Hanna Kulenty in Los Angeles, October 8, 2022 Interview for Modjeska Club, October 9 Paderewski Lecture-Recital at USC

We have the distinct pleasure of inviting contemporary music lovers to an interview with Prof. dr Hanna Kulenty, a world-famous composer, who visited our club in 2017. Prof. Kulenty will deliver this year's Paderewski, combined with a concert of her music on Sunday, October 9 at 7 p.m. during an event organized by the Center of Polish Music of the University of Southern California. Location: Newman Recital Hall, USC Campus. Free entrance. $ 14 parking. from Figueroa St. We encourage all our members and friends to listen to this lecture and concert.

Meeting of Prof. Kulenty with members of our Club will take place on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 7:30 pm at Róża Kostrzewska Yoder's music studio, Los Angeles, CA 90031. After the concert, a small snack - fruit and desserts. The seating is limited to 30.  RSVP  to prezes@modjeska.org. Free admission for members, $30 per person for guests, via PayPal with the name of the person booking the ticket (we get payments from companies without names, it's very difficult puzzles!) PayPal address: president@modjeska.org.

NOTE: there is a problem with parking, so we ask everyone to park down below, after exiting the freeway and before taking a sharp right turn and entering the winding and steep street Montecito Dr., We will take the listeners up  to the site in groups ...

Hanna Kulenty (born 1961) is a brilliant contemporary composer, dividing her time between her native Poland, the Netherlands and France. With pieces commissioned and performed by renowned ensembles and musicians all over Europe, the Kulenty catalog includes both intimate solo explorations of form and great sound triumphs - symphonies and operas. She is a professor at the University of Music in Bydgoszcz. She is also a film composer: in 2014 she wrote the soundtrack to the film "Hiszpanka." In 1980-86 she studied composition with Włodzimierz Kotoński at the Academy of Music in Warsaw, and then - in 1986-88 - composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague. For many years, since 1989, she worked as a freelance composer, completing commissions and taking advantage of creative scholarships. In the 2000s, she received her doctorate and is now a professor of composition at the Music University in Bydgoszcz. Her works are published by publishers: Donemus in Amsterdam and PWM in Kraków. Hanna Kulenty has been living in both Warsaw and Arnhem, the Netherlands since 1992.

Courses and lectures: She participated in the International Courses for Young Composers, organized by the Polish Society for Contemporary Music (Polish section ISCM / SIMC) and in the Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt. In 1990-91 she stayed in Berlin as a scholarship holder of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. She has lectured at composition courses, incl. in Apeldoorn (1995), Radziejowice and Munich (1996), Amsterdam (1997) and in California (1998), during the Other Minds 10 festival in San Francisco (2004), Soundstreams Canada (2005).

In 1999-2000 she was a composer-in-residence in the Netherlands. She lectured as a visiting professor at the Conservatory in Zwolle (2005) and at the Academy of Music in Barcelona (2007). Memberships of the jury include Münchener Biennale (1995), International Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam (2002), International New Chamber Opera Competition "Orpheus-Luciano Berio" in Spoleto (2003-2004), Kazimierz Serocki in Warsaw (2004) and the International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music in Krakow (2005 and 2007). She teaches composition in Bydgoszcz as Professor of the Music University. 

Awards, concerts and festivals: Kulenty has received many awards for her work as a composer, incl. in 1985 - 2nd prize at the European Competition for Young Composers in Amsterdam for the piece Ad unum for orchestra (1985), in 1987 - 2nd prize at the Young Composers Competition of the Polish Composers' Union for the piece Ride for 6 percussionists (1987) and - in the same year - Youth Art Award Stanisław Wyspiański. She is also a four-time winner of the Composers 'Competition of the Warsaw Branch of the Polish Composers' Union: in 1986 she won the 1st prize for Quinto for 2 pianos (1986), in 1987 - 1st prize for Breathe for string orchestra (1987), in 1988 - 3rd prize for Cannon for violin and piano (1988) and in 1989 - second prize for Aaa Tre for viola, cello and double bass (1988). In 1999, she was awarded the title of the Composer of the Year in Gelderland.

