The musical year of Andrzej Panufnik was inaugurated in London’s Barbican Centre on the 5th February, 2014. This year marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of the composer and conductor. The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), conducted by Michael Francis, performed two of the composer’s pieces during the inauguration: Symphony No. 3 (Sinfonia Sacra) from 1963, written on the occasion of the millennium of Christianity in Poland, and Lullaby from 1947, played on 29 stringed instruments and two harps.

The event, and indeed the entire centenary, is being promoted by Poland’s Adam Mickiewicz Institute (…) He’s a composer well worth getting to know better, and 2014 is shaping up to be the ideal year to do so

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Gavin Dixon, music journalist

In the mid-1960s it is easy to imagine how this seemed too obvious, too easy on the ear. But we have lived through the minimalists since then, including the Polish Górecki, and perhaps it is time to revisit Panufnik.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Financial Times 

Other events celebrating Panufnik's year took place across the globe.

At the end of February, the Liverpool Symphony Orchestra performed Panufnik’s Violin Concerto. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra had more reason than many other orchestras to celebrate, as during his first years in exile, Panufnik was its principal conductor (1957–1959). The concert, which took place on 29 September 2014, was presented by the composer's daughter Roxanna Panufnik, who discussed her father’s works before the performance. On October 18th, the artistic director of the Royal Opera House in London, Antonio Pappano, and the LSO performed Panufnik's Symphony no. 10 in Katowice, a city in the south of Poland, to inaugurate the new concert hall named after the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Ricardo Muti, gave three concerts devoted to Andrzej Panufnik, performing Concerto in modo antico. It was a special tribute from the CSO, as Sir Andrzej Panufnik composed his Symphony no. 10 for the orchestra’s 100th birthday. In the final concert devoted to the composer, the London Symphony, led by Sir Antonio Pappano, performed Panufnik's 10th Symphony. There was also a series of additional events – a rehearsal open to the public, a meeting with Lady Panufnik, a photography exhibition and an additional concert performed by students from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The music label CPO released Panufnik pieces on eight discs. Another label, Signum, released the album “Dreamscape” with songs by Panufnik and his daughter Roxana's piano trio, while Heritage Label provided a historical recording of the Bassoon and Orchestra Concertos from 1980.

All Andrzej Panufnik pieces have been digitized and made available for free on the internet. This is not the first time a Polish composer's entire work has been made available online - a similar portal was launched in 2013 for the anniversaries of three famous Polish composers: Witold Lutosławski, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki (http://threecomposers.pl/)