Embassy of the Republic of Poland

cordially announces

the special premiere screening of the documentary

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 7 .00 pm

Cinemas:

"100 Voices: A Journey Home" is a compelling and moving musical documentary that uniquely tells the history of Jewish culture in Poland. It highlights the current resurgence of Jewish culture through the personal reflections and musical selections of a group of cantors from the Cantors Assembly and acclaimed composer Charles Fox, who made an important historical mission to the birthplace of Cantorial music. The documentary will give generations the opportunity to learn about and re-embrace the Jewish culture that produced one of the most artistic and educated societies that once flourished in Europe. Above all, the Program will celebrate the resilience and the power of Jewish life, while telling the story of two people who shared intertwined cultures.

On Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 7 pm (local time) in 500 theatres nationwide, you will experience "100 Voices: A Journey Home", a documentary based on the largest group of Cantors to ever return to Poland, where it all began, paying homage to the Cantorial tradition.

The documentary will be preceded by an exclusive specially produced mini-concert with the Cantors featuring 20th Century contemporary American music. It essentially shows the audience the legacy of Polish Jewish culture that crossed the ocean and flourished in American popular music. The mini concert will feature famous Broadway tunes from songwriters that have their roots in Poland as performed by the Cantors who will be seen in the "100 Voices" film. This will serve to set the stage for special event screening to follow.

In addition to the special Fathom Event, the film will be screened for Academy Award consideration at the AMC Century 15 in Century City, CA and at the Empire 25 Theater on West 42nd Street in New York from September 22 through the 28th.

For more information visit:

http://www.100voicesonthebigscreen.com/

To watch trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGBPKPEHGfg&feature=player_embedded

To see list of participating theaters:

http://www.ncm.com/FathomContent/PDF/EventTheatresReport_100voices.pdf

To buy tickets:

http://www.fathomevents.com/OriginalPrograms/event/100Voices.aspx

Production by Mod Three Productions

Executive Producer: Metuka Benjamin; Producer: Michael Lam and Nathan Lam; Editor: Michael Mayhew; Written by Matthew Asner, Danny Gold, Michael Lam and  Michael Mayhew; Original Music: Charles Fox; Produced & Directed by Matthew Asner and Danny Gold.

___________________________________________

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
Consular Division

and

Polish American Arts Association

cordially invite to

JAZZ MAZURKAS

inspired by Fryderyk Chopin's compositions

solo piano recital

by

Artur Dutkiewicz

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849

"He could often contain, in ten lines that a child could play, poems of immeasurable exaltation, dramas of incomparable power."

George Sand

Artur Dutkiewicz will present several of his own jazz mazurkas influenced by Chopin and Polish folk music, combined with modern jazz improvisation. From Chopin's music the inspiration was Polish mood and melody of mazurkas. The rhythm evolved from piano jazz tradition. Mazurkas, based on folk rhythms, are played in groovy-jazz way. An important element of Artur Dutkiewicz`s Mazurkas is improvisation which was also part of Fryderyk Chopin's compositions. This fusion of Polish folk music with modern jazz is original but still accessible for wide audiences.

Artur Dutkiewicz`s project "Jazz Mazurkas" was granted a scholarship from The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2009.

***

Artur Dutkiewicz - Polish jazz pianist, composer, educator, born in Pińczów (Poland) in 1958. He graduated from The Academy of Music in Katowice (Poland). Dutkiewicz was a finalist of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington, USA (1987). He is a leader of the Artur Dutkiewicz Trio playing modern jazz.

He made several recordings for Polish Television and Radio.

Since 1987 Artur Dutkiewicz has been teaching piano regularly during annual International Jazz Workshops in Puławy. He was a chairman of jury at the International Jazz Piano Competition in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 2006 and 2008.

He was the first Polish musician who played solo recital at MIDEM in Cannes in 1988. He performed in prestigious concert halls including: Barbican Center in London, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the National Philharmonic in Prague, the Lusignan Palace in Cyprus, the National Opera in Damascus.

Dutkiewicz took part in many jazz festivals around the world such as: Campnagel Theater - Hamburg, Festival Kleiner Bunchen - Bern, Northsea Jazz Festival - Haga, Jazz Ost West - Norymberga, MIDEM - Cannes, Music Oggi - Milan, Festival D`Europe Centrale - Paris, Europe XXL - Vienna, Jazz Jamboree - Warsaw, Sziget Festival - Budapest, Carthage Jazz Festival, Jazz Plaza Festival - Havana, Tel Aviv Jazz Festival.

In the course of his artistic life Dutkiewicz has had a chance to cooperate with Polish and internationally renowned jazz musicians, among others: Tomasz Szukalski, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Darek Oles Oleszkiewicz, Urszula Dudziak, Grażyna Auguścik, Lora Szafran, Tadeusz Nalepa, Jorgos Skolias, also with Carlos Johnson, Deborah Brown, Michelle Hendrics, Alaine Brunet, Pierre Michelot, Hiram Bulock and many others.

Recordings: Hendrix Piano - Artur Dutkiewicz Trio, Niemen Improwizacje - Artur Dutkiewicz Trio, Błękitna Ścieżka - Artur Dutkiewicz Solo Piano, Lady Walking - Artur Dutkiewicz Electric Concert.

***

Sunday, September 19, 2010
4:00 pm

***

Katzen Arts Center
Abramson Family Recital Hall
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016

Free parking

***

Tickets $35

Make checks payable to PAAA and mail to:
Ted Mirecki, Treasurer
4041 41st Street N.
McLean, VA 22101

Phone: 703-241-1149

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

announces

the Tadeusz Sygietyński State Folk Song and Dance Ensemble

MAZOWSZE

on WETA tv - 26

Wednesday, August 4, 2010, 9:30 pm (90 min.) Thursday, August 5, 2010, 3:30 am (90 min.)  Thursday, August 5, 2010, 2:30 pm (90 min.)

THE MUSIC & DANCE OF POLAND: MAZOWSZE is a thrilling kaleidoscopic display of dazzling movement, vibrant color and stunning beauty. The incomparable Mazowsze (Mah-zof-sha) performance troupe whirl and leap, stamp and glide in a glorious outpouring of sound and motion, rhythm and music that celebrates the cultural legacy of Poland. Polish-American entertainer Bobby Vinton narrates.

While the choreography and musical arrangements represent 39 distinctive ethnographic regions of Poland with traditional performance styles, the appeal of Mazowsze's dynamic stage show goes beyond audiences of Polish descent. An ensemble of 65 dancers and singers are arrayed in a seemingly never-ending series of handmade traditional costumes - more than 1,000 in total, one more dramatic and colorful than the next and some weighing as much as 30 lbs., making their energetic gravity-defying leaps, twirls and lifts even more impressive.

A full 23-member orchestra performs music ranging from Chopin to simple folk melodies beloved by the Poles for centuries. Strategically mounted high definition cameras and microphones capture this stellar performance, recorded live at the Polish National Opera House in Warsaw, Poland.

MAZOWSZE is internationally recognized as Poland's cultural ambassadors. In the last 50 years they have performed more than 6,000 shows in cities around the world. The troupe's founders, singer/actress Mira Zimińska and conductor/composer Tadeusz Sygietyński, dedicated themselves to preserve the rich music and dance traditions of Poland after the devastation of World War II.

Performances:

„Piękna nasza Polska cała" (Poland is Beautiful) Tramblanka Polka Oberek Kujawiak - dance from the region of Kujawy "Co ja myślę" (What I Think) - sung in costumes from the White Kurpie region Carnival time in the town of Wilamowice Krakowiaczek

Krakowiak Songs and dances from Jurgów in the Podhale, mountain region Wine gathering dance from Lubusz Dances of the highlanders from Tatras Handkerchief dance from Żywiec Chodzony or Polonaise  "Cyt, Cyt" (Hush, Hush)

---

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

cordially invites to

Video Art Presentation

works of contemporary video artists from the 27 member states of the EU
June 8 - 12 in Washington DC 

The screenings:

Wednesday, June 9, 6:30 p.m. - social and political theme
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC

Thursday, June 10, 6:30 p.m. - aesthetic theme
The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street NW, Washington DC

Saturday, June 12, 2 p.m. - portraiture and identity theme
all videos are screened at this event
National Portrait Gallery
Eighth and F streets NW, Washington DC

Presentation of Polish film

Triptych

by Andrzej Jobczyk

"Triptych" /"Kinetics", "Kalinka", "String"/

a three-piece video art form produced as a student assignment.
"Kinetics" and "Kalinka" are the synchronizations of music based on the Russian songs performed by the Alexandrov Ensemble.
"The String" is a separate experimental animation.
The themes of these three forms are string theory, fractals and symmetry. 
The "Triptych" is an attempt to transfer ideas from the science sphere into art.

***

Andrzej Jobczyk is 24 (b.1985). He completed the Art School in Lublin in 2005. Currently he is a student in the animation and special effects faculty at the National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre (PWSFTViT) in Lodz, Poland.

His other fields of interest are creative photography and graphics. He looks for the inspiration in math, physics and biology.

His other short animation films include: "Air Evolution" (2007), "Self-portrait" (2007), "Inside-outer" (2008), "The String" (2010).

