FROM POLAND: Mazowsze Opens New Center

Mazowsze has written a new chapter in its history. Years in the making, the song and dance company recently opened a new facility – Matecznik Mazowsze as a cultural center for visitor exchange between folk artists from around the world. Located on the premises of their picturesque Palace and complex in Karolin (near Warsaw), Matecznik is comprised of a rehearsal center, meeting rooms, wellness area with personal gym and sauna, a 98-person Guesthouse Inn, an 80-seat traditional Polish cuisine tavern– Karczma Staropolska, and a 3766 sq. ft multi-use amphitheatre arena – created for both indoor and outdoor concerts, which seats 563.

“Matecznik Mazowsze will help us foster the spiritual and cultural dimension of our lives,” said the main advocate of the project, Mazowieckie Voivodship Marshal Adam Strużik. “This is a unique opportunity for Poland and the Mazowsze region to promote our country’s culture and art.”

The opening ceremony was entitled Inspiracje Chopinowskie (Chopin Inspirations) featured pianist Krzysztof Jabłoński and the Polish Radio Orchestra under the direction of Tadeusz Kozłowski playing Piano concerto in F minor op. 21; a presentation of a fragment of the film Podróż Sentymentalna about Polish-born conductor Arthur Rubinstein’s 1979 return to Poland and connection to Mazowsze; and an excerpted performance by the Song and Dance Ensemble. In addition to its repertoire the company performed Witold Zapała’s ballet impression to Frédéric Chopin’s Rondo à la Krakowiak and folk songs by Chopin: Życzenie, Laura i Filon and Hulanka.

Among the invited guests were Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak and Cardinal Józef Glemp, Primate of the Poland.