In November 2000, the radio station Deutschlandfunk in Cologne organized a monographic concert of the composer, which was registered on a CD. In 2003, during the International Rostrum of Composers, organized annually by the International Music Council at UNESCO, the highest score and the title of a "selected" work was received by her Concerto for trumpet and symphony orchestra (2002); the composition was presented in the recording of the premiere performed by the Dutch soloist Marco Blauuwa with the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Belgian conductor Ronald Zollman. In 2015, she received the annual award of the Polish Composers' Union "for outstanding compositional work, strong individual character, combination of musical energy with original formal solutions

Hanna Kulenty's compositions have been performed at festivals around the world, incl. the Huddersfield Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Münchener Biennale, Warsaw Autumn, "Musica Polonica Nova" Festival in Wrocław. They were performed by symphony orchestras in the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland and Germany, led by conductors such as David Porcelijn, Antoni Wit, Peter Hirsch, Peter Eötvös, Ingo Metzmacher, Renato Rivolta and Ronald Zollman. The soloists of her works were: Isabelle van Keulen, Elżbieta Chojnacka, Krzysztof Bąkowski, Marco Blaauw and Frank Peters. They are also played by the Dutch band De ereprijs, commissioned by the composer to write many pieces.

Information about the Paderewski Lecture from the Polish Music Center at USC is below. Our club has been supporting the PMC and its Paderewski Lectures with small donations for many years. 

The 2022 Paderewski Lecture-Recital celebrates Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961), a brilliant contemporary composer who divides time between her native Poland, the Netherlands and France. With works commissioned and performed by renowned ensembles and musicians throughout Europe, Kulenty’s catalogue ranges from intimate solo explorations of form to large-scale triumphs of sound. Selected works will be performed at USC’s Newman Recital Hall on October 9 at 7 p.m. by the Thornton School of Music’s finest musicians, alongside a lecture by the composer about her oeuvre. Presented by the USC Polish Music Center, this event will offer a fascinating variety of works from across Kulenty’s compositional career, played by soloists and chamber ensembles. 

The 2022 Paderewski Lecture-Recital is generously supported by POLAM Credit Union, the Modjeska Art and Culture Club and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles. 

 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9 | 7:00 P.M.

2022 Paderewski Lecture-Recital with Hanna Kulenty

Newman Recital Hall at USC: 3616 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA (map)

FREE admission, no RSVP required. Reception to follow concert

For more details, visit: polishmusic.usc.edu/events/2022-pad-lec 

UCS CAMPUS map. Campus Parking: $14 Parking Structure X

Jan Englert and Beata Scibakowna in California, September 20 - 25, 2022

 

JAN ENGLERT AND BEATA SCIBAKÓWNA IN CALIFORNIA,

SEPTEMBER 20-25, 2022

 Between September 20 and 25, 2022, a famous Polish actor Jan Englert, the Director of the National Theater in Warsaw, Poland, will visit California with his wife, actress Beata Scibakówna. Mr. Englert has been invited by the Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club to receive in person the Helena Modjeska Prize for the year 2021. The September 2022 visit is co-organized by three cultural clubs of Polonia in Southern California: the Modjeska Club, the Club PAPA of Orange County, and Amphitheater Jaskólka of San Diego, in collaboration with the Theater Department of the University of California, Los Angeles. 

 The program includes two public theatrical performances, in San Diego and Los Angeles, and two events by invitation only – a Seminar on Polish Theater for professors and doctoral students at UCLA, held in the afternoon of Thursday, September 22, 2022, and the Presentation of the Modjeska Prize and Reception by the Modjeska Club and PAPA Club on Saturday, September 24, 2022 at 6 pm. 

