Beijing, 15.10.2011 - 16.10.2011
Karol Szymanowski's works were performed in Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music (CCoM) by the Szymanowski Quartet. The concert was combined with a symposium dedicated to Karol Szymanowski and Polish music of the twentieth century with participation of both Chinese and Polish reaserchers.
The Szymanowski Quartet was founded in 1995 in Warsaw and quickly became one of the most recognized international quartets of its generation. The group's musicians regularly perform at prestigious festivals world-wide and give concerts at concert halls across Europe, the US, Asia, Australia and South America. The group's high musical standard is reflected in their many awards and distinctions, including being awarded first place at the Premio Vittorio Gui competition in Florence and at the In Memoriam Dimitri Schostakowitsch in Hanover. They were also prize-winners at the International Chamber Music competition in Osaka as well as the International Chamber Music Competition in Melbourne. In 2005 they were the only string quartet to be awarded the Karol Szymanowski Foundation in Warsaw award 'for their particular craft in interpreting the music of Karol Szymanowski and their fantastic achievements on stages across the world'.
In addition to Beijing, the group's series of Asia concerts also included Taiwan (5-6th of October), Hong Kong (8-9th of October) and Tokyo (18th of October).
Taking part in the symposium, beside the Chinese researchers, were renowned experts from Poland - Dr. Marcin Gmys, a musicologist and music critic who collaborates with the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan as well as Dr. Agnieszka Chwilek from the Musicology Institute at the University of Warsaw.
Agnieszka Chwiłek, Ph.D. graduated at the Institute of Musicology, University of Warsaw (Master's thesis: Fugues in Works of Karol Szymanowski, written under supervision of prof. dr hab. Zofia Helman). In the years 1994-2002 she was an Assistant Lecturer at the Division of Theory and Aesthetics of Music, the Institute of Musicology. In 2002 she presented her PhD dissertation on Piano Cycles of Robert Schumann. An Aesthetic Idea of Unity and Its Accomplishment, also prepared under the supervision of prof. dr hab. Zofia Helman. In her research she concentrates on 19th- and 20th-century music, especially on works of Robert Schumann, Karol Szymanowski, Fryderyk Chopin and other Polish composers.
Marcin Gmys, Ph.D. - musicologist and music critic, assistant profesor at the Department of Musicology of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He received his PhD from Adam Mickiewicz University in 2001. He specialises in the music of the French Revolution, operathic theatre of the nineteenth and twentieth century, the music of the Polish modernist movement ("Young Poland in music") and contemporary music (especially the work of Thomas Adès, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Paweł Mykietyn, Krzysztof Penderecki and Paweł Szymański). He has published dozens studies in Polish and foreign musicological volumes and magazines and several books. He is finishing now a habilitation devoted to the problem of connection between Polish music and literature, theatre and painting in the fin-de-siècle. As a music critic, he writes for one of the most important Polish literary magazine Zeszyty Literackie and for Ruch Muzyczny, he co-operates also with Polish Radio Programme 2.
Founded in 1950, The Central Conservatory of Music is the leading national music school in China. It currently houses a student body of approx. 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students from China, other Asian countries as well as Europe and America.
Date: 15th-16th of October, 2011
Venue: Central Conservatory of Music (CCoM)
Organizers: Central Conservatory of Music (CCoM), Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beijing
See also:
Karol Szymanowski is a Flagship Project of the International Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency. For more information on the project, see: Karol Szymanowski.