After the musicological conference dedicated to Karol Szymanowski, held on 15 and 16 October 2011 as a part of the Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute along with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing published a book in Chinese about Polish contemporary music.
The conference featured many Chinese musicologists interested in Polish music, some of whom had published works on the subject. Thanks to the Central Conservatory’s support, the publication has a chance to spread knowledge in China about Polish music. The publication contains articles by two Polish musicologists (Marcin Gmys and Agnieszka Chwiłek), as well as others by Chinese researchers and musicians which depict the composer in the context of the contemporary Polish music.
Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) was inspired by romanticism in his works, especially the music of Wagner and Strauss. He is considered to be the father of modernism in Polish classical music. His fascination with the Orient can be noticed in many of his works from the 1914-1919 period.
The book was published in August 2014 by Central Conservatory of Music Publishing, in cooperation with Beijing Modern Music Festival. Its editor-in-chief was Prof. Ye Xiaogang, the festival’s artistic director.
The Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, besides the Shanghai conservatory, is the most important centre of musical education in China. The conference, which gathered a wide group of Chinese musicologists interested in Karol Szymanowski, was a chance to maintain this interest and stimulate further research, especially on the music of other distinguished Polish contemporary composers such as Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki.
"On Karol Szymanowski and Polish Music"
edited by prof. Ye Xiaogang
Central Conservatory of Music Publishing
Source: editor's materials, culure.pl, September 2014