This latter event will include an interview with distinguished guests conducted by Maja Trochimczyk, the presentation of the Modjeska Prize and certificates of appreciation from California lawmakers, and a catered dinner buffet by Teresa Turek. The event will be held at the welcoming home of Maria and Jerzy Menclewicz, for members of both Clubs. RSVP to Beata Czajkowska, Board Secretary at Beata.J.Czajkowska@gmail.com. Limited seating, please reserve your place early.

On Sunday, September 25, 2022, at 3:00 pm, at the Auditorium of the Beverly Hills Public Library (444 North Rexford Dr. Beverly Hills, CA 90210),  Jan Englert and Beata Scibakówna will perform fragments from the epic poem Kwiaty Polskie (Polish Flowers) by Julian Tuwim (1894-1953). In this work, the Polish-Jewish poet reflects on the beauty, heroism, suffering, and resilience of the Polish nation, in the aftermath of tragedies of WWII. The performances will be in Polish, with English translation by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk in the program book. Interludes of Chopin music will be performed by eminent pianist Dr. Wojciech Kocyan, Professor of Loyola Marymount University. After the performance there will be a brief Q&A with the performers.  This event is free and open to the public. RSVP to prezes@modjeska.org. Space limited to 100 guests. Prof. Kocyan will play on Blüthner piano provided by Kasimoff-Blüthner Piano Co. Los Angeles, CA.

 

ABOUT THE MODJESKA PRIZE

 

Helena Modjeska Prize for the Most Eminent Polish Actor was created in 2010, to honor the Modjeska Club patron, Polish actress Helena Modrzejewska / Modjeska (1840-1909) who starred in theater in Poland, toured Europe and settled in California, while performing in over 4,500. The recipients of the Modjeska Prize include Jan Nowicki, Anna Dymna, Barbara Krafftówna, Jadwiga Barańska, and Andrzej Seweryn. The Modjeska Prize was awarded to Jan Englert in 2021 and presented virtually on the occasion of the Modjeska Club’s 50^th anniversary in October 2021, while actress Beata Poźniak received her award in person.

 

Below you will find the biographical information about the performers and the poet. For more information, please visit the Modjeska Club website at Modjeska.org in English or Modrzejewska.org in Polish.  Email inquiries: Prezes@modjeska.org, Dr. Maja Trochimczyk, President, Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club, tel. 818 384 8944.

 

JAN ENGLERT

 Jan Englert (born in 1943 in Warsaw) is a Polish theater and film actor, theater director, professor of theater arts, and since 2003 the artistic director of the National Theater in Warsaw. He made his debut on the big screen as Zefir in Andrzej Wajda's film Kanał about the Warsaw Uprising (1956). In 1964, Englert graduated from the Acting Department of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz State Higher School of Theater in Warsaw and started working for the following theaters: Polski (1964–1969, 1981–1994), Współczesny (1969–1981), and Narodowy (since 1997). He remained in the National Theater and has served as its artistic director for 18 years. Englert collaborated with the most outstanding theater directors, appearing in important roles in plays by Shakespeare, Mickiewicz, Wyspiański, Gombrowicz, Ionesco, and Mrożek. As a theater director he staged plays by Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Fredro, Chekhov, Turgenev and Witkacy.

 We could watch him on the screen in the films of Andrzej Wajda (Kanał, Katyń, Tatarak), Kazimierz Kutz (Salt of the Black Earth, Pearl in the Crown), Janusz Zaorski (Baryton), Filip Bajon (The Magnate), as well as in the TV series by Janusz Morgenstern (Kolumbowie, Polskie drogi), Jerzy Antczak (Nights and Days), and Ryszard Ber (The Doll). In total, he has appeared in over 100 films, and many television plays and TV series.  For 12 years he served as President of the Theater Academy in Warsaw.

Virtual Presentation of the Modjeska Prize, October 2021.

