Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington DC - Past Events

Piano Recital - Polish Composers

Saturday, February 25, 2017, at 2:00pm

RECITAL PROGRAM

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941)

Nocturne B flat major, Op.16, no.4                        

 Maria  Agata Szymanowska (1789-1831) 

Polonaise F minor

Nocturne in B flat major

Etude E major

 Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Mazurkas Op.33: No.1 G sharp minor, No.2, D major

Polonaise in B-flat major, Op.71

Waltz A- flat major, Op.64. no.2

 Brief Intermission (5-10 minutes)

 Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

Preludes Op.1: No. 1, B-minor, No.2 D-minor, No. 3, D flat major, No.5, D minor, No.7, C minor

 Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946)

Suita Obrazy Slowiańskie (Piano Suite Slavonic Pictures)

Poezja starego Krakowa (Poetry of the Old Cracow)

 Polish Dances Op,20 no.5

                       No.1  A minor

                        No.2  D minor

Magdalena Adamek holds Master of Arts in Piano Performance from the Chopin Academy of Music, Warsaw, Poland, and Doctor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Her principal teachers include Professor Barbara Hesse-Bukowska and Professor Jacques Després. She has also participated in masterclasses under renowned pedagogues, such as Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Andrzej Jasinski, Paul Badura-Škoda, Stêphane Lemelin, Kyoko Hashimoto, and Kevin Fitz-Gerald.

Currently Magdalena serves as Assistant Professor in Collaborative Piano in Department of Music at Virginia Commonwealth University where she teaches  chamber music ensembles involving piano, oversees the chamber music program and performs in numerous recitals.

Adamek has led an active performing career giving solo and chamber music performances across Poland, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, France, China, USA, and Canada, with repertoire ranging from the classical period to the contemporary music. Her long-term artistic project involves promoting piano music by composers from her native country: Fryderyk Chopin, Karol Szymanowski, Maria Szymanowska, and Feliks Nowowiejski. Over the past few years the artistic project concerning Nowowiejski involved world premiere recordings of Nowowiejski's music for piano solo, doctoral essay devoted to Nowowiejski's music for piano solo ("Piano Works by Feliks Nowowiejski.") as well as both national and international lectures, solo performances,  and presentations (College Music Society Conference at the University of Colorado at Denver in 2005,  at the University of Toronto in 2005, lecture recital at the University of Alberta in 2005), the book The Unknown face of Feliks Nowowiejski: The Piano Works, published by VDM in Germany in 2008.

Magdalena Adamek is a recipient of numerous prestigious scholarly and performing awards including Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship, Dissertation Fellowship, Mary Louise Imrie Graduate Award, FS Chia PhD Scholarship, Beryl Barns Memorial Graduate Scholarship, Harriet Snowball Winspear Graduate Prize in Performing Arts scholarship (University of Alberta), and also Marek Jablonski Piano Scholarship for the Banff International Keyboard Festival and a scholarship by Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (awarded twice).

Her projects have also been generously supported by Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies at University of Alberta, the Polonia Foundation of Alberta, Polish Culture Society of Edmonton, Polish Federation of Women in Edmonton, Polish Combatants Society of Edmonton, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Vancouver, and the Alberta Registered Music Teachers' Association.

Magdalena Adamek is the winner of 2nd prize and a special distinction for the best performance of piano works by Frederick Chopin at the International Milosz Magin Piano Competition in Paris, 3rd prize in the piano trio category at the Kiejstut Bacewicz International Chamber Music Competition in Łódz, Poland, 3rd prize at the National Piano Competition in Warsaw, and distinction at the National Chamber Music Competition in Warsaw. She also represented Poland at the II European Piano Forum at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin.

Her discography includes five compact discs for an independent Polish label Acte Prèalable with world premiere receordings of the works by Polish composers (Feliks Nowowiejski, Milosz Magin, Romuald Twardowski, Jozef Elsner), and CD Romantic Central Europe, which was made in collaboration with the Wirth Institute of Austrian and Central European Studies at the University of Alberta. Her performances have been broadcasted on CBC, Polish National Radio, Radio France, and ABC Radio Classic FM.

Apart from being an active performer, Magdalena Adamek is also a dedicated instructor. She has been piano instructor and collaborative pianist at Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, the Stanislaw Moniuszko Warsaw Music Society Music School, and the University of Alberta in Edmonton, collaborative pianist at the String Quartet Program at S.U.N.Y Fredonia; and piano instructor at the Alberta Music Academy and the Alberta College Conservatory of Music (Grant McEwan University) in Edmonton. Her students have been consistently receiving high marks at Royal Conservatory of Music piano examinations. They have been also recognized through awards and scholarships at the Edmonton Kiwanis Music Festival and at Provincial Music Festival, Alberta Registered Music Teachers Association High Exam Marks Awards, and gold medal for the highest exam mark in the province of Alberta, presented by The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Since June 2005 Magdalena Adamek serves on the Board of the Marek Jablonski Endowment Fund, which supports talented musicians in the province of Alberta, Canada, through awards and scholarships. 

In addition to performing and teaching Magdalena Adamek enjoys being adjudicator, clinician, and workshop presenter. She also works as freelance pianist-collaborator. She has served as the assisting artist for the Shean Competition and Canadian Music Competition, National Finals in Canada.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, biking, reading, and watching her favourite TV shows.

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