Home
POLISH AMERICANS NEWS
Polonia World News

First - Ever Chicago Philharmonic Festival: Poland 2018

October 13, 2018

Celebrating Chicago’s rich cultural history, the Chicago Philharmonic Society is proud to announce its first-ever international classical music festival, joining in the worldwide celebration of Poland’s 100-year National Independence Day which commemorates the restoration of the country’s sovereignty in 1918.

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 Łukasz Krupiński, performing Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante by Chopin and one of “the greatest Polish piano achievements,” Paderewski’s Piano Concerto in A minor. Pre-concert entertainment will be presented by eminent local organization, the Lira Ensemble singers.

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 Moś, Conductor, Artistic Director of the AUKSO chamber orchestra who has received numerous awards including the Contemporary Music Competition in Krakow (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 Chicago Philharmonic will also be joined by members of the Paderewski Symphony Chorus

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 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 Białko, who has recorded multiple albums with Polish record label Dux Records.