Summer; 2009
Issue
63
In This
Issue:
*Consul General's message
*American Dream
*Independence Day in Katowice
*Summer Jazz Festival
*American Songbook
*American West Exhibit
*Obama Today Blog
We are in the midst of the busy summer season before Krakow settles into the summer holidays during the second half of July and August. I am thrilled that the special exhibition “American Dream” will open July 2 in the main building of the National Museum in Krakow on Al. 3 Maja 1. This exhibition, organized by the National Museum, Jagiellonian University and the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, is part of U.S. Mission Poland’s celebration of the 90th Anniversary of Polish-American diplomatic relations. The project, conceived over 18 months ago, will show the way the idea of “America” influenced the Polish imagination from 1945-1989. Our two countries have always been close, but America played a special role during Poland’s communist period. The exhibition includes audio and video clips from American music, film and literature that had a special significance for Poles and will include several large scale installations such as the Apollo lunar landing and the famous City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. We are especially delighted that the exhibition also features thirty American Photorealist paintings from the collection of Louis K. and Susan P. Meisel. “American Dream” will be on display through October 4, and the National Museum has put together a wonderful events calendar to accompany the exhibition. For more information, please see the “American Dream" website at: http://www.amerykanski-sen.pl/
The 19th Jewish Culture Festival has begun here in Krakow, and we would like to highlight several American elements in the festival program. The exhibition, ”Pictures of Resistance: the Wartime Photographs of Jewish Partisan Faye Schulman” curated by American cultural anthropologist Jill Vexler, opens officially at Galicia Museum in Kazimierz on Thursday July 2 at 2:00pm. The photographs offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives of partisans fighting in the forests of what is now Belarus.
On Sunday July 5 there will be a very special concert organized by the Cantor’s Assembly, a group of 60 American cantors who have a week-long series of concerts in Warsaw and Krakow. Sunday’s concert is entitled “American Songbook”. In honor of America’s Independence Day, the concert will feature songs by American composers whose roots can be traced to Poland including George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Fox and more.
We are also delighted that Krakow’s annual Jazz Festival kicks off with New Orleans Jazz Sunday, starting with a parade from the Barbakan that will go around Krakow’s Main Square on Sunday July 5 at 5pm. The parade will be followed by an evening of concerts at Krakow’s Town Hall. For more on the month-long festival, please visit: http://www.krakow-info.com/5jazz.htm
This is my last note in Spotlight, as I leave in July for a year of Lithuanian language training before becoming Deputy Chief of Mission in Vilnius. While I’m looking forward to my next assignment, it is very hard for me to leave after three wonderful years in southern Poland. Thank you to all of you, our contacts, for your warmth, your hospitality and your friendship. Poland is such a special place, and I hope to return often.
Anne Hall
Consul General
The U.S. Consulate General in Krakow, together with the National Museum and Jagiellonian University, invite everyone to see the "American Dream" exhibit and experience a vast panorama of American culture with its iconic figures and events. The exhibit, which in reality is a huge multimedia educational and artistic project, will be open from July 2nd – October 4th, 2009. For details please check the website: http://www.amerykanski-sen.pl
Club “Marcholt” in Katowice is organizing a family picnic with a barbeque and live music to celebrate American Independence Day. The picnic will take place on July 2 at 6:00 pm at Warszawska 37 in Katowice. This is the second annual Independence Day celebration at Marcholt. Club Marcholt regularly features American exhibitions, concerts and film showings. The public is encouraged to attend!
The 14th Summer Jazz Festival – New Orleans Sunday
The 14th Summer Jazz Festival at Piwnica Pod Baranami in Krakow will take place from 5-31 July 2009. The program of the festival will be full of great concerts by outstanding Polish and international jazz stars, among them many American musicians.
The festival will start with one of the main events - New Orleans Sunday - the day of outdoor concerts on the main Market Square. After the morning concerts, the New Orleans style parade along the main streets of the Old Town will start at Florianska Street at 5 p.m. The parade will go down to the Rynek Glowny Square with participation of actors, acrobats, VIPs from Poland and abroad and crowds of people from Krakow and tourists. The final concert on Sunday will be held at the Town Hall Tower on the Main Square.
Please note the Festival’s special concert of the Jarek Smietana Trio and Karen Edwards, one of the most interesting new American vocalists on July 30 at 8:00 p.m. at Radio Krakow.
More information on the Summer Jazz Festival at: http://www.cracjazz.com
Concert in Honor of American Independence Day: American Songbook
A concert celebrating American Independence Day will be held on July 5 at 5:00 p.m. at Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic Hall, ul. Zwierzyniecka 1 in Krakow. The program is an homage to Jewish composers whose roots go back to Poland and celebrates the musical heritage and historical ties between Poland and the United States. The concert features members of the Cantors’ Assembly and guest artists: Krzesimir Dêbski, Charles Fox, David Kamenir, Tomek Kupiec, Bartek Staromiejski, Michael Weiner and Marek Zebrowski. The program includes works by composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Fox and more.
American West Exhibit in Karkonoski National Park
On August 7, 2009 at 16:00, the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow and Karkonoski National Park invite the public to the opening of a beautiful exhibit of photographs by Wieslaw Pikul. The exhibit will be shown in the Center for Environmental Education in Szklarska Poreba.
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U.S. Consulate General, ul.
Stolarska 9, Krakow, tel.: 12 424-5100
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