***

***

The cultural program of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has recently conducted a European video art competition to showcase the latest films and artists from the EU. Each country was invited to submit three short videos for selection by a jury composed of judges from the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, The Phillips Collection and the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
"Our interest was to introduce Washington audiences to the work of contemporary video artists from the 27 member states of the EU, as these newer expressions of visual arts, profusely used by younger artists, are not easily accessible here-with exceptions-and this art form is a very popular medium in all our countries," said Jorge Sobredo, the head of the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington.
The members of the jury that selected the works to be screened at the three organizing venues were: Rebecca Kasemeyer, director of education of the National Portrait Gallery; Ruth Perlin, associate director, Center for the Study of Modern Art of The Phillips Collection; Jack Rasmussen, director and curator American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center; Brooke Rosenblatt, manager of public programs and in-gallery interpretation of The Phillips Collection; Vesela Sretenovic, curator of modern and contemporary art of The Phillips Collection; and artist Jefferson Pinder.

EMBASSY of the REPUBLIC of POLAND

in cooperation with

and

POLISH AMERICAN ARTS ASSOCIATION 

announces
a vocal and piano recital

by

Olga Pasichnyk - soprano

and

Natalya Pasichnyk - piano

as a part of Washington Fryderyk Chopin Festival
celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849

"The possibility of sometimes listening to you brings true solace in the difficult days which threaten us; only art, as you feel it, is able to connect people separated by the real side of life; people love and understand one another through Chopin."

Marquis Astolphe de Custine to Fryderyk Chopin

Olga Pasichnyk, born in Ukraine, studied piano and music teaching in her hometown of Rivne. Vocal studies at Kiev Conservatory were followed by postgraduate studies at Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw. Since 1992 she has been a soloist with the Warsaw Chamber Opera.
She has many major roles to her credit, in operas by Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Debussy, Tchaikovsky and others, which have brought her recognition from critics and audiences alike. She also performs chamber repertory and has appeared in numerous concerts of oratorial and symphonic music in almost every country in Europe, as well as the USA, Canada and Japan. She has given acclaimed performances in many prestigious theatres, including the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre Châtelet and Salle Pleyel (Paris), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Palais des Beaux-Arts and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels), Berliner Konzerthaus and Bayerische Staatsoper (Germany), Flemish Opera and the National Opera in both Warsaw and Helsinki.
She has worked repeatedly with the Polish National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Symphony Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the ensembles of the Ukrainian National Opera in Kiev, the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence), RTVE (Spain), La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy and Orchestre Colonne (France), Das Neue Orchester (Cologne), The English Concert, European Union Baroque Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburger Barockorchester, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Collegium Vocale Gent and others.
She has won prizes at the s'Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition in the Netherlands (1994, Second Prize), the Mirjam Helin Competition in Helsinki (1999, Second Prize) and the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels (Third Prize, Special Prize for oratorial music and Audience Prize). In 2005 she was nominated by the international opera magazine Opernwelt for the title Best Female Vocalist 2004-2005 for her role as Almirena in Handel's Rinaldo. She has also been singled out in Poland, with a Passport of the weekly Polityka (1997), a Fryderyk for best solo recording (Szymanowski's Kurpian Songs), an Orpheus of the Warsaw Autumn festival (1999), a Gold Cross of Merit (2001), and the Hiolski Prize (2004) for best operatic role (Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande at the Grand Theatre/National Opera).
Her recording catalogue numbers over 30 discs, for such labels as NAXOS and OPUS 111.

Natalya Pasichnyk was born in Rivne, Ukraine, started her piano studies at age 3. During her study time in Rivne she distinguished herself by being awarded first prize in several piano competitions for children. She went on to study at a special boarding school for musically inclined children in Lviv, and then continued her musical education at the Lviv Conservatory where she graduated 1994. She completed postgraduate studies at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw.
Natalya now lives in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1999 she made her solo diploma at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Natalya has traveled extensively, performing as a soloist and chamber musician in the USA and throughout Europe. She has made many recordings for radio and television (e.g., the Swedish radio P2, BBC Radio 3, the Swedish TV4, Polish radio and TV, Flemish and Spanish radio channels). She is prizewinner of the 5th Nordic Piano Competition (Denmark) in 1998 and the World Piano Competition in 1999 (Cincinnati, USA). In 2001 she was awarded a special prize in the International Piano Competition Umberto Micheli (Italy).
Natalya is also very appreciated as a chamber musician, performing with her sister, soprano Olga Pasichnyk, in many important festivals and concert halls all over the world. She has made five CD recordings (e.g., for OPUS 111, Pro Musica Camerata and Musicon). Her latest solo CD "The Fourth dimension" with music of Bach and Messiaen got five stars in the magazine "Music of the 21th century".

***

Concert in the Shadow of the Tragedy in Smolensk (10.04.2010)
THEY WILL REMAIN IN OUR GRATEFUL MEMORY

***

Sunday, June 6, 2010
6:30 PM

***

Pope John Paul II Cultural Center
3900 Harewood Road NE
Washington, DC 20017

***

Tickets $35, advance reservations required: 202-340-7993

Check payable to PAAA, mail to:
Ted Mirecki, Treasurer
4041 41st Street N.
McLean, VA 22101

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

cordially announces

a screening of the Oscar-nominated film

KATYŃ

directed by Andrzej Wajda

On August 24, 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact dividing Europe into Soviet and German spheres of influence.  By that October, the Soviets occupied Polish territory and had taken prisoner thousands of Polish military officers, soldiers, police and intellectuals. When German troops moved eastward in 1943, they discovered the mass graves of 20,000 murdered Polish prisoners in the Katyn Forest.

Andrzej Wajda's Oscar-nominated film is a searing depiction of the Soviet atrocity. Wajda's Katyn illustrates the bonds of family, the search for the truth, and the crucial importance of remembering the past. Katyn was also produced under the honorary patronage of the recently deceased President Lech Kaczyński and his wife, Maria Kaczyńska, who died tragically on their way to commemorate Katyn.

Zbigniew Herbert

Buttons

Only the pertinacious buttons
have endured death, witnesses of crime
surfaced from the depths
as the only monument on their grave

they are to witness God will count
and take pity on them
yet how can they resurrect body
being a sticky element of the soil

a bird flew by a cloud is sailing
a leaf is falling mallow sprouting
and there's silence on high
and the Smolensk forest is steaming fog

only the pertinacious buttons
a powerful voice of silenced choirs
only the pertinacious buttons
of coats and uniforms.

In memory of Captain Edward Herbert

***

Featuring Introductory Remarks by

Helle Dale
Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy, The Heritage Foundation

Lee Edwards, Ph.D.
Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought, The Heritage Foundation

***

Thursday, June 3, 2010
6:30 to 9:00 PM

***

The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium
214 Massachusetts Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20002

***

RSVP: online at http://www.heritage.org/Press/Events/ or call (202) 675-1752

Terms and Conditions of Attendance are posted online at www.heritage.org/Press/Events/terms.cfm

News media inquiries, please call (202) 675-1761

M A R G A R E T   T H A T C H E R   C E N T E R   F O R   F R E E D O M

EMBASSY of the REPUBLIC of POLAND

in cooperation with

cordially invites to

an evening of Chopin

with

Aleksander Laskowski - lecture "The images of Fryderyk Chopin"

and

Jan Lisiecki - piano recital

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

as a part of Washington Fryderyk Chopin Festival

1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849

"The rays of his genius and his art, though they always poured from his heart which was Polish to the last drop of blood, invigorated everyone regardless of nationality, which is why he - a Pole - became and is the property of all of humanity."

Adam Czartkowski

Jan Miłosz Lisiecki was born on March 23, 1995 in Calgary, Canada, and has been studying piano with Colleen Athparia and Glen Montgomery at the Mount Royal College Conservatory.
At age 14, Jan is already making a name for himself on the Canadian and international stage. He had his orchestral debut at the age of 9, and has since performed more than 35 times with orchestras in Canada and internationally, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, L'Orchestre Symphonique du Quebec, Minnesota Orchestra, and Sinfonia Varsovia, to name a few. Most recently, Jan performed the Beethoven Concerto No. 3 in c-minor under the baton of Pinchas Zukerman at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa to a full house and receive a spontaneous standing ovation.
Jan has played at Carnegie Hall, the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, Kaufman Hall, Salle Cortot and has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, James Ehnes, and Emanuel Ax. He will be collaborating with the New Zealand String Quartet, Quatour Ebene, and James Campbell.
In 2008 he won the Grand Award in both the Canadian Music Competitions (June 2008) and the Canadian Music Festival (August 2008, as the youngest in history). Jan has been very successful in seven international competitions in the USA, Italy, England, and Japan.
In 2009 he was invited to six International Summer Music Festivals: Festival of the Sound, Brott Music Festival, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Festival d'Auvers sur Oise, Festival de Musique de Menton, and the International Festival "Chopin and His Europe". He has performed solo recitals in England, Scotland, France, Poland, USA, and Canada.
His performances have been broadcast nationally on both CBC Radio in Canada, French Television 3 and the Radio 2 and TVP2 in Poland.
Jan performs frequently for various charity organizations, including the David Foster Foundation, the Polish Humanitarian Organization and the Wish Upon a Star Foundation. In June 2008 he has been appointed a National Youth Representative by UNICEF Canada.
Also a composer, his works have won prizes at the National Finals of the Canada Music Week Writing Competition and in the CBC Mozart Variations Competition.

