Historian Norman Davies Visits the Modjeska Club!

The Board of Directors of the Modjeska Club is honored to inform you about a lecture by the eminent British historian, Prof. Norman Davies, “European History: Aspects Non-Europeans Don’t Always Know” (in English, with discussion in Polish). This extraordinary event will take place on Saturday, May 19th, 2012, 4:00 p.m., at the elegant residence of Helena and Stanley Kolodziey in Beverly Hills, CA.

Prof. Norman Davies (b. 1939) of Welsh descent, was educated at Bolton School, Magdalen College, Oxford, the University of Sussex and at several universities including Grenoble, Perugia and Kraków. His academic career centered on the School of Slavonic Studies, University of London, where he was successively Lecturer, Reader and Professor. Throughout his career, Davies has lectured in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Poland, and the rest of Europe.

Davies holds honorary doctorates from Jagiellonian University (since 2003), Lublin, Gdańsk and Warsaw (since 2007), and his alma mater, University of Sussex. He is a member of the Polish Academy of Learning (PAU) and the Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea, and fellowships of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society. Davies is also an honorary citizen of Warsaw, Wrocław, Lublin and Kraków.

Davies' first book, White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20 (1972) was followed by God's Playground (1981), a comprehensive overview of Polish history, and Heart of Europe (1984) a briefer history of Poland. Europe: A History (1996) and The Isles: A History (1999), about Europe and the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, respectively.

Davies' book Rising '44. The Battle for Warsaw and Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory (2006) focused on World War II. In 2002, he co-authored a history of Wrocław / Breslau. President of Poland in exile, Edward Raczyński decorated Davies with the Order of Polonia Restituta. On 22 December 1998 he received the Grand Cross (1st class) of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

This event is open only to Club members in good standing and VIP guests of the Polish Consulate. For more information email Maja Trochimczyk, President at: prezes@modjeskaclub.org.

_____________________________________________________

CLUB CALENDAR

June 23, 2012 - General Election Meeting, Pasadena, CA. For club members in good standing.

September 30, 2012 - "Pola Negri" - Polish Theater at Magicopolis.

Piano Keys & Clouds with Maciej Grzybowski, May 11, 2012, in Santa Monica

Keys and Clouds – A Piano Recital by Maciej Grzybowski


Friday, 11 May 2012, 7:30 p.m.


The First Presbyterian Church (1220 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90401)

The Board of Directors of the Modjeska Club, in association with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute of Poland, and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles has the pleasure to invite you to a piano recital by one of most eminent Polish pianists, Maciej Grzybowski.

The Keys & Clouds Recital will take place on Friday, May 11th, 2012, 7:00 p.m., at the First Presbyterian Church (1220 2nd St., Santa Monica, CA 90401).

The program will include music by Polish composers (Paweł Mykietyn, Witold Lutosławski, Paweł Szymański, Fryderyk Chopin), and Western classics – Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel.





Born and educated in Warsaw, Maciej Grzybowski is the winner of the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 20th Century Music Competition for Young Performers in Warsaw (1992). He made numerous phonographic, radio and television recordings as a soloist and chamber musician and collaborated with Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by such maestros as Jan Krenz, Witold Lutosławski and Krzysztof Penderecki. From 1996 to 2000 Grzybowski was a co-director of the "NONSTROM presents" concert cycle in Warsaw. He took part in numerous music festivals in Poland, e.g., the Warsaw Autumn, Musica Polonica Nova, Witold Lutoslawski Forum, Warsaw Musical Encounters, and Polish Radio Music Festival. He also performed at the Biennial of Contemporary Music in Zagreb, Hofkonzerte im Podewil, Berlin and festivals in Lvov, Kiev, and Odessa (Ukraine).

In March 2005 Grzybowski’s recital at the Mozart Hall in Bologna was recognized as the greatest event of the decade. After Grzybowski’s U.S. debut in New York, in August 2006 EMI Classics released his second solo CD with works by Paweł Szymański. He also appeared in three concerts at the critically acclaimed Festival of Paweł Szymański's Music in Warsaw. In February 2008, he premiered a Piano Concerto by an unjustly forgotten composer, Andrzej Czajkowski. Bohdan Pociej, one of the most famous Polish music critics said: “How refreshing and exciting it is to be in the presence of such great art of interpretation akin to a genius!”