He received numerous honors and awards, including the Knight's Cross and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1988, 2001), the Gold Cross of Merit (1997), the Gold Medal "Gloria Artis" (2005), and awards named after Aleksander Zelwerowicz (1993/1994), Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński (2008), and Cyprian Kamil Norwid (2012). He also received the Gustaw Award (2014), the Icon of Polish Cinema title (2018) and the Golden Hipolit Prize (2019). He received a Honorary Doctorate from the Film and Theater Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria. We are adding to this wonderful set by bestowing on Jan Englert the Modjeska Prize for 2021, as a lifetime achievement award for his work as an actor. 

Englert performed for the Club in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2009.  He shared with the Club's members and guests the wonders of Polish romantic poetry, Kwiaty Polskie by Julian Tuwim, Dziady (The Forefathers' Eve) by Adam Mickiewicz, a play about Saint Nicholas, and other theatrical performances.

 

BEATA SCIBAKÓWNA

Born in Zamosc, Ms. Scibakowna graduated from the State Higher School of Theater in Warsaw in 1992. Her stage debut took place in 1990, when she performed the role of Zosia in Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz, directed by Jan Englert. In the years 1992-1997 she was an actress in the ensemble of the Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw and since 1997, she has worked as an actress for the National Theater (Teatr Narodowy). She also collaborated with such theaters as Komedia, Bajka, Polonia and  Syrena.  Her role of Klara in the play by Aleksander Fredro Śluby panieńskie directed by Andrzej Łapicki was honored at the Theater Festival in Opole (Opolskie Konfrontacje Teatralne „Klasyka Polska” in 1995.

In 1992, she debuted on  the big screen in Robert Gliński's psychological drama. She appeared in over 40 films and TV series.  Her most notable roles included  Jan Łomnicki’s Wielka wsypa (1992) and psychological drama by Krystyna Janda, Pestka (1995). She appeared in the role of a journalist in Jacek Bromski's comedy Children and Fish (1997), and in Jerzy Gruza's series Czterdziestolatek. 20 years later (1993) as a nurse. She played in the telenovela by Polsat, Samo Życie, the TVP2 series Na dobre i na zle, in the TVN series Media Diagnosis  and the Polsat TV series Skazane (2016).  Often, she also played negative characters, including the TVP2 Radio Romans series and the series Life Line. She starred in the sensational drama by Ryszard Bugajski, The Closed System (2013), opposite Janusz Gajos and Kazimierz Kaczor. She is also the producer of  theatrical performances; two of them, One in 2008 and Intryga in 2016 were presented in the U.S. and Canada. 

In 2005 she received Silver Cross of Merit for her achievements as an actress and in 2017 she was honored with the Gold Cross of Merit. In 2016 her role of Elwira in the play Mąż i żona was honored with the prize for the best female actress at the 16th Festival of Polish Radio Theater and TV Theater, “Two Theaters.”

 

WOJCIECH KOCYAN

Pianist Wojciech Kocyan was praised for his “highly distinctive performances (…) superb, intelligent artistry (…)” (.Classics Today.com) and “incisive temperament, impeccable technique and sumptuous tone” (Le  Monde de la Musique.) He is a laureate of several international piano competitions, including F.Busoni and Viotti, as well as a special prizes winner of the XI International Chopin Competition and a First Prize winner of the Paderewski Piano Competition.  He performed in Europe, America, Mexico, Australia and Japan, participating in such music festivals as Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis, Capri Festival, Bydgoszcz International Music Festival, H.M.Gorecki Festival, Beethovenfest, Paderewski Festival, Liszt Festival in Vienna, San Francisco Liszt Festival, Cervantino International Music Festival, Morelia International Music Festival and the Chopin Festival in Paris. 