***

Aleksander Laskowski - Polish music critic and translator. Host of Polish Radio 2's regular Sunday Morning Show. Co-founder of the KulturaLiberalna.pl online weekly magazine. Aleksander Laskowski is a music expert at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and director of the Press Office of the "Chopin 2010".
His main translations into Polish: Parallels and Paradoxes by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said (PIW 2008) and The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross (to be published this fall). He read linguistics at Warsaw University and studied saxophone at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Aleksander Laskowski collects antique watches. He lives in Warsaw, Poland.

The images of Fryderyk Chopin

Originally the lecture was presented at the Sorbonne (Centre de civilisation polonaise) in Paris in March 2010. Author focuses on the reception of Fryderyk Chopin's oeuvre and person in the perspective of the historical situation of Poland and the spiritual condition of the Poles, from the early 19th century till the present day.

***

Friday, May 28, 2010
7:00 PM

Doors open at 6:30 PM

***

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

***

Admission free

RSVP required: washington.culture@msz.gov.pl or tel. 202-234-3800 ext. 2165

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
Music Center at Strathmore

cordially invite to a concert of

Chopin and Schumann
200th Birthday

with

Piotr Paleczny, piano

Piotr Gajewski, conductor

National Philharmonic Orchestra

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849

"Watching Chopin play is an unforgettable sight. He is like a seer lost in his dreams, and his listeners feel as if they were watching his dream."

Robert Schumann

Piotr Paleczny - winner of 3rd award of the 8th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warszawa (1970). Piotr Paleczny began learning piano at the Music School (Primary and Secondary) in Rybnik with Maria Kowalska and Karol Szafranek (1953-1964). He began his higher studies at the Music Academy in Katowice under Prof. Stefania Allinowa, and later continued at the Music Academy in Warszawa under Prof. Jan Ekier. He earned his diploma in 1970.
In 1968, Piotr Paleczny won the gold medal at the International Piano Competition in Sofia, one year later, he took third prize at the Internation Piano Competition in Munich. He took third prize at the 7th Chopin Competition (1970), the Warszawa Fryderyk Chopin Society's Award for best interpretation of a Chopin polonaise and the Witold Małcużyński Award for best Polish participant in the Competition. In 1972, he won two awards: the gold medal at Pleven and the gold medal at the Festival of Young Soloists in Bordeaux.
Piotr Paleczny began his concert career while still during his studies. He performed with all of Poland's philharmonic and chamber orchestras as well as with the Chicago Symphony, Tonhalle Orchester In Zurich, the Royal Philharmonic in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon, RAI, Santa Cecilia, Orquesta National de Mexico, Gewandhaus-Orchester and others.
He has performed in the most famous concert halls (Carnegie Hall, Teatro Real in Madrid, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Royal Festival Hall in London and others) and has been a special guest at international music festivals in Holland (Flanders Festival), Prague, Lausanne, Berlin, Warszawa, San Antonio, Perth and Istanbul.
As soloist with the Warszawa National Philharmonic Orchestra he has toured several times in England, Ireland, China, Japan, the USA, Germany and Switzerland. He performed Witold Lutosławski's Piano Concerto conducted by the composer himself.
The pianist has made many recordings for Polish and foreign radio and television. For the record labels Polskie Nagrania 'Muza', CD Accord, Pony Canyon, Wifon, BeArTon, EMI, Sound, Naxos, Olympia, BBC Classic, he has recorded Chopin's works (among others both piano concertos, several times), Paderewski's (Piano Concerto in A minor, Polish Fantasy), Lutosławski's (Piano Concerto), Szymanowski's (IVth Symphonic Concert), Brahms', Musorgski's (Pictures from Exhibition) and Balakiriev (Eastern Fantasy "Islamej").
Since 1997, Piotr Paleczny has been a professor of piano at the Chopin Music Academy in Warszawa. He has taught master's courses for pianists in Warszawa, Tokyo, Hamam and London. He has served on the juries of international piano competition in Paris, Santander, Tokyo, Prague, Cleveland, Hamam and Warszawa (Chopin Competition 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000). Since 1993, the pianist has been director of the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki Zdrój.

***

Piotr Gajewski is the founder, artistic director and conductor of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Washington, D.C., currently in residence at the Music Center at Strathmore in Rockville, Maryland.
In recent years, he has appeared with most of the major orchestras in Poland, as well as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in England, the Karlovy Vary Symphony in the Czech Republic, the Okanagan Symphony in Canada and numerous orchestras in the United States. Gajewski made his opera debut in 1994 with Washington's Summer Opera Theatre.
Born in Poland, Piotr Gajewski began studying piano at age four. After emigrating to the United States in 1969, he continued his studies at the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division, Carleton College and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, where he earned B.M. and M.M. degrees in Orchestral Conducting.
Upon completing his formal education, Gajewski continued refining his conducting skills at the 1983 Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts, where he was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Conducting Fellowship and where his teachers included Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn, Gunther Schuller, Gustav Meier and Maurice Abravanel.
Maestro Gajewski has conducted many important world premieres, including works by Steven Gerber, Joel Hoffman, Andreas Makris, Gerhard Samuel, Burnett Thompson and Peter Ware. Gajewski is also a winner of many prizes and awards, among them a prize at New York's prestigious Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition. He serves on the music faculty at the George Washington University.

***

Saturday, May 22, 2010
8:00 pm

***

Music Center at Strathmore
5301 Tuckerman Lane
North Bethesda, MD 20852-3385

***
Pre-concert lecture at 7:00 pm

Tickets from $29

To purchase please visit: http://www.nationalphiliharmonic.org/ or call 301-581-5100

Group tickets: 301-581-5199
Kids ages 7-17 are free.
Please call the Strathmore Ticket Office directly at (301) 581-5100 to purchase Kids Free tickets. Kid's free tickets are not available for online purchase.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
National Gallery of Art

cordially invite to

Moving Compositions:
Aspects of Chopin

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

Emblematic of Poland but also of the Romantic era, Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin remains an icon to artists and audiences alike. Polish poet Kamil Cyprian Norwid best described the composer as "born a Varsovian, his heart Polish, his talent a citizen of the world."

In honor of the bicentennial of Chopin's birth, this series explores the ways in which the music and the man have been celebrated, codified, and used to various effects.

***

The Youth of Chopin

Aleksander Ford had already considered making a movie about the composer's youth before the outbreak of the Second World War. Nonetheless, the movie was finally made in 1951, although initially the production was supposed to be launched two years earlier, on the centenary of Chopin's death. Polish cinematography decision-makers during that time had high hopes for this project, giving due place to the greatness of the renown composer, but were also aware of its potential propaganda use - giving them the possibility to show an artist sensitive to social inequality, seeking inspiration in folklore and open to revolutionary ideas.
This monumental film covered a period of five years of Chopin's life, starting from his studies at the Warsaw School of Music under the direction of prof. Elsner until the autumn of 1830 when he left Warsaw. These years had a crucial impact upon Chopin's compositions, greatly inspired by his fascination with the landscape of the Mazovian countryside, folk music and Polish tradition. Simultaneously, young Chopin's sensitivity was shaped by his notions of patriotism and dreams of independence, as well as the prevailing romanticism of the time. Landscape photos were taken in carefully selected sites where Chopin actually used to visit. The composition of the movie follows the principles of Polish 19th century paintings represented by Chełmoński, Kotsis and Grottger.
The outcome was an extensive biographical epic, full of pathos, which focused on the inspirations for Chopin's musical genius and at the same time recapturing the period vividly. A number of historical personalities, political debates, glimpses of demonstrations and insurrection battles are intertwined into the movie. Czesław Wołłejko impersonates Chopin splendidly. Another attraction in the film is the synchrony of the picture with the soundtrack. Viewers indirectly participate in the process of creation by observing how fictional situations and emotions are tied together by Chopin to create his compositions.
Chopin's pieces are performed by Halina Czerny-Stefańska, the first place winner of the first post-war Chopin Piano Competition. Paganini's and Slavik's violin parts are performed by Wanda Wiłkomirska. The vocal part of Konstancja Gładkowska is sung by Stefania Woytowicz.

(Alexander Ford, 1951, Polish with subtitles, 121 minutes)

Presented in association with the Washington Chopin Festival and the Andrzej Markowski Foundation.

***

Organized in collaboration with Filmoteka Narodowa, Warsaw and TV Studio Filmów Animowanych, Poznań. Special thanks to Kinga Karbowniczek, Marcin Giżycki, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Małgorzata Markowska & the Andrzej Markowski Foundation and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

***

Saturday, May 22, 2010
4:00 PM

***

National Gallery of Art
East Building Concourse, Auditorium
4th and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20565

***

Admission free

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

cordially announces

the screening of the film

Nine Days That Changed The World

Produced by Gingrich Productions

celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the Birth of Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II's historic nine-day pilgrimage to Poland in June of 1979 created a revolution of conscience that transformed Poland and fundamentally reshaped the spiritual and political landscape of the 20th century.

Newt and Callista Gingrich, along with a Polish, American and Italian cast, explore what transpired during these nine days that moved the Polish people to renew their hearts, reclaim their courage, and free themselves from the shackles of Communism.

