BUY IT NOW 978-1-945938-55-9, paperback; ISBN 978-1-945938-56-6, hardcover
Polish American Studies (vol. 83 no. 1-2, Spring-Autumn 2026) published a positive review by Radoslaw Misiarz of Celebrating Modjeska in California by Maja Trochimczyk that appeared in 2023. Mr. Misiarz outlined the main stages in the history of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club, pointing out that
"through more than fifty years of its existence the Modjeska Club has actively been involved in many cultural projects, including directing theatrical pays and organizing exhibitions, concerts and social gatherings. For example, during the Ossetynski presidency, the largest event organized by the cub was "undoubtedly the American premiere of the monumental Requiem by then obscure emigre composer Roman Maciejewski' (p.141). Very often, the cub directed reading presentations of Polish pays such as Emigranci by Slawomir Mrozek. In addition, the institution maintained cultural relations with the old country by hosting notable visitors from Poland, including famous actors, film directors, musicians, writers, journalists, and scholars."
In conclusion the reviewer pointed out the extensive scope of the book and its usefulness for scholars dedicated to studying Polonia communities in America:
The book constitutes a thoroughly research piece of work, with a lot of details, and sometimes it may feel like too much information. The author utilized a wide range of primary sources, including club archives, newspapers, and internet sources, such as various websites, blogs, and even YouTube videos. Numerous illustrations and photos also serve as excellent accounts of club history. In addition, at the beginning of the boo, Trochimczyk included two interesting chapters. One is dedicated to the life and career of Helena Modjeska, and the other focuses on 'the wider history of Polonian diaspora and its role in promoting Polish culture in California' (p. 41). Celebrating Modjeska is an excellent source of information on the cultural experience of Polish Americans in California and should be recommended to the readers interested in the rich and fascinating history of the Polish American community in the United States."
Published in December 2023, Celebrating Modjeska in California: History of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club is a 440+page case study of one Polonian organization, active since 1971, that reveals the interests, activities, successes and challenges of successive waves of Polish immigrants to America, especially the generation of the Displaced Persons (survivors and veterans of World War II, mostly interwar Polish intelligentsia), and of the Solidarity-era (activists of anti-communist movement, "tourists" who came to work and overstayed their visas, and creative/enterprising individuals seeking to further their careers). The book is dedicated to "all Polish émigrés and exiles dispersed throughout the world who remained faithful to the Polish language and culture, especially to all the volunteers of the Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club in Los Angeles, promoting Polish culture in California."
This volume consists of ten chapters starting from a biography of the Club's patron, actress Helena Modjeska (1840-1909); a survey of Polish Americans and their organizations in California; and a biography of the Club's founder, actor Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski (1910-1989). Six chapters are dedicated to "eras" in the Club's history, from the Kingdom of Leonidas (1971-1978), through the times of Solidarity immigrants (1978-1989), the birth of the Third Republic of Poland (1989-1998), the period of stabilization and status quo (1998-2010), the arrival of new people and ideas (2010-2018), to surviving challenges (2018-2023). The tenth chapter is a summary with conclusions and recommendations. The book includes index and many illustrations from the archives of: Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club, Polish Museum of America in Chicago, Valerie Dudarew-Ossetynska Hunken - the founder's daughter, American Council of Polish Culture (formerly "of Polish Cultural Clubs"), Institute of National Remembrance, Maja Trochimczyk, and other private and public archives. All net revenue is donated to the Modjeska Club.
Celebrating Modjeska in California is based on research conducted in the archives of the following institutions and persons: Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club in Los Angeles; Polish Museum of America in Chicago, The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino; University of California, Irvine – Special Collections; as well as archives of the American Council of Polish Culture in Chicago (formerly American Council of Polish Cultural Clubs) and the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (Institute of National Remembrance) in Warsaw, Poland; Archives of Valerie Dudarew-Ossetyńska-Hunken, and the author’s personal archives. Their permission to conduct research and to publish the results (including photographs from the archives of the Modjeska Club, PMA, ACPC, and Valerie Hunken) is hereby gratefully acknowledged.
