News
Honoured Prize for Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar
2003-05-27
Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar was awarded by the Honoured Prize. The Prize is announced yearly by the Fundacja Kultury Polskiej (Polish Culture Fundation).
The ceremony will take place on June 4 (12 p.m.) at Fontana Hall of City of Cracow Historic Museum.
Among the other prize winners there are: Irena Wollen and Mieczysław Porębski.
Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar, the Polish composer, a graduate of the State Higher Music School (now the Academy of Music) in Cracow, was born on 5 September 1924 in Lvov. She studied the piano with Jan Hoffman and composition with Stanisław Wiechowicz, gaining diplomas in both areas in 1955. In 1963 she started to work as a teacher in the Cracow Academy, with which she has been connected ever since. She lectures on composition, instrumentation, fugue and the contemporary compositional techniques. Between 1974-75 she was Head of the Composition Department of the Cracow Academy; then she performed the duties of the Dean of the Faculty of Composition, Conducting and Theory of Music (1975-79). In 1978 she became Vice-rector and between 1987-93 she held the post of Rector of this institution. Between 1964-71 she performed the function of the chairman of the Cracow Branch of the Polish Composers' Union and between 1971-73 she was active in the Main Management of the Polish Composers' Union. She has sat on juries of many Polish and foreign composition competitions. Between 1993-1999 she was a member of the Council for the Higher Artistic Schools.
The composer's work has enjoyed unusual esteem from the beginning. In 1954 she won a distinction at the competition of the Circle of the Young Composers of the Polish Composers' Union for her Oberek from the Suite of the Polish Dances, in 1961 and 1966 - distinctions for Hexaedre and Exodus at the International Competition for Women Composers in Mannheim; she was awarded first prize and gold medal at the International Competition for Women Composers at Buenos Aires for her Music for Strings (1962), third prize at the Artur Malawski Composition Competition in Cracow for Concertante Variations (1966) and second prize at the Karol Szymanowski Composition Competition for Polish Madonnas (1974). Moreover, she is the winner of many other prizes, including the prize of the Polish Composers' Union, the Ministry of Culture and Art (honoured five times), the prize of the Prime Minister for her work for children and young people. She has also been decorated with the Gold Cross of Merit, the Chevalier's Cross of the Order of the Restoration of Poland, the Officer's Cross of the Order of the Restoration of Poland as well as the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Restoration of Poland. She has also been conferred the honorary title and the medal "For Contributions to the National Culture".
She has given many lectures on her works, contemporary music and the new notation in Poland and abroad (Leipzig, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Nuremberg, Lvov). In 1994 a television film entitled Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazarwas made as part of the cycle Albums of Cracow Music.
Most popular:
Today, 2 December, marks the start of the 18th edition of one of Europe's most prestigious conducting competitions: the Donatella Flick – London Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition. Grażyna Bacewicz's Concerto for String Orchestra is among the repertoire as an obligatory piece.
This timeless encounter with the music of ‘Poland’s last Romantic’ Tadeusz Baird and with the interpretative feats of NOSPR Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra features three symphonies and four outstanding conductors in both rediscovered historical and new recordings, released together on a 2CD album from ANAKLASIS.
Iconic songs by Zygmunt Konieczny that audiences of Ewa Demarczyk loved decades ago in a new arrangement by Cezary Duchnowski. The latest ANAKLASIS album with Agata Zubel, Andrzej Bauer, Bartek Wąsik and the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Humala is now available for purchase.
The theme of the 37th Krakow International Festival of Composers is music in music. Already in the 1970s, this issue was studied by the outstanding founder of the Krakow Theoretical School, Professor Mieczysław Tomaszewski. He reflected on the subject in an article entitled “At the Opening: why ‘music in music’”, which was published before one of the famous Music Meetings in Baranów.
The theme of Krzysztof Knittel’s work is refuge and the uncertainty and anxiety about the unknown associated with it, as well as the other side of this topic, i.e. the need to provide help and shelter. The text of the oratorio is based on a poem by Tadeusz Sławek. The piece features singing, recitations, choral parts and improvisations based on the traditions of the Middle East. The album was premiered on 15 March during the 11th Festival of Premieres in Katowice.
Musicologists commonly call it “Kras 52” – after the former reference number it was given in the Krasiński Library. It is the most valuable Polish source of medieval polyphonic music, which shaped the soundscape of the court of the first Jagiellons and Kraków at that time. The manuscript is gaining new life now, thanks to a performance edition by Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett and Marc Lewon. “Krasiński Codex” has just been published by PWM Edition with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Frequent guest of the world’s most famous music venues (New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Royal Albert Hall and BBC Proms, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus), in February 2021 Bomsori signed an exclusive contract with the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label. As of this year, she also bears the honourable title of ambassador of Grażyna Bacewicz’s music, which she performs worldwide, promoting the legacy of Poland’s most important woman composer.
The 4CD album featuring songs and instrumental works by the Silesian master goes on sale as of 8 November. Released by the ANAKLASIS music label, it will be premiered on 3 December during a special PWM Edition concert held as part of the 12th International Days of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki at the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice.
The esteemed American-Canadian jazz musician Michael Bates, his Acrobat Ensemble and the Lutosławski Quartet will perform three concerts in Poland in November. The repertoire will include material recorded by the musicians on the album METAMORPHOSES: VARIATIONS ON LUTOSŁAWSKI, released by ANAKLASIS in the REVISIONS series.
The artists have already successfully presented it at Lincoln Center and Barbès Jazz Club in New York. In autumn 2024 we will have the opportunity to hear them live for the first time in Poland: 14.11 - Krakow, 15.11 - Lublin, 17.11 - Wroclaw.
The Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw invites to the inaugural session of the biennial International Digital Musicology Conference, which will be held 23–25 October 2024, at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Poland. The conference focuses on the integration of digital technologies into musicological research, with a special emphasis on introducing digital tools and methods to the Polish academic community, where digital musicology has not yet been widely adopted.
