On 21 December at 5:00 PM, the Mieczysław Wajnberg Institute invites you to the unique epilogue of this year’s Rywka Tiktiner Jewish Music Festival in Tykocin!

In the remarkable setting of the Great Synagogue, a special festive concert will take place featuring multimedia, performative works by one of the most outstanding composers of his generation — Wojciech Błażejczyk: Blask (Shine), set to the words of Chaim Nachman Bialik, and — in its world premiere — Ogród pamięci (The Garden of Memory) with a text by Sylwia Chutnik.

In December 2024, a remarkable album featuring string sextet compositions by Andrzej Panufnik, Roxanna Panufnik, and Mieczysław Weinberg was released. The recording showcases outstanding Polish musicians: Maria Sławek, Anna Maria Staśkiewicz, Katarzyna Budnik, Artur Rozmysłowicz, Rafał Kwiatkowski, and Marcin Zdunik.

The album includes, among other pieces, the premiere recording of Chamber Symphony No. 3, Op. 152 by Mieczysław Weinberg, arranged by Maria Sławek.

The Rywka Tiktiner Jewish Music Festival became a new tradition in Tykocin – a celebration of Jewish culture that combined concerts, meetings, and community events. Its stage was the Great Synagogue, one of the most beautiful and best-preserved monuments of Jewish heritage in Poland.

We once again gathered at the Jewish Music Festival in the beautiful synagogue in Tykocin.

On 8 December 2023, exactly on the 104th anniversary of Mieczysław Wajnberg’s birth, we invited audiences to an intimate meeting at Księgarnia Czarnego in Warsaw’s Wola district. Dr. Magdalena Piotrowska-Grot (University of Łódź), Agnieszka Kuś, and Dr. Aleksander Laskowski (NIFC) discussed the poetry of Julian Tuwim – its influence on the generation that came of age during the war, its role in the everyday life of the ghetto’s residents, and the relationship between word and sound, including the special bond between Wajnberg and Tuwim.

The discussion was followed by a concert featuring soprano Ewa Leszczyńska, violinist Maria Sławek, violist Katarzyna Budnik, and cellist Marcin Zdunik, who performed two of Wajnberg’s song cycles to Tuwim’s texts: Gypsy Bible op. 57 and Old Letters op. 77, arranged for voice and string trio.

The “Postcard to Mietek” project involves creating custom-designed postcards that will be sent to Warsaw residents through the IMW’s collaboration with selected cafes, bookshops, and cultural institutions.

Their guests, employees, and other city residents will be asked to write a few words referring to the composer’s experience as a refugee, political prisoner, Varsovian, Jew, and Pole.

The Warsaw Walkabout with Weinberg was created in both paper and electronic versions and is available in three languages: Polish, English, and Yiddish. It tells the story of pre-war Warsaw, with the reader being guided by Mieczysław Weinberg and his family. The route covers locations of the former Northern Quarter as well as important destinations in Midtown Warsaw. The text of the guidebook was created by the well-known Varsavianist and city guide Agnieszka Kuś, while the graphic design was developed by Ola Jasionowska. The project’s curators were Ania Karpowicz and Maria Sławek. The Walkabout is supplemented by two original playlists compiled by Marek Bracha.

The project was implemented with the support of the City of Warsaw.

The House Party is a unique cultural project combining concerts, meetings, and educational activities with a place of memory – the tenement house where Mieczysław Wajnberg was born and grew up. Since 2021, the event has brought together Warsaw residents, music enthusiasts, and lovers of the city’s history, creating a space to celebrate Wajnberg’s legacy together.

The very first gathering took place right by the wall of the tenement house at 66 Żelazna Street. The program included the opening of a photography exhibition by Agnieszka Stępka – winner of the residency competition, a piano trio concert (Roksana Kwaśnikowska, Rafał Kwiatkowski, Marek Bracha), and a screening of the pre-war film Fredek Makes the World Happy (1936), featuring none other than Mieczysław Wajnberg himself.