The event is free to Club members and a $15 donation will be collected from guests. Reception to follow. Please do not forget to stock our buffet with beverages and desserts. Affordable public parking is across the street.

Beth Holmgren's Modjeska at the Bowers Museum, April 22, 2012 at 1:30 p.m.

The Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club is proud to co-sponsor a lecture by Prof. Beth Holmgren (Duke University), “On Tour with Madame Modjeska.” The lecture will take place on Sunday, Apr 22 1:30 pm to 2:30pm, followed by a reception at Bowers Museum (2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, CA 92706, tel. 714.567.3600). Free with museum admission tickets ($8.00).

Beth Holmgren, Ph.D. Professor of Slavic Cultures and Theater Studies, and chair of the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Duke University, will read from her recently published biography of the great Polish-American actress Helena Modjeska (1840-1909). This lecture will feature numerous photographs from the Bowers Museum collection. The book signing will follow.

Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America (Indiana University Press, 2011) traces the meteoric rise to international fame of Poland’s leading actress, Helena Modrzejewska (1840-1909), who emigrated to the U.S. in 1876. After the failure of her plans to establish a utopian community on an estate in Orange County, CA, she changed her name to Modjeska and quickly became a leading star on the American stage, where she reigned for the next 30 years. During this time, she established herself as America's most esteemed Shakespearean actress, playing opposite such celebrated actors as Edwin Booth and Maurice Barrymore. Prof. Beth Holmgren is author of, among other books, Women's Works in Stalin's Time, editor (with Helena Gościło) of Poles Apart: Women in Modern Polish Culture, and translator and editor (with Helena Gościło) of The Keys to Happiness by Anastasya Verbitskaya.

The event is presented in association with the Helena Modjeska Foundation that sponsors their own event on Saturday, April 21, 2012. See the attached flyer. For more information, please e-mail education@bowers.org or call 714.567.3677.

_____________________________________

Modjeska Luncheon and Book Signing

for the Helena Modjeska Foundation of Orange County

will take place on Saturday, April 21, at 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

at the Irvine Ranch Historic Park:

13109 Old Myford Road

Irvine, CA 92602


Tickets are $30 for lunch. Advanced reservations are required.
Call (949) 923-2230 with questions.

Modjeska Club Wishes and Plans for April and May

Best wishes of wonderful holidays of Easter and Passover to all our members and friends!

Wszystkiego Najlepszego!!!

from the President and the Board of Directors



Next event: Beth Holmgren's Book Reading from Starring Madame Modjeska, Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, April 22, 2012 (Sunday), at 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. $8 Museum admission.

Beth Holmgren, Professor of Slavic and Eurasian Studies and Theater Studies at Duke University, has recently published Starring Madame Modjeska: On Tour in Poland and America (Indiana University Press, 2011). The biography traces the meteoric rise to international fame of Poland’s leading actress, Helena Modrzejewska (1840-1909), who emigrated to the U.S. in 1876. After the failure of her plans to establish a utopian community on an estate in Orange County, CA, she changed her name to Modjeska and quickly became a leading star on the American stage, where she reigned for the next 30 years. During this time, she established herself as America's most esteemed Shakespearean actress, playing opposite such celebrated actors as Edwin Booth and Maurice Barrymore.

Starring Madame Modjeska traces the actress's extraordinary life and career from her birth in poverty in Kraków, to her successive reinventions of herself as a star in both Poland and America. Prof. Beth Holmgren is author of, among other books, Women's Works in Stalin's Time, editor (with Helena Goscilo) of Poles Apart: Women in Modern Polish Culture, and translator and editor (with Helena Gościło) of The Keys to Happiness by Anastasya Verbitskaya.


MOTHER'S DAY CONCERT BY MACIEJ GRZYBOWSKI
Friday, May 11, 2012, 7:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica, CA

A special treat for Mother's Day - a virtuoso from Poland will present Polish music for Modjeska Club members (free) - and our friends and guests - 15 dollars donation per person. Public parking at nearby lots. Dessert reception to follow.



