A Polish contingent of 3,500 people will be the largest national group from Europe taking part in the World Youth Days, which are to start in Panama on 22 January. Poland is the only country to organize charter flights for the pilgrims by LOT Polish Airlines. The first of them, a

The city council of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, has declared 2019 the Year of Stanisław Moniuszko, the Polish composer who was born 200 years ago. Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius has said that without Moniuszko the city would be deprived of an important part of its cultural heritage. “Moniuszko arrived here from what

A concert performance of “Halka” by Stanisław Moniuszko at Warsaw’s National Opera has inaugurated the yearlong events marking the bicentenary of the composer’s birth. Saturday’s performance was given by the highly-acclaimed Italian period instruments ensemble Europa Galante under Fabio Biondi. Italian soprano Tina Gorina appeared in the title role, the Brazilian

Polish tenor Piotr Beczała and Russian soprano Anna Netrebko have received rave reviews for their parts of Maurizio and Adriana and in a new production of Francesco Cilea’s "Adriana Lecouvreur" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The Financial Times described Netrebko’s performance as “ravishing” and wrote that Beczała “is in

Polish-born British director Paweł Pawlikowski’s "Cold War" has been nominated for the Guldbagge (Gold Scarab) Award, an annual Swedish film award. The two other productions in the running for the accolade in the best foreign film category are BlacKkKlansman, directed by Spike Lee, and Shoplifters, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. A jury verdict

Fifty percent of Poles intend to stay home for New Year’s Eve, while one in four will celebrate at a house party with friends, a survey has shown. Around 2 percent will attend open-air festivities nationwide, while 6 percent will ring in the new year partying abroad, a poll by BIG

American pianist Kevin Kenner has received an honorary doctorate from the Łódź Academy of Music in central Poland. To mark the occasion, an exhibition of photographs and memorabilia documenting his career has opened at the academy, where Kenner was a visiting professor for many years. The Łódź Academy of Music has praised

A Polish tall ship aiming to promote the country as it celebrates 100 years of independence has reached the west coast of the United States on its cruise around the world. The Dar Młodzieży ship was on Tuesday due to sail into the port of San Francisco where it was expected

The National Museum in Krakow is to showcase two newly acquired paintings by Stanislaw Wyspyansii, one of the country s greatest artists. "Self-portrait" from 1897 и "Portrait of Doctor Jan Rachinskii" from 1904 will be put on show in an exhibition from January 15 entitled Wyspyansii. Unknown. The paintings were acquired last

World-famous violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will perform in Warsaw on Friday in the finale of a festival celebrating the music of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Penderecki, considered by many as one of the world’s greatest living composers, celebrates his 85th birthday on Friday. Penderecki will himself conduct a concert at the Wielki Theatre/National