Millions of Poles, almost one third of the nation, turned out to see the Holy Father in person, while the rest of the country followed his pilgrimage on television and radio. Within sixteen months, Solidarity became the first officially recognized free trade union in the Communist bloc, with over 10 million members. The momentum of this nine-day visit would eventually lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Nine Days that Changed the World is a story of human liberation, revealing the extraordinary power of Pope John Paul II's worldwide message of freedom through faith.

***

Saturday, May 22, 2010
2:00 PM

***

Pope John II Cultural Center
3900 Harewood Road
Washington, DC 20017

***

Screening will be preceded by remarks by the Hon. Newt and Callista Gingrich and followed by a wine and cheese reception.

Tickets are available at: www.jp2friends.org/events.php

For more information, please contact: Maria Quas De Penno - 301 951 9271, mariaqdp@aol.com or Cecilia Glembocki - 703 790 1984, virginiaegg@cox.net

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

in cooperation with

cordially invites to a concert of

Royal String Quartet with Eugen Indjic

as a part of the Washington Fryderyk Chopin Festival

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of his Birth

1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849

"Using the most beautiful language understood by all, Chopin told the whole world about our indomitable will to live."

Karol Szymanowski

Royal String Quartet

Izabella Szałaj-Zimak, I violin / Elwira Przybyłowska, II violin / Marek Czech, viola / Michał Pepol, cello

Shortlisted in 2007 for the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Chamber Music Award, the Royal String Quartet from Warsaw has been named a BBC New Generation Artist and performed at prestigious British festivals including Aldeburgh, City of London, Brighton and Lichfield, and at BBC festivals including two Chamber Proms and the Sofia Gubaidulina Festival at the Barbican.

Established in 1998, the Royal String Quartet studied with members of the Amadeus, Alban Berg, Camerata, and Chilingirian Quartets and has won top prizes at international competitions in Banff, Kuhmo, Krakow, and Casale Monferrato, along with a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

Since 2004 the quartet has run its own chamber music festival in Warsaw, Kwartesencja, and other festival engagements include Angela Hewitt's Trasimeno Music, Dortmund's Next Generation, the Musikfesttage in Frankfurt, Classique au Vert in Paris, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. Major concert halls where they have appeared include London's Wigmore and Cadogan halls, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts.

The quartet has performed with Angela Hewitt, Thomas Allen, Ann Murray, Mark Padmore, Emmanuelle Bertrand, Laurence Power, Martin Fröst, and the Skampa Quartet. Their concerts have been broadcast on Polish Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, and other European radio stations, as well as on TV MEZZO. The quartet has recorded five CDs, including its latest for Hyperion released in January 2009.

Eugen Indjic, piano

During his studies with Alexander Borovsky, pianist Eugen Indjic attended the Juilliard School and studied theory and composition at Harvard University with Lorin Berman and Leon Kirchner. In 1968, he met Artur Rubinstein, with whom he consulted in New York and Paris for over ten years. Between 1965 and 1972, Indjic studied privately with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Clifford Curzon in Fountainebleau. Before enrolling for the Chopin competition, he also worked with Witold Małcużyński in Majorca and Konstanty Schmaeling in Paris.

Mr. Indjic won awards at three international piano competitions: fourth prize in Warsaw at the Chopin International Piano Competition, 1970; third prize at the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, 1972; and second prize in Tel Aviv at the Artur Rubinstein International Competition, 1974.

In 1965 he appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf, becoming the youngest soloist ever to appear with the famous orchestra. On the invitation of Arthur Fiedler, Mr. Indjic appeared each season at the Tanglewood Summer Festival with the Boston Pops Orchestra. Mr. Indjic has performed in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle and Far East. Mr. Indjic has been an international piano competition juror in Warsaw (Chopin International Piano Competition, 2000), Lisbon, Tel Aviv and Monte Carlo. He holds summer master classes in Paris and Prague.

***

Sunday, May 16, 2010
4:00 pm

***

The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

***

Ticket included in museum admission; free for members.

Tickets may be purchased at the museum or online.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
National Gallery of Art

cordially invite to

Moving Compositions:
Aspects of Chopin

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

Emblematic of Poland but also of the Romantic era, Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin remains an icon to artists and audiences alike. Polish poet Kamil Cyprian Norwid best described the composer as "born a Varsovian, his heart Polish, his talent a citizen of the world."

In honor of the bicentennial of Chopin's birth, this series explores the ways in which the music and the man have been celebrated, codified, and used to various effects.

***

The Heart and Soul of Warsaw 

This collection of rare short documentaries connects Chopin to Warsaw literally and metaphysically. The program includes:

Ballada f-moll (Andrzej Panufnik, 1945, 10 minutes)

In autumn 1945 Andrzej Panufnik, an orchestra conductor and composer cooperating with the Polish Army Film Unit attempted to make a poetic film essay about Warsaw which lay in ruins at the time. Chopin's "Ballade in F minor" was used to create a musical setting for the film. Accompanied by the music, a viewer sees dramatic shots of destruction and debris juxtaposed against the city's previously standing historical landmarks. This fusion of pictures and music, devoid of any verbal commentary, made a startling impression on Polish viewers as it touched upon their own personal experience. This music documentary was a type of mournful elegy commemorating the "murder of a city", pervaded by a sense of loss and longing for the past.

Chopin's Heart Returns to Warsaw (a newsreel form 1945, 3 minutes)

Born in Warsaw (Maria Kwiatkowska, 1996, 56 minutes)

Newsreels of International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competitions that have been held in the capital of Poland since 1927. In the introduction, the documentary's makers briefly outline the start of Chopin's career and his connection with Warsaw. They then present the history of the competition itself, starting from its very beginnings and ending up with the 13th edition that took place in 1995.
The film is very interesting in terms of its documentary value. Rich iconographic and source materials were collected thanks to which successive competitions are uncovered in their historical context and the evolution of the competitions is displayed through the lens of changing political circumstances. Scenes from the concert halls are accompanied by what is unfolding behind the curtains, in vestibules, hotel lobbies and in the streets of Warsaw. The film makers were able to display a wide range of themes thanks to their apt use of the footage.

Chopin's Heart (Marian Marzyński, 2006, 17 minutes)

This documentary portrays what happened with Chopin's heart, which in accordance to his wishes was separated from his body after his death and transported and enshrined in Poland. Chopin's heart was brought to his homeland by his sister, Ludwika Jędrzejowiczowa, and placed in the Holy Cross church in Warsaw. During the Warsaw Uprising in September 1944 it was stolen along with other relics by fascists, yet fortunately it got it was recovered by Archbishop Antoni Szelągowski who kept it in hiding till the end of the war. On the 96th anniversary of Chopin's death, the urn with the composer's heart was returned to the Holy Cross church. According to the descriptions provided by Chopinologists, the urn is made of two cases and a silver plate on which Chopin's date of birth and death are engraved, whereas his heart was placed and preserved in a hermetic jar. The film is based on fragments of letters, poems and Chopin's musical pieces performed by Rinko Kobayashi, Piotr Paleczny and Janusz Olejniczak.

***

Organized in collaboration with Filmoteka Narodowa, Warsaw and TV Studio Filmów Animowanych, Poznań. Special thanks to Kinga Karbowniczek, Marcin Giżycki, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Małgorzata Markowska & the Andrzej Markowski Foundation and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

***

Saturday, May 15, 2010
2:00 PM

***

National Gallery of Art
East Building Concourse, Auditorium
4th and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20565

***

Admission free

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
National Gallery of Art

cordially invite to

Moving Compositions:
Aspects of Chopin

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

Emblematic of Poland but also of the Romantic era, Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin remains an icon to artists and audiences alike. Polish poet Kamil Cyprian Norwid best described the composer as "born a Varsovian, his heart Polish, his talent a citizen of the world."
In honor of the bicentennial of Chopin's birth, this series explores the ways in which the music and the man have been celebrated, codified, and used to various effects.

***

Experiment, Music and Chopin in Polish Cinema 

The experimental film practice of artists Franciszka and Stefan Themerson began in Poland and continued unabated after their emigration to London in 1942. Both they and their colleague Eugeniusz Cękalski (who spent the war in London, returning to Poland in 1946) explored new ways of working with montage and sound, utilizing Chopin's compositions to the fullest.

Three restored shorts include:

Calling Mr. Smith (Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, 1943, 10 minutes)

The first of two films made by Franciszka and Stefan Themerson towards the end of the Second World War in collaboration with the Film Office of the Polish Ministry of Information and Documentation in London. The film, experimental in technique and style, has an explicitly propagandic character. The film's objective was to appeal to the average British citizen - thus the title Mr. Smith - and was made to open the public's eyes to the situation in the Nazi occupied countries. That is why the emphasis is not so much on the physical destruction of Poland, but on the destruction of its history and culture and also on the possibility that the same thing could happen to any other country occupied by the Third Reich.