More information about this volume, with table of contents, preface, and grant data.
https://moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2023/10/celebrating-modjeska-in-california-new.html
⦾ ABOUT MODJESKA CLUB ⦾
Established in 1971 by actor-director-journalist Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński with Stefan Pasternacki, Wacław Gaziński and Eugenia Domachowska, Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club in Los Angeles celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021. The Club is a charitable, cultural and a-political organization, dedicated to the promotion of the Polish culture, as well as Polish arts and sciences in California. Initially associated with the American Council of Polish Cultural Clubs and the Polish American Congress of Southern California, the Modjeska Club became a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in 2006, with the IRS Tax Determination number EIN 20-3491956. Every year, the Club sponsors dozens important cultural events in Los Angeles and its environs for the Club members and the general public. During the past five decades of its existence, the Modjeska Club has made a significant contribution to the enrichment of the ethnic mosaic of Southern California.
Financed by membership dues and individual donations, the Club invites eminent guests from Poland and organizes meetings with artists, actors, film directors, scholars, journalists, musicians and government officials. It presents concerts, film screenings, performances, and exhibitions. Since 2010, the Club has honored the most eminent Polish actors with the Modjeska Prize, so far presented to Jan Nowicki, Barbara Krafftówna, Anna Dymna, Jadwiga Barańska, Jan Englert, Andrzej Seweryn, and others. Videos from Club events, zoom lectures, and TV programs about the Club are on the Club’s website in English (modjeska.org) and Polish (modrzejewska.org). In 2021, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Modjeska Club issued a 380-page Album 50-lecia Klubu Kultury im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej edited by Maja Trochimczyk, Elżbieta Kański and Elżbieta Trybuś, documenting the five decades of its activities.
⦾ ⦾ ⦾
Maja Trochimczyk hosting the Club's Christmas Caroling in Beverly Hills, 2019.
Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D., is a music historian, poet, photographer, and non-profit director born in Poland and living in California. She published ten books on music and Polish culture: After Chopin: Essays in Polish Music (2000), The Music of Louis Andriessen (Routledge, 2002), Polish Dance in Southern California (Columbia UP, 2007), A Romantic Century in Polish Music (2009), Lutosławski: Music and Legacy (2014, co-edited with Stanisław Latek), Frédéric Chopin: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge, rev. 2015 with William Smialek), Górecki in Context: Essays on Music (2017), and Album 50-lecia Klubu Kultury im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej (2021). She also published 28 peer-reviewed articles in such journals as American Music, American Journal of Semiotics, Computer Music Journal, Contemporary Music Review, Interface, Leonardo, Muzyka, Musical Quarterly, Organized Sound, Polin, Polish Music Journal, Polish Review, Polish American Studies, and Studia Chopinowskie, as well as 30 book chapters in volumes on Chopin, Lutosławski, Szymanowska, Tansman, Jewish music, women composers, Polish music after 1945, and ecomusicology. An author of six volumes of poetry and editor of five poetry anthologies, Trochimczyk received PAHA Creative Arts Prize for two poetry books (2016). Hundreds of her articles and poems appeared in English, Polish, as well as in German, French, Chinese, Spanish, and Serbian translations.
Dr. Trochimczyk holds a Ph.D. from McGill University in Montreal for her dissertation (written as Maria Anna Harley), Space and Spatialization in Contemporary Music: History and Analysis, Ideas and Implementations (1994). She also received two M.A. degrees, from the University of Warsaw and Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland. She served as Director of Polish Music Center for eight years and presented her research at over 90 national and international conferences, in Poland, France, Germany, Hungary, U.K., Canada, Australia and the U.S. She received awards and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, University of Southern California, McGill University, MPE Fraternity, Polish American Historical Association (Swastek Award, Creative Arts Prize, and Distinguished Service Prize), City and County of Los Angeles, and Poland’s Ministry of Culture (medal for the promotion of Polish culture abroad).
The founder of Moonrise Press, Trochimczyk served as President of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club for 9.5 years, in 2010-2012 and in 2018-2025.. She is also the President of California State Poetry Society and Managing Editor of the California Quarterly (2019–) and member of Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America (since 1996), Polish American Historical Association, American Musicological Society (since 1992), and Polish American Congress of Southern California (2022–). She previously served as Secretary and Communications Director for the Polish American Historical Association (2010-2020) and Poet-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, her California home. Since 2007, she has worked for Phoenix Houses of California as Senior Director of Planning and Development; a senior management position that also enabled her to volunteer for so many cultural causes.
.JPG)