ALBUMS FROM OUR RECENT EVENTS:

1. Polish-Lithuanian Connection, Piano Recital by Aron Kallay at USC Newman Recital Hall, March 23, 2012 and Guided Tour of Alina Szapocznikow Exhibition at the UCLA Hammer Museum on March 23 - Picasa Web Album for USC and the Hammer Museum

2. 40th Anniversary Ball, 4 February 2012 at the Mountaingate Country Club, Brentwood, CA: Web Album by Grazyna Gasiorowska

Guided Tour of the Szapocznikow Exhibition, Hammer Museum, 3/23/2012

The Board of Directors of the Modjeska Club is pleased to invite you to join us at a special guided tour of the exhibition

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972

at 2:00pm on Saturday, March 24, 2012.

Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310.443.7000)

About the exhibition

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972
February 5 – April 29, 2012

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972 is the first museum survey in the United States devoted to this Polish artist. The exhibition brings to light the extraordinary oeuvre of Alina Szapocznikow, one of the most significant yet lesser known sculptors of the 20th century. At the core of Szapocznikow’s art is the ephemeral condition of life and the human body. Her work oscillates between permanence and impermanence, from carvings in Carrara marble to the precarious assemblages of lips and breasts cast in polyester resin. The exhibition includes approximately 60 sculptures and 50 works on paper, as well as a poignant group of photographic works, demonstrating the tremendous range and scope of Alina Szapocznikow’s art.

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972 is organized by WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, and the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, in collaboration with the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The exhibition is curated by Elena Filipovic and Joanna Mytkowska.

This exhibition and the accompanying catalogue are generously supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Hammer Museum’s presentation is made possible through major gifts from Erika Glazer and Alice and Nahum Lainer. Generous support is also provided by Herta and Paul Amir. The exhibition is made possible by additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rosette V. Delug, Alisa and Kevin Ratner, The Audrey & Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, and the Consulate General of Poland, Los Angeles.

About the Event

A special tour of the exhibition will be led by Allegra Pesenti, the coordinating curator of Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972. Pesenti joined the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at the Hammer Museum in 2007, where she recently curated Rachel Whiteread Drawings (2010).

She earned her PhD in 2006 from The Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and has been involved in the organization of exhibitions of old master drawings at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and at the Louvre in Paris. She formerly served as Assistant Curator of Drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

This Modjeska Club event is organized by Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow Joanna Szupinska.

_________________________


Images:

Petit Dessert I (Small Dessert I), 1970-71. Colored polyester resin and glass. 3 3/16 x 4 5/16 x 5 1/8 in. (8 x 11 x 13 cm). Kravis Collection. © The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow/Piotr Stanislawski/ADAGP, Paris. Photo by Thomas Mueller, courtesy BROADWAY 1602, New York, and Galerie Gisela Capitain GmbH, Cologne. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

Allegra Pesenti. Photo by Margo Graxeda.

USC Polish-Lithuanian Concert - Bruzdowicz, Krausas & Zebrowski, 3/23/2012

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Modjeska Club, it is a pleasure to invite you to a concert celebrating Polish and Lithuanian composers and organized by USC’s Polish Music Center on Friday, March 23, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the Alfred Newman Recital Hall on the USC campus (3616 Trousdale Parkway, L.A., CA 90089).

The concert, a part of PMC’s Festival of Premieres, will present world premieres of UN-intermezzi (2012) for piano by Veronika Krausas and Five Piano Preludes (2000) by Marek Żebrowski as well as California premiere of Pasaka by Vykintas Baltakas. Joanna Bruzdowicz’s Erotiques pour piano (1966) will not be a premiere, but will be graced by the presence of the composer. Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Piano Sonata (composed in 1956, revised in 1990), and Five Character Pieces by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis will round off the evening.

This concert is a USC Thornton Faculty Recital by pianist Aron Kallay, a pianist and composer who champions contemporary and microtonal music, and music that combines electronics with acoustic instruments. He is a member of the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music and Chapman University.

Joanna Bruzdowicz studied in Poland and France (with Nadia Boulanger, Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Schaeffer). She wrote her doctoral thesis "Mathematics and Logic in Contemporary Music" at the Sorbonne. As a composer she devotes her attention to opera, symphonic and chamber music, works for children, and music for film and television. She wrote four concerti, six stage works, and numerous chamber pieces, as well as over 25 hours of film music. Her works have been issued on 12 CDs and over 20 LPs; she has been featured in TV programs produced in Belgium, France, Germany and Poland.

