Malgorzata Zalewska, Gary Guthman, Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra & Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk
Biography Malgorzata Zalewska, Gary Guthman, Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra & Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk
Malgorzata Zalewska
One of only a rare few concert Harpists in the world who is not only a gifted artist on the Modern Harp, but as well on the Celtic, Electric and Baroque Harps.
As a soloist, she has performed with such noted artists as Francisco Araisa, Brigitte Balleys, Massimiliano Cialdi, Agnieszka Duczmal, Claudio Ferrarini, Jose Maria Florencio, Chikara Imamura, Graz Trio, Andrew M. Kurtz, Atsushi Nukii, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Yoshiko Otha, Daniel Stabrawa, Tomasz Strahl, Małgorzata Walewska, Tadeusz Wojciechowski.
Gary Guthman
originally from Portland, Oregon, started his career at the age of nine. As a young teen, Gary was a member of the nationally acclaimed "Seldom Six" Dixieland Band, comprised of 12 to 14 years old who traveled the United States performing stage shows and conventions, playing, singing, and tap-dancing all the way. Throughout Gary's high school and college years, he performed with jazz and rock and roll bands and, at 17 years old, auditioned for the acclaimed Portland (Oregon) Youth Orchestra, the oldest of its kind in the United States.
Gary played principal trumpet and, in his last year with the Portland Junior Symphony (now the Portland Youth Orchestra), performed as soloist with the orchestra and is the only trumpet player in its history (to date) to achieve that acclaim.
Mr. Guthman studied classical trumpet for the first 15 of his playing years. His teachers were Jack Dalby, Joyce Johnson, James Smith, and the recently retired (after 38 years!) Principal trumpet of the Oregon Symphony – Fred Sautter.
After attending Portland State University, Gary did short stints with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (lead by Lee Castle), Stan Kenton Orchestra, Don Ellis Orchestra, and the Louis Bellson Orchestra.
In the early 1980s, Gary Guthman moved to Canada. Within the next few years, he became known as one of Canada's premier lead and commercial trumpeters, playing on over 100 televised "ITV IN Concert" performances and numerous radio shows, jingles, movie soundtracks, and in concerts. Gary performed on television with Tom Jones and Paul Anka, directed the jazz program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and formed his renowned "Tribute Orchestra."
He worked and collaborated for two consecutive years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Vancouver) on 26 television specials with Tom Jones and 26 television specials with Paul Anka. From 1985 to 1995, he performed and collaborated with ITV Television Studios in Edmonton, Alberta, on 75 one-hour "In Concert" Specials - featuring many of the most famous personalities in show business, including Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Neil Sadaka, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, and Procol Harem.
He has performed and collaborated with the renowned big bands of Stan Kenton, Louis Bellson, The Dorsey Brothers, Clark Terry, and Doc Severinson. He toured with the Bee Gees in the early 1980s. He has performed and collaborated with Tom Jones, Paul Anka, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Englebert Humperdink, Jack Jones, Paul Williams, Lou Rawls, Connie Stevens, Sergio Mendez, Burt Bacharach, Mitch Miller, Peter Nero, Tony Bennett, Roger Whitaker, Michel Legrand, Anne Murray, and Neil Sadaka.
From 1975 - 1992, Gary Guthman held teaching positions on the Canadian faculties of the University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, Red Deer College, Alberta College, and Grant MacEwan Community College and taught trumpet, brass, ensemble performance, jazz improvisation, orchestration and arranging. Mr. Guthman acted as producer and co-creator at International Canadian events such as the Pacific National Exhibition (Vancouver, British Columbia), Edmonton Klondike Days (Edmonton, Alberta), Canadian National Exhibition (Toronto, Canada), and The Calgary Stampede and Exhibition (Calgary, Alberta).
Gary Guthman, between 1995 and 2014, wrote and orchestrated hundreds of arrangements and compositions in collaboration with some of the best orchestras in the United States and Canada, including, The Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, Austin Symphony and the New York Pops Orchestra (Carnegie Hall).
1995 saw the inception of Gary Guthman's hit show "A Tribute to Harry James," followed by the creation of his" Trumpet Greats" in 1998 and "Swingmatism!" in 2004.
Gary Guthman was the musical director and star of the award-winning hit Musical Theater review "Forever Swing," which toured the United States and Canada for 2 -1/2 years from 1999 - 2002 and won a distinguished Canadian "Jesse" Award. During that time, he was Musical Director for Michael Buble.
In 2004, Gary debuted by personal invitation at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops, conducted by Skitch Henderson.
Since moving to Central Europe, Gary has given hundreds of concerts with his "Gary Guthman Quartet" and "The New Swing Orchestra," as well as Symphonic Pops concerts.
In 2007 he composed a suite for harp and symphony orchestra for Internationally renowned harpist Malgorzata Zalewska based on Michail Bulgakov's critically acclaimed novel "Master and Margarita." The piece was premiered with the Opole Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008.