Colour Studies of Chopin (Eugeniusz Cękalski, 1944, 12 minutes)

Eugeniusz Cękalski, a leading representative of the pre-war left-wing avant-garde cinema, first attempted to tackle the Chopin phenomenon in 1937 making an experimental musical film "Three Etudes by Chopin". Seven years later after being commissioned by PIC (Polish Information Center), he came back to this project and made a picture similar in style: "Color Studies of Chopin". Once again he used three works by the great composer presenting each in a very different visual setting: the stirring, melancholic Nocturne is illustrated by changing images of nature, the vigorous Mazurka in F minor is set against a folk dance performed by members of the Russian Ballet, Natalia Krassowska and Jerzy Łazowski. The most interesting is his concept for the "Revolutionary Etude" combining elements of an abstract play on shapes and lights with shots of explosions, screaming and contorted faces, planes with flames of fire devouring symbolic icons of Poland. Also presented in two other segments are: a scarecrow, grain spikes, a rural thatched cottage and a roadside shrine with the figure of a Sorrowing Christ.

Żelazowa Wola (Eugeniusz Cękalski, 1948, 30 minutes)

Once the war was over, the director Eugeniusz Cękalski returned to Poland, and embarked on a new venture - this film relates to the personality and music of Chopin, becoming his third production about the composer. It was supposed to be a "film about the village where Fryderyk Chopin was born", but in the end the director relented to the requirements of communist propaganda regime of the time and the doctrine of social realism being introduced at that time. Chopin's music, in a superb interpretation by Władysław Kępa, became a tool to display the harsh fate of the peasant masses and the depravity of upper classes. The director focuses on the life of a serf family named Smuga. The musically gifted successive generations of the family had no chance for s better education or future. They were condemned to a life of drudgery, misery and precocious death. Maciek Smuga, grows up in Żelazowa Wola at the same time as Chopin, yet the only musical instrument he possesses is a wooden pipe. While Chopin plays his piano, Maciek suffers under the whip of a cruel land administrator. It is only Piotr Smuga, living in the future People's Republic of Poland (communist Poland), who can make good use of his potential and become a pianist.

***

Organized in collaboration with Filmoteka Narodowa, Warsaw and TV Studio Filmów Animowanych, Poznań. Special thanks to Kinga Karbowniczek, Marcin Giżycki, the Polish Cultural Institute in New York, Małgorzata Markowska & the Andrzej Markowski Foundation and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

***

Sunday, May 9, 2010
4:30 PM

***

National Gallery of Art
East Building Concourse, Auditorium
4th and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20565

***

Admission free

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
The Embassy Series

cordially invite to

the cello and piano recital

celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

1 march 1810 - 17 October 1849

"After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own."

Oscar Wilde

Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello

Dariusz Skoraczewski has delighted audiences of many concert halls in America and Europe with his great artistic and technical command of the instrument. As a soloist he performed with numerous orchestras in the US including the Montgomery Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Dariusz appeared in many chamber music concert series including the Candlelight Series, Music at the Great Hall in Baltimore and the Barge Music Festival in New York City. In November of 2005 he gave his Carnegie Hall debut which was sponsored by the La Gesse Foundation. The cellist is also a member of a critically acclaimed ensemble - the Monument Piano Trio who are the artists-in-residence at a concerts series An Die Musik Live in Baltimore.
Dariusz is a laureate of various international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Leonard Rose Competition in Washington D.C. and the Rostropovich Competition in Paris. He was a first prize winner in the following contests: the Young Artist Competition in Santa Barbara, Concerto Competition of the Alexandria Symphony and the Baltimore Music Club Competition. Artist's recordings have been broadcasted by the radio stations in New York and in Maryland.
Dariusz began his musical education at the age of six and spent his school years in Warsaw, Poland where his teachers were Professor Z. Liebig and Professor A. Zielinski. He completed his higher education as a scholarship recipient at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and perfected his art under the supervision of world-renowned cellist Stephen Kates.
The soloist's repertoire is extremely diverse and includes compositions from Baroque to the 21st century. Besides his solo and chamber music career Dariusz is also the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with which he performs regularly.

Michael Adcock, piano

Michael Adcock was winner of the 1998 Lili Boulanger Memorial Award. He has cultivated a versatile career as both a soloist and frequent chamber music collaborator. Prizewinner in the 1996 Washington International Competition and winner in both the Chicago and New York Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competitions, Adcock made his Carnegie Recital Hall debut in December of 1998. A former student of Joseph Schwartz, Julian Martin, Leon Fleisher and Ellen Mack, his career has taken him to France, Italy and Australia, as well as a performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Notable musicians with whom Adcock has collaborated with include Denyce Graves, Ani Kavafian, James Buswell and the St. Petersburg String Quartet. A native of Virginia, Michael Adcock attended secondary school at The North Carolina School of the Arts, where he received the Irwin Freundlich Memorial Piano Award. Mr. Adcock took his Bachelor's degree from the Oberlin College-Conservatory where he graduated Pi Kappa Lambda. At Oberlin, he was twice awarded the Kaufman Prize in chamber music and received the Hurlbutt Award as most outstanding graduating senior in the Conservatory. Mr. Adcock received a Master's degree and Artists Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD, where he was a prizewinner in the Yale Gordon and Harrison Winter Concerto Competitions. A former Artist-in-Residence at the Aspen Institute on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Adcock recently completed the Doctorate of Musical Arts at The Peabody Conservatory, where he was also an adjunct member of the theory and chamber music faculties. During the summer months, he Adcock is on the piano faculties of the Musicorda Festival in Massachusetts and the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida. Currently, Adcock resides in Washington, DC, where he maintains an active performance and teaching schedule, in addition to being on the faculty of the Washington Conservatory of Music.

***

Saturday, May 8, 2010
7:30-10:00 PM

***

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

***

Tickets: SOLD OUT

Valet Parking: $5

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

cordially invites to

European Union Embassies' Open House Day

Discover the nature landscapes of Poland (slideshows and lectures at 10:30am and 2pm), enjoy Polish classical music of Fryderyk Chopin on his 200th Birth's Anniversary, engage in drawing "Solidarity" logo and taste the traditional Polish cuisine.

***

Saturday, May 8, 2010
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

***

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

***

EU Embassies' Open House Events

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
Premier Virginia Properties

cordially present

the 6th Annual
Chopin in Barboursville

with

Ning An

Winner of the 2000 National US Piano Competition
and 2006 Tivoli International Piano Competition

to benefit
The Chopin Foundation of the U.S.

Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Chopin's Birth

Ning An made his concerto debut at the age of sixteen, performing the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra. He has since appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Symphony, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and has worked with such conductors as Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Kasmierz Kord, Jajha Ling, Vladimir Fedosseyev, Jorg-Peter Weigle, Marc Soustrot and Sergiu Comissiona. Mr. An has presented recitals at venues such as Salle Verdi (Milan, Italy), Salle Cortot (Paris) and the Palais de Beaux Arts in Antwerp. He has been invited to perform at numerous festivals, including the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki Zdrój (Poland), the Gina Bachauer Piano Festival in Salt Lake City, New Hampshire's Monadnock Music Festival, the Bourglinster Festival in Luxembourg and the Interlaken Music Festival in Switzerland. Mr. An was also a soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic during their centennial world tour. Pianist Ning An's recent Carnegie Hall debut, an all-Chopin program presented by the Chopin Foundation of the United States in Weill Recital Hall, was praised in the New York Concert Review for "the almost sculpted clarity of his playing, and his ability to maintain balance and tension in large-scale dramatic forms. Ning An impresses with his developed musicianship, his discerning sense of form and style, his penetrating and illuminating interpretation, and his perfect technical command. I have no doubt that he will join the ranks of the finest interpreters of Chopin." First Prize winner of the 2006 Tivoli International Piano Competition and 2003 William Kapell Piano Competition, Mr. An has also won top prizes from the American Piano Association and the American Chopin Comptition. His other awards include third prizes from the Queen Elizabeth Competition, the Paloma O'Shea Santander Competition and the Cleveland International Piano Competition. Ning An has studied with Russell Sherman and Olga Radosalvjevich. He is currently Artist in Residence at Lee University, Tennessee.

***

Sunday, May 2, 2010
Doors open at 7:00 pm

***

Barboursville Vineyards
17655 Winery Road
Barboursville, Virginia 22923

***

Tickets: $75 at the door; $50 advance sale

Please make checks/money orders payable to: Chopin Foundation of the US
Please mail: c/o Premier Virginia Properties, PO Box 461, Gordonsville, Virginia 22942

***

Black Tie

Barboursville Wine Reception (Wine Reception begins at 7:00 pm and is included in the event cost.)

Hors d'oeurvres from Palladio

***

Further inquiries: Chopin@PremierVirginiaProperties.com
Telephone: 540-832-0071

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
The Kosciuszko Foundation Washington DC Office

cordially invite to

A Celebration of the Life and Work
of
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz

on 125th Anniversary of his Birth

24 February 1885 - 18 September 1939

"Witkiewicz is by birth, by race, to the very marrow of his bones an ARTIST; he lives exclusively by art and for art. And his relationship to art is profoundly dramatic; he is one of those tormented spirits who in art seek the solution, not to the problem of success, but to the problem of their own being."

Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz "Witkacy" - dramatist, poet, novelist, painter, photographer, art theorist, critic and philosopher, was one of the leading members of Poland's poetic and artistic avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century. He produced a richly experimental and often surreal body of work in each of the several  forms of expression he took up. Underlying much of his work were the themes of individualism and the power of art as responses to a chaotic and disintegrating universe.

Three day international symposium will examine the life and work of the prolific Polish artist. Witkacy 2010 will incorporate art, drama as well as new perspectives about his life through the presentation of his art, texts and scholarly lectures providing new insights and understanding about Witkacy and his life from some of the greatest experts from this highly specialized field from Poland, U.S. and elsewhere.

***

Act I

Thursday, April 29, 2010
9:15 AM - 4:15 PM

The Kosciuszko Foundation Washington DC Office
2025 O Street NW
Washington, DC 20036

7:30 PM

Staged Reading
of
"In a Small Country House" by S. I. Witkiewicz

The Flashpoint
Mead Theatre Lab
Cultural Development Corporation
916 G Street NW
Washington, DC 20001

Tickets are avaiable at: www.aticc.org

***

Act II

Friday, April 30, 2010
9:30 AM - 5:45 PM

The Kosciuszko Foundation Washington DC Office

***

Act III

Saturday, May 1, 2010
10:30 AM - 6:00 PM

The Kosciuszko Foundation Washington DC Office

***

Tickets are available at: www.witkacy2010.com

For a detailed program of the conference please visit: www.washington.polemb.net/index.php?document=908

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
Washington International Piano Arts Council

cordially invite to

A Concert of Chopin's Music

under the patronage of Ambassador of Poland, Mr. Robert Kupiecki
as a part of celebration of 200 Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849

„An original, pronounced nationality, specifically Polish... If the mighty autocratic monarch in the north knew what a dangerous enemy threatened him in Chopin's works, in the simple melodies of his mazurkas, he would forbid this music. Chopin's works are cannons buried in flowers..."

Robert Schumann

9th Annual Winners Grand Prix Concert

proudly presenting

Svyatoslav Levin of Tbilisi, Georgia, Winner of the 1st Chopin International Piano Amateur Competition, Warsaw, Poland

Thomas Yu of Toronto, Canada, Winner of the 1st Bösendorfer International Piano Amateur Competition, Vienna, Austria

Vincent Schmithorst of Canton, Ohio, First Prizewinner of Boston 2009 International Piano Competition for Talented Amateurs, Boston, Massachusetts

Tzufeng Liu of Taiwan, Winner of 2009 Washington International Piano Artists Competition, Washington, DC

These gifted amateur pianists are in a class by themselves. Although they are involved in other careers and professions, their passion for music is revealed in their exemplary musical skills, creative abilities, and extraordinary talent.

The concert will benefit the 2010 Festival of Music and the 8th Washington International Piano Artists Competition in Washington, DC.

***

Friday, April 23, 2010
7:00 - 9:30 PM

Doors open 6:30 pm

***

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

***

Tickets at: http://www.instantseats.com/
Guest list at door

For more information, please visit: http://www.wipac.org/ or contact: Jean Wigham, WIPAC President 703-568-5504.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

announces

a screening of acclaimed Polish film

KATYŃ

directed by Andrzej Wajda

A story of Polish officers murdered by the NKVD in Katyń during WWII. A picture of women unaware of the crime, who were waiting for their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. An uncompromising reckoning with the lie of the communist powers, that was to order Poland to forget those who were killed. A film about an invincible struggle for the memory and truth.

"Katyń" was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 80th Academy Awards in 2007.

The film was under the honorary patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Mr. Lech Kaczyński with his wife Mrs. Maria Kaczyńska.

***

Zbigniew Herbert

Buttons

Only the pertinacious buttons
have endured death, witnesses of crime
surfaced from the depths
as the only monument on their grave

they are to witness God will count
and take pity on them
yet how can they resurrect body
being a sticky element of the soil

a bird flew by a cloud is sailing
a leaf is falling mallow sprouting
and there's silence on high
and the Smolensk forest is steaming fog

only the pertinacious buttons
a powerful voice of silenced choirs
only the pertinacious buttons
of coats and uniforms.

In memory of Captain Edward Herbert

***

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
7:00 PM

Doors open at 6:30 PM

***

The American Center of Polish Culture
The Kościuszko Foundation Washington, D.C. Office
2025 O Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20036 5913

***

Seating is limited, please RSVP to thekfdc@gmail.com or call 202-785-2320

Suggested Donation:
$4.00 - Kościuszko Foundation or Polish Library Members
$8.00 - Non-members

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

invite to a screening of acclaimed Polish film

KATYŃ

directed by Andrzej Wajda

A story of Polish officers murdered by the NKVD in Katyń during WWII. A picture of women unaware of the crime, who were waiting for their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. An uncompromising reckoning with the lie of the communist powers, that was to order Poland to forget those who were killed. A film about an invincible struggle for the memory and truth.

"Katyń" was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 80th Academy Awards in 2007.

The film was under the honorary patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Mr. Lech Kaczyński with his wife Mrs. Maria Kaczyńska.

***

Zbigniew Herbert

Buttons

Only the pertinacious buttons
have endured death, witnesses of crime
surfaced from the depths
as the only monument on their grave

they are to witness God will count
and take pity on them
yet how can they resurrect body
being a sticky element of the soil

a bird flew by a cloud is sailing
a leaf is falling mallow sprouting
and there's silence on high
and the Smolensk forest is steaming fog

only the pertinacious buttons
a powerful voice of silenced choirs
only the pertinacious buttons
of coats and uniforms.

In memory of Captain Edward Herbert

***

Friday, April 16, 2010
3:00 PM

***

2325 Rayburn House Office Building
Southwest of the Capitol on a site bounded by Independence Avenue, South Capitol Street, First Street and C Street SW
Washington, DC

***

The event is free and open to the public.

Please join for this touching film during this week of mourning for the victims of last Saturday's tragic plane crash and the 70th anniversary of the Katyń Forest Massacre. The film is 115 minutes long and will be followed by a brief discussion.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

is pleased to announce
the Polish film screening

as a part of the Washington DC International Film Festival

ZERO

directed by Paweł Borowski

Writer-director Pawel Borowski's remarkably assured debut feature takes place over one very long day in a busy Polish city. His camera follows people as they bump into each other-sometimes literally-on their daily rounds, and the story likewise caroms from one person to the next. The fun is discovering where each new character will take us, and learning the hidden connections and dark secrets between seemingly random business executives, artists, doctors, cabbies, porn stars, secretaries, husbands, wives, lovers, and other "regular" folks. "Zero" explores the many unexpected ways these connections play out: how that nice person in the café might be a monster at home, or that angry cashier may have more in common with us than we ever stop to consider. The circle of life that Borowski explores is definitely not the happy fantasy that Disney presents, but is ultimately truer and more satisfying.

Poland, 2009, 110 minutes, Color
In Polish with English subtitles

http://www.filmzero.com/

***

Friday, April 16, 2010
8:15 PM

and

Saturday, April 17, 2010
7:00 PM

***

Landmark's E Street Cinema
555 11th St NW
Washington, DC 20004
(entrance on E Street between 10th and 11th Street)

***

Tickets are available at: http://www.filmfestdc.org/tickets.cfm

Filmfest DC...for people who love movies!

The 24th Annual Washington, DC International Film Festival (Filmfest DC) commences April 15 and runs through April 25, bringing the best in new international cinema to the nation's capital. The festival presents feature premieres, restored classics, shorts and special events in an enjoyable atmosphere for movie lovers. Filmfest DC has developed into one of Washington's major cultural events with an audience that is widely diverse, curious and knowledgeable.

http://www.filmfestdc.org/

Due to the period of national mourning which has been announced in Poland in connection with the tragic death of the President of the Republic of Poland and Mrs. Lech Kaczynski the event is canceled.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
American Tribute to Chopin Consortium

cordially invite

to

American Tribute to Chopin

a special event celebrating
the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

I. J. Paderewski Award Ceremony & Concert

"I don't consider myself to be even a John the Baptist of Polish music, and I would like to live to see his coming. I just want to write and leave behind the rudiments of what is truly Polish, and teach people to reject Polishness that is false."

Fryderyk Chopin

The program of the evening includes introduction and keynote speeches by the members of American Tribute to Chopin Consortium, the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Award ceremony, concert of Fryderyk Chopin's music as well as Washington DC premiere of "An American Tribute to Chopin" composition by Elizabeth Borowsky.

The American Tribute to Chopin is organized by a consortium of private and public cultural and social organizations and coordinated by Intermuse Performing Artists Bureau. It's activities will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin and promote the importance of classical music in individual and social life, especially in the age of globalization, by highlighting Fryderyk Chopin's contributions to music and civilization. Under the auspices of the American Tribute to Chopin Consortium, conferences, workshops, concerts, recitals, and master classes are taking place in major cities across the USA during 2010.

The event is co-organized by the International Friends of Music Association, Intermuse Performing Artists Bureau and the International Cello Festival at Towson University.

***

Saturday, April 17, 2010
6:00 - 9:00 PM

***

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

***

Tickets and reservations: http://www.americantributetochopin.org/tickets.html

http://www.americantributetochopin.org/

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

is pleased to announce
the film screening

presented by Cinema Art Bethesda

SCRATCH

directed by Michał Rosa

Joanna and Jan are a happy and loving couple who have grown comfortably middle-aged together. We meet them as they celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary with friends. Among the presents, however, lies the past - a videotape that contains a documentary alleging Jan was part of the secret police, wooing Joanna as a way of getting close to her family. He tells her it's ridiculous, but this is a scratch that itches and, as Joanna becomes increasingly obsessed with discovering 'the truth', their marriage and her sanity begin to crumble. Winner of the Best Screenplay at the 2008 Polish Film Festival.