Composer Veronika Krausas has had her works performed internationally. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) writes that "her works, whose organic, lyrical sense of storytelling are supported by a rigid formal elegance, give her audiences a sense that nature's frozen objects are springing to life." Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said of her chamber opera "Something novel this way comes."

Krausas has received commissions from the Penderecki String Quartet, San Francisco Choral Artists and the Alexander String Quartet, ERGO Projects, Continuum Music, Toca Loca, and Motion Music. She holds music composition degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from USC’s Thornton School of Music.

In 2009, the Penderecki String Quartet gave the US Premiere of her work midaregami at REDCAT. Her chamber opera The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth was premiered with the New York City Opera in 2008 and a full production was mounted in Los Angeles in 2010. Language of the Birds, a commission for the 25th Anniversary of the San Francisco Choral Artists and the Alexander String Quartet, using text by the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, was premiered in 2011 in San Francisco and released on CD with Foghorn Classics.

Krausas has directed, composed for, and produced multi-media events in Los Angeles that incorporate her works with dance, acrobatics and video. She is an Assistant Professor in the Composition Department and the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Theory at the Thornton School of Music, on the advisory board of Jacaranda Music, an associate artist with The Industry and Catalysis Projects. She is of Lithuanian descent and her parents live in Canada.

Marek Żebrowski (on the right with David Lynch) studied in Poland, France (with Robert Casadesus and Nadia Boulanger), and the U.S. As a pianist-composer he has recorded for Apollo Records, Titanic and Harmonia Mundi labels and frequently appears in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras worldwide. The catalogue of his compositions includes orchestral and chamber works, numerous piano compositions and transcriptions, as well as film and stage scores. He has received commissions from Meet The Composer, The New England String Quartet, and Premiere Productions and Central Europe Trust in the United Kingdom, among others. Since 2004, he has served as the Director of USC Polish Music Center; he also is the author of two books on Paderewski and Chopin, and frequently lectures on music.


Admission is free and open to the public. Reception of Polish desserts to follow. Information: www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/Events/2012festofpremieres.html Parking: $8, Parking Structure X at USC Gate 3 [McCarthy Way and Figueroa St.]

______________________________

NOTE: Reconstructed coat of arms of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth by Avalokiteshvara on the website of Wikimedia Commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth.svg

Maria Pilatowicz at the Ruskin, with Zhou and Katisse, 3/11/2012

You are cordially invited to a celebration of the literary talents of our own Maria Pilatowicz. She will read fragments from her novel, Walking on Ice (Tate Publishing, 2012) and will be interviewed by Andrzej Maleski. The star of our evening will also sign her books that will be available for purchase.

The program will start from a mini-concert by Sue Zhou and Katisse, presenting Bach Piazzola, and Szymanowska. The event will take place at the historical Ruskin Art Club, a 120-year old cultural landmark of Los Angeles (800 South Plymouth Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90005) on Sunday, March 11, 2011 at 7 p.m. Free for members, $10 donation from guests.

Maria J. Pilatowicz was born and raised in Warsaw, Poland. She earned her BA in English at California State University, Northridge, and her MA at the Professional Writing Program of the University of Southern California. Her essays appeared in New Horizon International Review and Northridge Review. Her fiction was published in the Southern California Anthology, in The Southern Anthology and in What(!) Magazine. It also appeared locally in various small presses. She is a finalist of Southern Prize Competition, recipient of the honorable mention in ED Moses Writing Competition, and in the category of Literary Short Story in Writer Digest Magazine Writing Competition. http://mariapilatowicz.com.

From the publisher's website: "In Walking on Ice, Maria Pilatowicz paints a poignant picture of a girl breaking into adolescence while trying to balance on the system's slippery surface. Agnes, a young girl in Poland, shares her life with us as she tries to find her place in her family and her country. But the more she learns, the more out of place she becomes. When Comrade Stalin dies, Agnes's father pushes the limits and is sent to prison for crimes against them. So now Agnes and her mother are alone in the icy waters of an oppressive system run by an unpredictable government. Agnes starts to learn the difference between truth and lies, but she knows she can never escape as long as they are in charge."



