“What are we playing about?” - Beata Boleslawska-Lewandowska

what are we playing about? - introductions to concerts — Beata Bolesławska-Lewandowska (musicologist, Polish Academy of Sciences, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences) - special guest: Grażyna Pstrokoniska-Nawratil

Beata Boleslawska-Lewandowska photo by Andrzej Stawiński

Introduction to the symphony concert on November 6 and 7, 2026.
Beata Bolesławska-Lewandowska - musicologist, Ph.D., professor at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Author of books: Panufnik (PWM, 2001), Górecki. Portrait in Memory (PWM, 2013), Panufnik. Architect of emotions (PWM, 2014), The Life and Works of Andrzej Panufnik (1914—1991) (trans. Richard Reisner, Ashgate, 2015), Mycielski. Nobility obliges (PWM, 2017), The Symphony and Symphonic Thinking in Polish Music since 1956 (Routledge, 2019), Górecki (PWM 2023), Zygmunt Mycielski. Between Music and Politics (PWM, 2025), as well as editor of the correspondence of Zygmunt Mycielski and Andrzej Panufnik (IS PAN, 2016, 2018, 2021), Jerzy Giedroyc's correspondence with composers (IS PAN, 2026) and volumes of Zygmunt Mycielski's writings (PWM, 2022; IS PAN, 2025) and Paweł Hertz (PIJ) W, 2022).
Co-initiator and co-editor-in-chief of the publishing series “Polish Music abroad”, published by the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Author of articles on topics related to Polish contemporary music, published in Poland and abroad, as well as texts on Internet portals, concert programs and record books. Participant and organizer of Polish and international musicological conferences. Honoured with the Badge “Meritorious for Polish Culture” (2007) and the Honorary Award of the Union of Polish Composers (2015). In the years 2015-2025 she was the President of the Section of Musicologists, from June 2025 the President of the Board of the Main Association of Polish Composers. In 2026 she received the Annual Award of the Union of Polish Composers and the Prize of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In the same year, her book Zygmunt Mycielski. Between music and politics, she was honored with the Prize of the Committee of Arts Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Cyprian Kamil Norwid Prize.

The special guest of this meeting will be Grażyna Pstrokonska-Nawratil, composer, author of the work Polaris, commissioned by the National Philharmonic on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the institution.

Entries are open to holders of tickets and subscriptions to a given concert (or its Saturday repetition) and to members of the Club of Friends of the Philharmonic.