Chicago Philharmonic Embarks On Groundbreaking Polish Music Exchange And Festival

Celebrating Chicago's rich cultural history, the Chicago Philharmonic Society is proud to announce its first-ever international classical music exchange will occur in 2018. The exchange of music, musicians, and culture will take place in Poland this April. Later this year, a five-day festival of Polish music in Chicago, the Chicago Philharmonic Festival: Poland 2018, will join in the worldwide celebration of Poland's 100-year National Independence Day, which commemorates the restoration of the country's sovereignty in 1918. The two-part project launches on April 8 2018, when ten Chicago Philharmonic musicians and Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Scott Speck will begin a week-long trip to the Polish cultural capital Kraków.

The musicians will work with students at the Academy of Music in Kraków by leading master classes and side-by-side symphonic rehearsals. The rehearsals, led by Scott Speck, will culminate in a concert of symphonic music by American composers on Friday, April 13 2018 featuring both the Chicago Philharmonic musicians and students from the Academy of Music. Works performed will include Jennifer Hidgon's blue cathedral, George Walker's Lyric for Strings, and Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.

On Saturday, April 14 2018 the Chicago Philharmonic musicians will travel to the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre of Music in Lus?awice, Poland, a music and culture venue which was conceived and created by famous composer Krzysztof Penderecki and opened officially in 2013. At the Penderecki Centre, Chicago Philharmonic musicians will present a chamber concert showcasing the following American and Chicagoan works for string quartet, solo percussion, and brass quintet:

The second part of the project concludes in November with the Chicago Philharmonic Festival: Poland 2018. Chicago Philharmonic anticipates this festival as the first of a biannual initiative showcasing the different communities which make up Chicago's cultural landscape. Highlights of this five-day festival include a Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra concert featuring works by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Karol Szymanowski, Andrzej Panufnik, and Frederic Chopin at the Copernicus Center. Featured in this orchestral performance is the young piano virtuoso ?ukasz Krupi?ski, performing Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante by Chopin and one of "the greatest Polish piano achievements," Paderewski's Piano Concerto in A minor. Also a part of the festival is Wojciech Kilar's Missa Pro Pace (Mass for Peace) for orchestra, organ, choir, and soloists, which will be performed at historic St. Hyacinth Basilica and led by outstanding Polish conductor Marek Mo?, Conductor, Artistic Director of the AUKSO chamber orchestra who has received numerous awards including the Contemporary Music Competition in Kraków (1979), the UNESCO International Tribune in Paris (1984, 1988), the Polish Composers' Union Prize (1994, 2005) and the Ministry of Culture's 'Gloria Artist' silver award (2005).

The festival will also feature guest performances by Poland-based, internationally-renowned artists including the acclaimed Fryderyk Award and 2017 Gramophone Classical Music Award-winning Silesian String Quartet, presenting a concert of all contemporary works. Also featured as a soloist is Polish jazz pianist and composer Piotr Orzechowski, who was the first Polish 1st Prize winner of the legendary Swiss Montreux Jazz Solo Piano Competition. Additionally, the festival will feature an organ recital by Academy of Music and noted Kraków organ professor Andrzej Bia?ko, who has recorded multiple albums with Polish record label Dux Records. The festival will also feature collaborations with two eminent local organizations: The Lira Ensemble and Paderewski Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The full line-up, tickets and festival pass details will be announced soon.

This project is made possible in part by an International Connections Fund from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, as well as partial support from the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago, Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne (Polish Music Publishing House) in Warsaw, the Polish Cultural Institute New York, the Polish Museum of America, Copernicus Center in Chicago, and LOT Polish Airlines.

The Chicago Philharmonic Festival: Poland 2018 is also in part supported by many partner organizations, including the Academy of Music in Kraków, The Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lus?awice, and Richard Guérin at RSG Music Inc. in New York.

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