A MUSIC INTERLUDE BY SUE ZHOU AND KATISSE

Program:

1. J.S. Bach - Flute Sonata No.1 in b minor BWV 1030, - 1st movement, Andante
Sue Zhou - piano, Katisse - Flute

2. Astor Piazzolla - Tango No.2, Andante rubato, melancolico
Sue Zhou - piano

3. Maria Agata Szymanowska - Menuetto and Trio, No.1 and 2
Sue Zhou - piano
Katisse - tenor saxophone

Hailing from Shanghai, China, Sue Zhou started her formal piano training at the age of 15. She continued her education by graduating from the Los Angeles High School for the Arts, specializing in Classical Piano under the tutelage of Roza Yoder. She received her Bachelors in Classical Performance from UC Irvine under the instruction of Dr. Lorna Griffitt. In the past years, she has taken part and performed in festivals all over the world, including Los Angeles, France, Italy and China. Ms. Zhou recently completed her Masters in Classical Piano Performance at Azusa Pacific University, guided by Professor Yoder. Recent wins include the CAPMT Sonata Adult Division I competition. Sue is blessed to have a burgeoning studio in the West Los Angeles area, and is an active member of the MTAC.


Katisse graduated from the L.A. County High School for the Arts and then from the Grove School of Music where he studied with multi-Grammy winning jazz legend, Rob McConnell. He received an NEA Jazz Fellowship Grant to study with woodwind master, Bill Green, attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen Michigan, and won the L.A. Jazz Society's New Talent Award. Upon hearing Katisse as a guest soloist with the LA Guitar Quartet Allan Kozinn of The New York Times described him as , "...a flutist whose ornate improvisations transformed this vocal score into a virtuosic instrumental work". Tom Meek wrote this for the LA Weekly pick of the week- "Katisse Buckingham leads a double musical life, most often as one of the area's most sought-after woodwind players. But on the last Thursday of every month, he leads his own band in a unique mix of jazz, soul, hip-hop & rap, beatboxing his way through flutes and leaving even seasoned studio veterans often in astonishment."

Katisse plays Tenor, Alto & Soprano Saxophones, Flute, Alto Flute & Ethnic Flutes as well as spoken word. He has performed and/or recorded with Yellowjackets, Prince, Dr. Dre, Airto & Flora Purim, Billy Childs, Vanessa Paradis, Herbie Hancock, Poncho Sanchez, Dave Douglas, Andy Summers, Pete Yorn, Colin Hay, Brian Auger, John Patitucci, Ricky Lawson, Terri Lyne Carrington, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Strunz and Farah, Bill Summers, Jimmy Haslip, Russ Ferrente, Bob Hurst, Tom Brechtline, Munyungo Jackson, Gary Novak, Gary Thomas, Alphonso Johnson, B-Sharp Jazz Quartet, Don Grusin, Dean Parks, Greg Phillinganes, Harvey Mason, Abe Laboriel (Sr. and Jr.), Sandro Albert, Otmaro Ruiz, Wah, Amma, Gerry Gibbs, Monday Michiru, Jaz Klash, Raya Yarbrough, Down to the Bone, Sara Gazarek, Jimmy Johnson, Will Kennedy, Russ Kunkel, Robben Ford, Mike Elizando, Deepsky, The Angel, Patrice Rushen, DJ Quik, Non Amiss, Xzibit and Kurupt. He has played on numerous films (including the "jazz flute" scene in the Will Ferrell film, Anchorman).


THE MODJESKA CLUB AND FRIENDS - OTHER EVENTS IN MARCH

March 4, 7 p.m.: "Monsieur Chopin" with Hershey Felder at the Pasadena Playhouse

March 16, 8 p.m.: Concert of Joanna Bruzdowicz at CSUN School of Music

March 23, 8 p.m.: Concert of Polish-Lithuanian Music at USC (Newman Recital Hall at USC)

March 24, 2 p.m.: Guided Tour of the Alina Szapocznikow Exhibition, Hammer Museum at UCLA, with Joanna Szupińska and Allegra Pesenti

April 22, 2 p.m.: Book Reading and Signing of a new Modjeska biography by Prof. Beth Holmgren, Bowers Museum, Santa Ana.

In addition, there will be a concert of Czerwone Gitary on March 3, a retrospective of films by Andrzej Zulawski with the director in attendance at the opening gala at the end of the month, and another concert at USC, on March 24 at 4 p.m. with a program including Wieniawski and Meyer.