He has recorded for television, radio and film and his performances were broadcast in Europe, United States and Australia.  His solo and chamber music recordings can also be found on DUX, Naxos and Spotify. His latest CD, of works of Robert Schumann, was released by DUX in 2012.  He is a professor of piano performance at Loyola Marymount University and artistic director of the Paderewski Society that organizes American Paderewski Competitions held in Los Angeles every two years. A member of the Modjeska Club since 2018, Prof. Kocyan gives concerts for the Club or host musical evenings at his home.

 

JULIAN TUWIM

 Julian Tuwim (13 September 1894 – 27 December 1953), known also under the pseudonym "Oldlen" as a song writer, was a Polish poet, born in Łódź, then part of the Russian Partition. He was educated in Łódź and in Warsaw where he studied law and philosophy at Warsaw University. After Poland's regained independence in 1918, Tuwim co-founded the Skamander group of experimental poets with Antoni Słonimski and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. He was a major figure in Polish literature, admired also for his contribution to children's literature. He was a recipient of the prestigious Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature in 1935.

His collections Czyhanie na Boga ("In Lurking for God"; 1918), Sokrates tańczący ("Dancing Socrates"; 1920), Siódma jesień ("Seventh Autumn"; 1922), and Wierszy tom czwarty ("Poems, Volume Four"; 1923) are typical of his early work. In his later volumes of poetry – Słowa we krwi ("Words in the Blood"; 1926), Rzecz Czarnoleska ("The Czarnolas Matter"; 1929), Biblia cygańska ("The Gypsy Bible"; 1933) and Treść gorejąca ("A Burning Matter"; 1933) – Tuwim became restless and bitter; he wrote with  vehemence about the emptiness of urban existence. He also drew more heavily from the romantic and classicist traditions, while perfecting his form and style, and becoming a virtuoso wordsmith. To this day, he is regarded as one of the greatest masters of the Polish language.

From the very beginning and throughout his artistic career, Tuwim was satirically inclined. He supplied sketches and monologues to numerous cabarets. His burlesque Bal w Operze ("The Ball at the Opera"; 1936) is regarded as his best satirical poem. In 1918 Tuwim co-founded the cabaret Picador and worked as a writer or artistic director with many other cabarets, such as Czarny Kot /Black Cat (1917–1919), Quid pro Quo (1919–1932), and Cyrulik Warszawski / Warsaw Doctor (1935–1939).

In 1939, at the beginning of World War II and the German occupation of Poland, Tuwim emigrated through Romania first to France, and after France's capitulation, to Brazil, by way of Portugal, and finally to the US, where he settled in 1942 to 1946. In 1939–1941, he collaborated with the émigré weekly Wiadomości Polskie. In 1942–1946, he worked with the monthly Nowa Polska published in London, and with Polish-American newspapers. During this time he wrote Kwiaty Polskie (Polish Flowers), an epic poem in which he remembered with nostalgia his early childhood in Łódź, protested the poverty of its inhabitants, lamented the tragedies of the war, praised the resilience of the nation, and expressed hope for a better future. In April 1944, Tuwim published a manifesto, entitled My, Żydzi Polscy (We, Polish Jews).  returned to Poland after the war in 1946 but did not publish much in Stalinist Poland, except for reprints of his classic children’s verse, beloved until today, for example Lokomotywa (The Locomotive; 1938), translated into many languages. He also worked as a journalist and wrote well-regarded translations of Pushkin and other Russian poets. He died in 1953 at the age of 59 in Zakopane.

PHOTOS FROM EVENTS

Po prezentacji "Kwiaty Polskie", 25 wrzesnia 2022 r.

Farewell to Stefan Wenta, 1929-2022, Honorary Member of the Modjeska Club

 

Stefan Wenta at the Ford Theater with Modjeska Club, 2010

With sadness, we share information about a great loss of Polish culture and the local Polonia.  A noted choreographer, dancer and dance teacher Stefan Wenta died in August 2022.  The funeral mass will take place on Wednesday, 17 August 2022, at 11 am at the Our Lady of the Bright Mount Church - Sanctuary of John Paul II on 3424 Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90018.  He was an active member of our club in its first decade, often hosted club events and became the Club's Honorary Member in 2012. 