In 2011, Gary released his next CD entitled "Solar Eclipse" - all his original compositions, on the Polski Radio Jazz Label, featuring his quartet of world-class Polish jazz artists Filip Wojciechowski/piano, Paweł Pańta/Bass, Cezary Konrad/Drums. Gary Guthman is the only non-Polish jazz artist to release his CD in the 95-year history of Polish Radio.
In 2014, along with his co-writer Doman Nowakowski, Gary composed the Libretto, Music, and Lyrics for a new musical entitled "Letter from Warsaw."
In 2015, Gary began an association as a Producer, Composer, and Lyricist for vocal star Sasha Strunin. Their first Cd project, "Woman in Black" was completed in 2016 to critical acclaim in Poland.
In 2017 he composed a concerto for harp and symphony orchestra entitled "Concerto Romantico" for harpist Malgorzata Zalewska.
The Concerto was premiered in February 2018 in Zabrze (Poland) Philharmonic Hall.
The album entitled "Self-Portraits" (Autoportrety) features the compositions of Gary Guthman and the poetry of renowned Polish poet Miron Bialoszewski, which was released in Warsaw in June 2019, and November 24, 2019, saw the world premiere of his Musical "Letter from Warsaw" at Warsaw Chamber Opera Theatre.
In January 2020, Gary Guthman's "Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra" (dedicated to his trumpet professor and mentor Fred Sautter) was premiered in Poland in the Philharmonic Halls of Warsaw, Łódź, Bydgoszcz, and Białystok.
"The Traveler" suite for chamber ensemble (Harp, Flute, Cello, and Soprano) was premiered in August 2021.
The premiere of his newest work - "Concerto for Flute and Orchestra," was performed on April 29, 2022, in the Witold Lutosławski Concert Hall in Warsaw by an excellent soloist and popularizer of contemporary music Łukasz Długosz, together with the Jerzy Semkow Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra under the direction of Piotr Sułkowski.
Miroslaw Jacek Blaszczyk
He graduated cum laude from the Academy of Music in Katowice, where he studied Conducting with Karol Stryja. In 1993, thanks to a scholarship from the American Society for Polish Music, he mastered his conducting skills in Los Angeles. In the years 1984-1986 he conducted an ensemble consisting of musicians from the Katowice-based Polish Radio and Television Grand Symphony Orchestra during the festivals Warsaw Autumn and the Silesian Days of Contemporary Music. In 1986 he was appointed Artistic Director of the State Symphony Orchestra in Zabrze, and in 1990 General and Artistic Director of the State Philharmonic in Białystok, with which he toured the USA (1995; Carnegie Hall, among other locations). For two seasons he was General and Artistic Director of the Poznań Philharmonic (1996). Since 1998 – Artistic Director of the Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Silesian Philharmonic, and since 1999 – Artistic Director and Juror of the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competitions for Conductors in Katowice. Member of the Artistic Board – Artistic Coordinator of the Polish Orchestra Sinfonia Iuventus.
In the years 1999-2002 he was the main conductor of the International Piano Competition in Porto (Portugal), and in 2003 – a juror and conductor in the International Piano Competition in Morocco. Two years later he was appointed Artistic Director of the 2nd International Violin Competition in Toruń, a position he also held in 2013; he was a juror in the 3rd and 4th edition of the competition in Toruń (2013, 2016), as well. In 2011 he took the position of the Chairman of the 8th W. Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw. He was the Chairman of the Jury at the 6th All-Poland’s Competition for Young Conductors in Białystok (2016). He gives concerts on all stages in Poland, headed by the National Philharmonic, and abroad (e.g. Albania, Austria, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, France, Spain, Ireland, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, Morocco, Mexico, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine, USA). He has recorded several dozen albums with the Silesian Philharmonic ensembles. Górecki. Mikołaj/Henryk Mikołaj (DUX 0924) was nominated to the Fryderyk 2013 award. He can boast of many premieres. The Silesian Philharmonic musicians under his baton were Poland’s first performers of Symphony No. 4 Tansman Episodes by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, completing a cycle of the world premieres of this piece (2014/2015 London – Los Angeles – Amsterdam – Łódź/Katowice). In 2016 this rendition, the world’s second, was released on a CD. In 2017 an album with Symphony No. 2 Copernican by H.M. Górecki conducted by Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk was released.
Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk has received the Award of the Mayor of Katowice in the field of culture for promoting Polish music, with special emphasis on the contemporary music, and for the achievements of the Silesian Philharmonic musicians under his baton. He has also received a similar award from the Mayor of Rybnik. He is the head of the Chair of Symphonic and Opera Conducting in the Academy of Music in Katowice. In 2012 the President of the Republic of Poland granted the artist with a title of Professor of Musical
