Fall 2019 Highlights

  • The Polish Film Festival will be held November 5 – November 10, 2019.
  • Visiting Professor from Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, Marcin Jarząbek, will teach a course on European Nationalism.
  • Włodek Pawlik.
    Włodek Pawlik
  • The Skalny Center will host Włodek Pawlik, one of the most celebrated Polish composers and jazz pianists, hailed as the “Horowitz of jazz” by the famous North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. On October 29, 2019 at the Hatch Recital Hall, Eastman School of Music, Pawlik will perform a recital consisting of original, improvised jazz compositions. On November 5, 2019, he will play his score to the 2017 Polish silent film “Beast” alongside a screening at the Opening of the Polish Film Festival, at Dryden Theater, George Eastman Museum.

    On January 26, 2014, Włodek Pawlik became the first Polish jazz musician to receive a Grammy Award, having won in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category for his album Night in Calisia, recorded with Randy Brecker and the Kalisz Philharmonic Orchestra. His composition “Freedom,” a musical work for choir, orchestra and jazz trio, was performed on June 4, 2014 at the Royal Square in Warsaw as part of the celebration of Polish Freedom and was attended by many heads of state, including the President of the USA, Barack Obama. In 2018, Włodek Pawlik and his trio, with special guest Randy Brecker, performed at the Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York, being the first Polish performers in the history of this famous festival. Pawlik has appeared and won awards at many renowned jazz contests and festivals. He performed and gave clinics and masterclasses in the United States and Australia and recorded numerous CD albums. Apart from jazz, his artistic output includes film soundtracks, orchestral works, 2 piano concertos, ballet music, opera, cantata and theatre music. In 2014 Włodek Pawlik was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta.