressionist interpretation of this music fills in the gap after the recording of Giennady Rozhdestvensky.
We would like to inform that the box office of Poznan Philharmonic (situated in the lobby of AMU Concert Hall, Wieniawskiego Street 1) is opened from the 7th of September 2020, Monday to Friday, between 1 pm and 5 pm.
The booked DL and SG season tickets can be purchased from the 7th of September to the 1st of October, while the season tickets for Poznan Concerts – from the 14th of September to the 1st of October.
ATTENTION: if the season tickets aren’t bought in the aforementioned dates, the reservation is cancelled and the tickets are transferred for sale.
***
The sale of individual tickets in the box office of Poznan Philharmonic, in the Cultural Information Centre (Ratajczaka Street 44) and via Internet starts on the 1st of October.
***
For further information on the tickets and season tickets you can either
- call:
– Department of Audience Relations: tel. 61 852 22 66; 660 405 813; 660 406 918 – from Monday to Friday between 9 am – 3 pm
– box office of Poznan Philharmonic: tel. 61 853 69 35 from Monday to Friday between 1-5 pm or - write: rezerwacje@filharmoniapoznanska.pl
***
We remind you to keep a physical distance of 1,5 m while lining up to the box office, as well as the obligation to cover the mouth and nose in the AMU Concert Hall building.
We would soon give you detailed information on the organization of concerts and performance principles resulting from sanitary restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
We would also like to inform that the box office of Poznan Philharmonic sells tickets and season tickets only for the concerts of Poznan Philharmonic.
The management of the Philharmonic reserves the right to amend the dates, places, performers, concert programs and prices of the tickets.
On the 30th of June 2020 in Miami Ida Haendel – the great woman violinist – has died aged 91. Or maybe aged 92, 96 or 97? Rumour has it that she had several birth certificates with different dates.
She herself says that the confusion with dates originated in 1937 in London, when she was to perform as a child prodigy in Covent Garden. However, at the last moment it was decided that children under 14 years old can’t take part in the concert. Then Ida’s agent and her father convinced the organizers that that’s exactly her age…
For sure she was born in Chełm, in a Jewish family. She began playing the violin at the age of 3. She had the best teachers: Carl Flesch and George Enescu. She quickly started her triumphal march through the most renowned concert halls in the world and played with the most eminent orchestras.
She was twice (in 1986 and 2006) a juror at the Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznan, and long before – its laureate. She won the 7th place (the best one in the Polish team) in the 1st edition of the contest held in 1935 in Warsaw.
‘I was 8 years old at that time – I can’t lie and say it was the most important competition in my life. I don’t really remember it. They told me to play the best I could, so I did it’, she recounted with disarming honesty in 2006.
She performed with Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra in AMU Concert Hall on the 3rd of November 2006. She took over the audience the moment she entered the stage, gallantly accompanied by Łukasz Borowicz who made his debut with Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra then. He conducted the Violin Concerto in D minor by Jean Sibelius. No wonder she selected this piece – throughout her life she’s been considered an unmatched interpreter of that composer.
‘Unfortunately, I’ve never met Sibelius personally, though many people seem to think that’, she said. ‘However, he wrote me an unusual letter. It was after my concert in Helsinki which he listened via radio in his house in Järvenpää. I congratulate you, he wrote, a magnificent performance of my concert, but I congratulate myself even more that my concert found a violinist who can play it so well…
’ In her artistic life Ida Handel was always faithful to the principle that a violinist shouldn’t create anything new, but stay loyal to the composer, and have – just like her – a great respect for the score. ‘A composer is the most important. We are only impersonators whose job is to convey what he created in the most accurate possible way. My father always said that the score is a book that you have to be able to read. That’s why I do everything I can to please the composer, though I’m never sure if I succeed. I simply can’t check with Wieniawski or Bach if I play well. Maybe someday, up there, I will…’
Maybe she will ask them now…?
* Ida Haendel’s statements come from Anna Plenzler’s article entitled “Lady With the Violin” (Kaleidoscope, January 2007).
Next Tuesday, on the 16th of June at 7 p.m., Polish Radio Program II invites you to a meeting with Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra! On the radio programme “Philharmonic of Polish Radio Program II” you can listen to a concert recorded at the 57th Bydgoszcz Music Festival “Contrasts, or Songs from Different Places”.
Program:
- Stanisław Moniuszko – Lithuanian Mythological Cantata “Nijola” for Solo Voices, Mixed Choir and Orchestra inspired by “Witolorauda” written by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
- Stanisław Moniuszko – Lithuanian Mythological Cantata “Milda” for Solo Voices, Choir and Orchestra
Performers:
Wioletta Chodowicz – soprano
Maria Jaskulska-Chrenowicz – soprano
Ewa Wolak – alto
Sylwester Smulczyński – tenor
Robert Gierlach – bass
Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic
Violetta Bielecka – choir preparation
Łukasz Borowicz – conductor
We would like to remind that the double album of the cantatas “Milda” and “Nijola” by Stanisław Moniuszko, which is a world phonographic premiere, appeared on the May list of best CD albums selected by the prestigious British magazine devoted to classical music – Gramophone.
The album was released in October 2019 by DUX label.
We warmly invite you to listen!
Next Friday, on the 12th of June at 7 p.m. we invite you to another Internet Concert of Poznan Philharmonic. This time the musicians of Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra would like to invite the auditors for an unusual journey through different cultures – from Soviet Russia to Brazil, from the echos of music resounding in the synagogues to ancient Egypt in the French version.
1st PART OF THE CONCERT
Performers:
Marcin HERMAN – violin
Olga WINKOWSKA – violin
Tomasz SOŚNIAK – piano
Program:
- Dmitri Shostakovich – 5 Pieces arranged for Two Violins and Piano (arr. Levon Atovmyan)
– Prelude from the soundtrack to “The Gadfly”, Op. 97
– Gavotte from Ballet Suite No. 3 (from “The Human Comedy”, Op. 37)
– Elegy from Ballet Suite No. 3 (from “The Human Comedy”, Op. 37)
– Valse from the soundtrack to “The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda”, Op. 36
– Polka from Ballet Suite No. 1 (from the ballet “The Limpid Stream”, Op. 39)
2nd PART OF THE CONCERT
Performers:
Maria LISZKOWSKA-SIKORSKA – cello
Paulina MACIASZCZYK – harp
Program:
- Heitor Villa Lobos – “O Canto do Cisne Negro” (Song of the Black Swan)
- Max Bruch – Kol Nidrei, Op. 47
- Jules Massenet – “Meditation” from the opera “Thaïs”
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Co-financed from funds of the National Cultural Centre under the program “Culture on the Net”.
The box office of Poznan Philharmonic (Wieniawskiego street 1) will be open from 2nd of June till 25th of June 2020 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 10 am to 2 pm.
Between the dates of 26th of June and 31st August 2020 the ticket office is closed.