Stefan Wenta at the Ford Theater with Modjeska Club, 2010

Biographical Notes from Modjeska Club 40th Anniversary Ball program, when Stefan Wenta received his Honorary Membership:

STEFAN WENTA

Born in 1929 in Gdansk, Poland, Stefan Wenta was a Polish-American dancer and choreographer with a distinguished career spanning two continents. He was a principal dancer and choreographer of the Warsaw Opera Ballet where he performed in such ballets as Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake and Coppelia. After receiving a scholarship to study in Paris, along with other Polish notables such as Roman Polański, Zbigniew Cybulski and Krzysztof Komeda, Stefan became a partner of the Paris Opera’s prima-ballerinas Yvette Chauvire and Lycette Darsonval. 

As the premier dancer of the Theatre d’Art du Ballet he performed in India, Indonesia, China, Africa and all over Europe. In 1960 he came to America where he became the Artistic Director of the Western Ballet of Los Angeles and later the Wenta Ballet of Los Angeles. He choreographed numerous ballets and a number of films such as Logan’s Run (1976), In Like Flint (1967), Fantastic Voyage and Warren Beatty’s Reds (1981). As an actor, he appeared in One Last Dance (2003) in the role of Orest. He continued to create choreography for ballet ein Polnad, at the Teatr Syrena in Warsaw, or Music Theater in Gdynia. He later taught dance at the MiMoDa studio in Hollywood, while working on his novel which was expected to be published in 2012, but was never completed. 

Stefan Wenta at his 89th Birthday Party in his Dance Studio, 

photo by Ilona Maranska, his student for 10 years

Mr. Wenta was one of the founding members of the Modjeska Club and served on the Club’s Board in the 1970s. He hosted many club events in his dance studio and made several presentations about his projects for the Club. In August 2010, Mr. Wenta presented his ballet “Fantasy on Polish Airs” celebrating Chopin's 200th birthday and set to Chopin’s piece of the same title (Fantaisie brillante on Polish Airs in A major, Op. 13). The ballet was premiered by the Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles, as part of the “Taking Flight” program at the Ford Amphitheater in Hollywood.

Stefan Wenta on Polish TV

•  Collection of photos from his dance career, by his students, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmjLTjefwTs

• Report from the Ballet "Fantasy on Polish Airs" to Chopin's music, 2010

https://modjeskaclub.blogspot.com/2010/08/stefan-wenta-ballet-and-chopin.html

• Fantasy on Polish Airs ballet by Stefan Wenta to the music by F. Chopin (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiEAt6zewOw

• Interview with Edi Pyrek, 2011

https://archiwumemigranta.pl/en/posluchaj/stefan_wenta

• Interview on "Collector Ballerina," 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2T_uSvWvuk

• Stefan Wenta, Ballet Master of Los Angeles, Fox 11 News, Charles Evans Jr., 2021

https://vimeo.com/640731473

• "Stefan Wenta, Icon of the L.A. Ballet Scene"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGYcGQffTW0

• Les Petits Riens - Ballet by Stefan Wenta to the music by W.A. Mozart (1976)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRp6LRqStV8

• Oldest Video of Wenta Teaching a Ballet Class, ca. 2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TNmTK2WLHQ

• Wenta's last choregraphy, Nocturne to Chopin's Nocturne Op. 15, No. 2 in F sharp major. Larghetto, for Caron Eule Dance company 

https://youtu.be/MQ1QFQWGh8g

 

Stefan Wenta plays chess with a student. Photo by Ilona Maranska

Stefan Wenta rests at his 89th Birthday Party at his Dance Studio.

Photo by Ilona Maranska, his dance student for 10 years.

FUNERAL MASS, AUGUST 17, 2022