***

Sunday, March 28, 2010
10:00 AM

Theater doors open at 9:30 AM with complementary coffee.
The main doors to Landmark Theatre will close at 10 a.m. at the request of theater management.

***

Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema
7235 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814-2959
(across from Barnes & Noble)

***
Tickets are sold on the lower level of the theatre for $15 cash or check.

Bethesda metro and free parking nearby.

Cinema Art Bethesda, a private not for profit organization in Bethesda, Maryland, for the past 13 years has shown outstanding foreign films followed by provocative discussions by film experts.
www.cinemaartbethesda.org

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
in cooperation with
La Maison Française/Embassy of France

cordially invite

to a concert celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

3 X Chopin

Three generations of Chopin's music interpreters, three unique personalities and three diverse visions of the works of his genius.

Ewa Pobłocka, piano

Leszek Możdżer, piano

Andrzej Jagodziński Trio /A. Jagodziński - piano, A. Cegielski - bass, C. Bartkowski - drums/

The only chance to see them in one concert!

Pianist Ewa Pobłocka (b. 1957), studied at the Music Academy in Gdansk, and has received prestigious awards in piano competitions in Vercelli, Bordeaux, and Warsaw. She has performed with, among others, the London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bayerisher Rundfunkorchester, and the Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw. In the course of 25 years as an internationally traveled pianist, she has given thousands of performances and made radio and television recordings in Poland and abroad. Her most recent recordings are Chopin's complete mazurkas, Fantasia on the Polish Airs op. 13 with Sinfonia Varsovia under Jacek Kaspszyk (world premiere recording) for BeArTon/National Edition/ and Schumann solo recitals for Victor Entertainment INC Japan.

Leszek Możdżer (b. 1971), pianist, composer and producer, graduated from the St. Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk. For several years in the 1990s, Jazz Forum's poll voted Możdżer Most Promising Musician, Best Jazz Pianist, and Musician of the Year. He has since collected numerous music awards. He has worked with acclaimed international musicians, including Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Arthur Blythe, Buster Williams, Billy Harper, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, and Archie Shepp, and has recorded over 100 albums (as soloist and sideman), including his improvisations on themes by Chopin, Chopin Impressions (1994), Chopin Demain-Impressions (1999).

The Andrzej Jagodziński Trio's first album, Chopin, was named Best Record of 1994 by Jazz Forum magazine and won the Fryderyk Award (Polish Grammy) as best jazz record of the year. The Jagodziński Trio has since continued to explore jazz interpretations of Chopin. Their CD output includes Chopin-Live at the National Philharmonic (1997), Chopin Once More (1999) and Chopin -Sonata in B flat minor (2009). The trio was a key influence in launching the Chopin stream in Polish jazz.

Andrzej Jagodziński (b. 1953), pianist, composer and arranger, received his degrees from the Fryderyk Chopin Conservatory. Recognition he has garnered includes winning first prize for Pianist of the Year in 1979 at the Old Jazz Meeting Zlota Tarka, numerous nominations for the Fryderyk Award, and being named Jazz Artist of the Year in 1994. Jagodzinski has toured in most European countries, Australia, and the United States. He has played with some of the best jazz groups in Poland including the Old Timers, String Connection, the Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet, the Big Warsaw Band, Quintessence, the Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski Quartet and Jarek Smietana's Polish All Star. In 1993 he created a band bearing his own name, the Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio.

Czesław Bartkowski (b. 1943), jazz drummer, made his debut in 1960 and has performed widely for the last 45 years with many ensembles, including the Krzysztof Komeda Quintet, the Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet, Niemen "Enigmatic", the Adam Makowicz-Tomasz Stanko Trio, the Michal Urbaniak and Urszula Dudziak Group, with Wojtek Karolak and many others. He has also performed at prestigious jazz festivals including the Newport Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the New York Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. He has been a member of Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio since 1993 and is an honorary member of the Tauranga Jazz Festival Society and the New Orleans Club, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Adam Cegielski (b. 1967), bass player, graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Conservatory in Warsaw and has won prizes in many prestigious European jazz competitions. In 1994 he was ranked the 3rd Best Bass Player by the Polish Jazz Forum magazine and received the Krzysztof Komeda Award. He has played with the Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio for the last 15 years and has recorded soundtracks for White and Red  Kieslowski's movies, as well as music to Farewell to Maria film with jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko.

***

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
7:30 PM

and

Friday, March 19, 2010
7:30 PM

***

La Maison Française
     Embassy of France
     4101 Reservoir Road NW
     Washington, DC 20007-2178

***

A reception to meet the artists will follow the program.

Tickets: http://www.instantseats.com/?r=24A8&fuseaction=home.venue&VenueID=164

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
Ambassador Theater

cordially invite

to the Washington DC premiere of

"Summer at Nohant"

By Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz

Translated by Celina Wieniewska
Directed by Hanna Bondarewska

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's birth the Ambassador Theater presents the Washington DC premiere of "Summer at Nohant", a romantic comedy in three acts.

George Sand, the famed French writer and emancipated woman, brings together artists at her celebrated summer retreat in Nohant. Fryderyk Chopin, one of her lovers and most inspiring of artists, echoes all the longings and frustrations of the inhabitants as he composes his Sonata in B minor. His music is transcendent and affects everyone in the household.

"And what stirs me so greatly each time he plays a new composition, is the fact that here, in Nohant, in these vulgar surroundings, among kitchen squabbles- something so full of transcendental genius is being produced!"

George Sand

***

Featuring:

Tyler Herman as Fryderyk Chopin
Hanna Bondarewska as Baroness Aurore Dudevant (George Sand)
Jessie Dulaney as Solange, daughter of George Sand
Russell Jonas as Maurice, son of George Sand
Timothy King as Count Anthony Wodzinski
Madeline Muravchik as Mlle De Rosieres, Chopin's pupil
Lauren Elisabeth Uberman as Augustine, George Sand's cousin and ward
Daniel Rovin as Theodore Rousseau, young painter
Christopher Herring as Clesinger, young sculptor
Michael Santos Sandoval as Ferdinand, son of a rich neighbor
David VanOrmer as John, Chopin's servant
Katya Korotkikh as Madeline, country girl

***

March 9, 2010 - March 21, 2010

Previews: March 9 and 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Opening: Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a wine reception

Friday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 14, Matinee show at 2 p.m.
Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 20 at 2 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 21, Matinee show at 2 p.m.

***

Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint
916 G Street NW, Washington DC

***

Tickets: $25 General Admission, Students and Senior Citizens $15 available online at: http://www.aticc.org/season/tickets.html or at the door.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
National Gallery of Art

cordially invite

to a piano recital celebrating
the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

by Ewa Pobłocka

March 1, 1810 - October 17, 1849

"Chopin had the rare gift of a very personal melody, expressive of heart-felt emotion, and his music is penetrated by a poetic feeling that has an almost universal appeal... Present-day evaluation places him among the immortals of music by reason of his insight into the secret places of the heart and because of his awareness of the magical new sonorities to be drawn from the piano."

Arthur Hedley

***

Ewa Pobłocka is one of the Polish most distinguished pianists, the winner of 5th award of the 10th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw (1980). She studied at the Music Academy in Gdansk and in Hamburg under the direction of Conrad Hansen. She is the holder of top awards from piano competitions in Vercelli on 1977. She benefitted from artistic consultations with Tatiana Nikolaieva and Martha Argerich.

Ewa Pobłocka has performed throughout most of Europe, as well as both North and South America, Singapore, Korea, Japan and Australia, appearing in such famous venues as the Herkules-Saal in Munich, the Musikhalle in Hamburg, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, New York's Lincoln Center and Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.

She has given concert performances with, among others, London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bayerisher Rudfunkorchester, Niederosterreichisches Tonkunst-lerorchester, Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, Polish Chamber Orchestra and the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice.
She has made many recordings for home and foreign radio and television stations. For the record labels: Polskie Nagrania 'Muza', Deutsche Grammophon, RCA, Victor JVC, Gruener & Jahr, Conifer Records and others she has recorded the works of Chopin, Field, Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Grieg, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Panufnik, Lutosławski, Paweł Szymański and Paweł Mykietyn. Together with the singers Jadwiga Rappe, Ewa Podleś and Olga Pasichnyk, she has recorded recitals of songs by Karłowicz, Szymanowski, Brahms, Duparc, Debussy, Poulenc and Lutosławski. Ewa Pobłocka also performs chamber music.

Aside from playing concerts, the pianist is engaged in pedagogical work. Since the year 2000, she has taught a piano class at the Feliks Nowowiejski Music Academy in Bydgoszcz and at the Fryderyk Chopin Music University in Warsaw as well as she has given master classes in Calgary and Tokyo.

***

Sunday, March 14, 2010
6:30 PM

***

National Gallery of Art
West Building Main Floor, West Garden Court
4th and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20565

***

Admission free

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
The Phillips Collection

cordially invite

to a concert celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Fryderyk Chopin's Birth

3 X Chopin

classical and jazz interpretations of Chopin's music

by Ewa Pobłocka, Andrzej Jagodziński Trio and Leszek Możdżer

March 1, 1810 - October 17, 1849

"Chopin's work is outstanding not only for its aesthetic value, but becomes something infinitely greater: an ethical assignment, a lesson in true dedication, a testament of the will to act that obligates us all."

