American Music
Festivals and
Chicago's Polish
American Community
Philip Simmons receives the “Cultural Achievement Award” from the American Council for Polish Culture on September 11, 2024. The award was in recognition of distinguished achievements in the world of classical music, especially in promoting the music of Polish composers.
CHICAGO CHOPIN SOCIETY
American Music Festivals enjoys collaborating with the diverse communities that make Chicago a vibrant world center for the arts. One of the most rewarding efforts has been our outreach to the Polish community and working with Chicago Chopin Society Founder and President, Jaroslaw Golembiowski.
JAROSLAW GOLEMBIOWSKI
We find that it’s in the relationships we build, in Chicago and around the world, that make our work together most rewarding. The artistic partnership between Dr. Golembiowski and AMF Artistic Director Philip Simmons has been a natural one, with Jaroslaw as composer and pianist and Philip as conductor and champion of his orchestral music.
The Chicago Chopin Society and American Music Festivals share a mission of reaching out to new audiences and creating cross-cultural connections. Our concerts together provide a model for what collaboration can look like for performing arts and community advocacy groups moving forward.
COPERNICUS CENTER
On Chicago’s Northwest Side stands the beautiful Copernicus Center, where we have co-presented concerts by the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra at the Taste of Polonia Festival and two Christmas Spectaculars. The Copernicus Center draws a diverse audience and has been the perfect venue for AMF’s cultural exchange programming which has included outreach to the Bosnian, Czech, and Hungarian communities. American Music Festivals is grateful for the in-kind support it has received from the Copernicus Foundation.
2017-18 International Cultural Exchange Festival in Chicago
One of our most ambitious collaborations with Chicago Chopin Society, the Festival featured 4 concerts at the Copernicus Center and St. Barbara Catholic Parish. It included Polish, American, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarussian, Chinese and Czech music and performers, bringing people together from many backgrounds. Special thank to the Polish National Alliance for their ongoing support.
Sustaining Traditions
Our combined concerts include:
Polish American Divertimento (2023)
Polonaises From Around the World (2022)
70th Anniversary of World War II (2019)
Save St. Adalbert Church - 100th Anniversary of Poland’s Independence (2018)
Kosciuszko Memorial Concert (2017)
Highlander’s Folk Music (2016)
NEW MUSICAL FRONTIERS
In 2021 the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra performed for “If Chopin met Paderewski” a gala event presented by the Chicago Chopin Society which featured the United States Premiere of Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s Suite in G Major for Strings. The gala coincided with the annual meeting of the prestigious American Council for Polish Culture.
The many orchestral concert collaborations between the Chicago Chopin Society have also included numerous new arrangements of the music of Chopin, and works by Elsner, Lutoslawski, Kilar, Moniuszko, Oginski, Panufnik, Karlowicz, Kilar, Kurpinski, and Moszkowski.
American Music Festivals is proud to have premiered these new compositions by Jaroslaw Golembiowski:
Epitaph (Revised, 2024)
Divertimento (2023)
Polonaise (2022)
Salutatio et Oratio (2019)
Polonia Restituta (2018)
Suite for Heroes (2017)
Highlanders’ Dance (2016)
Christmas Spectacular Medley adaptations (2016, 2017)