 Karol Szymanowski

Pianist Ewa Pobłocka (b. 1957), studied at the Music Academy in Gdansk, and has received prestigious awards in piano competitions in Vercelli, Bordeaux, and Warsaw. She has performed with, among others, the London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bayerisher Rundfunkorchester, and the Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw. In the course of 25 years as an internationally traveled pianist, she has given thousands of performances and made radio and television recordings in Poland and abroad. Her most recent recordings are Chopin's complete mazurkas, Fantasia on the Polish Airs op. 13 with Sinfonia Varsovia under Jacek Kaspszyk (world premiere recording) for BeArTon/National Edition/ and Schumann solo recitals for Victor Entertainment INC Japan.

The Andrzej Jagodziński Trio's first album, Chopin, was named Best Record of 1994 by Jazz Forum magazine and won the Fryderyk Award (Polish Grammy) as best jazz record of the year. The Jagodziński Trio has since continued to explore jazz interpretations of Chopin. Their CD output includes Chopin-Live at the National Philharmonic (1997), Chopin Once More (1999) and Chopin -Sonata in B flat minor (2009). The trio was a key influence in launching the Chopin stream in Polish jazz.

Andrzej Jagodziński (b. 1953), pianist, composer and arranger, received his degrees from the Fryderyk Chopin Conservatory. Recognition he has garnered includes winning first prize for Pianist of the Year in 1979 at the Old Jazz Meeting Zlota Tarka, numerous nominations for the Fryderyk Award, and being named Jazz Artist of the Year in 1994. Jagodzinski has toured in most European countries, Australia, and the United States. He has played with some of the best jazz groups in Poland including the Old Timers, String Connection, the Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet, the Big Warsaw Band, Quintessence, the Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski Quartet and Jarek Smietana's Polish All Star. In 1993 he created a band bearing his own name, the Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio.

Czesław Bartkowski (b. 1943), jazz drummer, made his debut in 1960 and has performed widely for the last 45 years with many ensembles, including the Krzysztof Komeda Quintet, the Zbigniew Namyslowski Quartet, Niemen "Enigmatic", the Adam Makowicz-Tomasz Stanko Trio, the Michal Urbaniak and Urszula Dudziak Group, with Wojtek Karolak and many others. He has also performed at prestigious jazz festivals including the Newport Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the New York Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. He has been a member of Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio since 1993 and is an honorary member of the Tauranga Jazz Festival Society and the New Orleans Club, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Adam Cegielski (b. 1967), bass player, graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Conservatory in Warsaw and has won prizes in many prestigious European jazz competitions. In 1994 he was ranked the 3rd Best Bass Player by the Polish Jazz Forum magazine and received the Krzysztof Komeda Award. He has played with the Andrzej Jagodzinski Trio for the last 15 years and has recorded soundtracks for White and Red Kieslowski's movies, as well as music to Farewell to Maria film with jazz trumpeter Tomasz Stańko.

Leszek Możdżer (b. 1971), pianist, composer and producer, graduated from the St. Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk. For several years in the 1990s, Jazz Forum's poll voted Możdżer Most Promising Musician, Best Jazz Pianist, and Musician of the Year. He has since collected numerous music awards. He has worked with acclaimed international musicians, including Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Arthur Blythe, Buster Williams, Billy Harper, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, and Archie Shepp, and has recorded over 100 albums (as soloist and sideman), including his improvisations on themes by Chopin, Chopin Impressions (1994), Chopin Demain-Impressions (1999).

***

Thursday, March 11, 2010
6:00 PM

***

The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

***

Music at The Phillips Collection

"I was a student at Juilliard when I was invited to give a concert at the Phillips. It was a concert I've never forgotten. First of all, the Phillips was very supportive of young artists who were not well known. Second, in the midst of that great art, it was a fantastic place to perform. Music sounds well there. The concerts at the Phillips are a vital part of the musical life of Washington. What the Phillips has done for artists-encouraging, nourishing and inspiring young, not-yet-established painters-it has also done for musicians....There are many wonderful artists around who would not have the opportunity to perform were it not for the Phillips."

Emanuel Ax

Museum founder Duncan Phillips (1886-1966) believed that the experiences of art and music were complementary and intertwined. He envisioned The Phillips Collection as a place where the public would be encouraged to establish correspondences among various art forms that would inspire different ways of thinking. The Phillips in its music programming focuses on contemporary artists and their sources, thus combining old and new and embracing Duncan Phillips's idea of the arts connecting creative spirits across the ages. This consistent devotion to the relationship between tradition and innovation has resulted in one of the richest and most varied chamber music series in the United States. As music provides people with "spiritual nourishment and exultation," Phillips believed that "paintings ... speak to their souls in the same musical way."
A vital part of the Phillips's cultural offerings, Sunday Concerts is noted for attracting both established and emerging masters. The Phillips has hosted concerts and lectures on musical topics since it first opened to the public in 1921; its formal concert series began in 1941 and continues today under the direction of Caroline Mousset. The house's lovely Music Room, paneled in quarter-sawn smoked oak, has been the site of important early performances by Glenn Gould, Carmen Balthrop, Emanuel Ax, Jessye Norman, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Embassy of the Republic of Poland

is pleased to inform about

the screening of Polish Documentary Short Subject nominated for the 82nd Academy Awards®

"Rabbit à la Berlin"

by Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

"Rabbit à la Berlin" is an important lesson of history that a system of order intended to produce one result will often give birth to something entirely unexpected. So it was with the Berlin Wall, which in fact, consisted of two separate walls, one on the east and one on the west with a 120-kilometre strip of land between them. The enclosed patch was unintentionally converted into a kind of rabbit reserve as the walls encircled the lush green meadows of Potsdamer Platz and cut its rabbit population off from both escape and predators. The animals lived there for 28 years - enclosed but safe. But then one day the walls came down and the rabbits were suddenly freed from a restrictive system, albeit one to which they had become accustomed. Told in the style of a nature documentary, with a captivatingly dreamy tone and a tongue-in-cheek nod to the story's allegorical significance, "Rabbit à la Berlin" provides a fascinating history lesson told through the eyes of animals.

"Rabbit à la Berlin" is Polish-German co-production of Anna Wydra MS Films, Telewizja Polska and ma.ja.de Filmproduktion, MDR, RBB in association with ARTE, YLE, Lichtpunt, VPRO. Film is supported by Polish Film Institute, MEDIA Programme and Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.

The nomination to the Academy Award was preceded by other prestigious awards at many film festivals around the world among them Hot Docs Toronto 2009, Canada: Award for Best Mid-Length Doc; Planete Doc Review Warsaw 2009, Poland: Magic Hour Award for Best Mid-Lenght Film; Cracow IFF 2009, Poland: Golden Hobby-Horse in National Competition / Bronislaw Chromy Sculpture for Best Producer of Polish Short and Documentary Films; Hamptons IFF 2009, USA: Golden Starfish Award for Best Film of Conflict & Resolution; Jihlava IDF 2009, Czech Republic: Silver Eye Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary; Polish FF Chicago 2009, USA: Golden Teeth Award.

DIRECTION: Bartosz Konopka
SCRIPT: Bartosz Konopka, Piotr Rosołowski
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Piotr Rosołowski
MUSIC: Maciej Cieślak
EDITING: Mateusz Romaszkan
SOUND: Radosław Ochnio, Franciszek Kozłowski, Michał Bagiński, Teresa Bagińska
PRODUCED BY: MS Films
PRODUCER: Anna Wydra

***

Sunday, March 7, 2010
12:00 PM

***

William G. McGowan Theater
National Archives Experience
Constitution Avenue NW
[between 7th & 9th Street]
Washington, DC 20408

***

The screening is presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in partnership with the Charles Guggenheim Center for the Documentary Film and the Foundation for the National Archives.

The Polish production will be screened together with all the Documentary Short Subject Nominees. Total Running Time: 199 minutes (with a brief intermission)

Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations will be accepted. Free tickets will be distributed at the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue, 60 minutes prior to start time. You must be present to receive a ticket. Theater doors will open 30 minutes prior to start time. The saving of seats is strictly prohibited.

More information at: http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/events/march.html#awards 

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
and
Polish American Arts Association of Washington DC

cordially invite

to a concert celebrating
the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Fryderyk Chopin

by Dr. Raymond T. Jackson

1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849

"A Varsovian by birth, a Pole at heart, and through his talent a citizen of the world..."

C. K. Norwid

Raymond Jackson is an internationally celebrated concert pianist, graduate of two of the world's most prestigious institutions - The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (Massachusetts) and The Juilliard School in New York City, Professor of Music at Howard University, recording artist, scholar, researcher and author.

***

Saturday, March 6, 2010
6.00-8.30 p.m.

***

Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16th Street NW
Washington, DC

***

Tickets $50, by reservation only
Proceeds to benefit the PAAA Scholarship Fund.

Check payable to PAAA
mail to:
Ted Mirecki, PAAA Treasurer
4041 41st Street N.
McLean, VA 22101

Names of all guests must be provided.
Seating limited - reservation deadline March 1, 2010

Information: Ted Mirecki, phone: 703-241-1149