Past events

Searching for Light - A recital by Anna Kijanowska, piano

Tuesday, November 5, 2019, at 7:30pm

Hailed by the New York Times as "an excellent young Polish pianist," Anna Kijanowska returns to New York to the Kosciuszko Foundation's recital hall to delight audience with "Searching for light" recital celebrating the artistic legacy of Polish-Jewish composer Roman Ryterband. The recital features performances of guest artists: Bulgarian lyric soprano Adriana Velinova and music awards recipient Wanda Glowacka, cello. The program includes pieces by Lyudmila German, Maurice Ravel and Avner Dorman. 

Searching for Light

A recital by 

Anna Kijanowska, piano

Guest Artist Performances:

Adriana Velinova, soprano & Wanda Glowacka, cello

The recital is paired with the exhibit of art by Krzysztof M. Bak

Tuesday, November 5, 2019, 7:30 p.m. 

The Kosciuszko Foundation: 15 E 65th Street, New York, NY 10065

Space is limited. Wine reception will follow the recital.

Tickets: $10 - KF Members, $15 - Regular admission 

Kijanowska's performances are a revelation - Phil Muse, Classik Reviews

The Polish-American pianist Anna Kijanowskahas established herself as a multi faceted musician, smoothly transitioning among her roles as a performing and recording artist, pedagogue, coach, and advocate of contemporary classical music around the world. She has made her New York debut in 1997 with a live broadcast over WQXR, and has to date performed in Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., as well as in the Amazon basin in Brazil, the Himalayas in Nepal, Mongolia to name a few.  MORE

Adriana Velinova is a Bulgarian lyric soprano living in New York City.  She has been a Vocal Fellow at Tanglewood Music Center , where she was a soloist in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14 in a tribute concert at Seiji Ozawa Hall.  Most recently, Adriana performed the lead soprano role of the Queen in Joel Martin's ground breaking HipOpera--a wonderful mix of classical, jazz, gospel, and hip hop styles. MORE

Wanda Glowacka - recipient of awards and honors, including: Fulbright Scholarship, Juilliard School Grants, Phyllis Curtin & Boston University Faculty Awards, the Hammer-Rostropovich Award, the Halsey Stevens Award and the University of Southern California Award for Musical Achievement. In the United States she's performed at numerous concert series including Weill Recital Hall, Gardner Museum, Helen Osterlin, Harvard Club, Hoffstra Cultural Center, MAYO Performing Center, and many more. MORE

PROGRAM

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)

Two Hebrew Songs for Soprano and Piano          

1.Kaddish

2. L'énigme éternelle

Adriana Velinova, Soprano/Anna Kijanowska, Piano

Roman Ryterband (1914-1979) 

Nocturne in E-flat Minor (1941)                                       

Suite Internationale, No. 4 Hora (1948)                              

Prelude no. 1 (1944)

Suite Polonaise, No. 3 Kujawiak (1944)   

Lyudmila German (b. 1974)   

Somber Waltz  (2018)  * World Premier                         

Delicate Waltz                                                               

Anna Kijanowska, Piano

Roman Ryterband (1914-1979)                             

Two American Songs for Soprano and Piano (1946)        

1. A Lullaby

2. Cornelian Roses

Adriana Velinova, Soprano/Anna Kijanowska, Piano

Roman Ryterband (1914-1979)                             

Triptyque Contemporain for Cello and Piano (1944)    

1.Adagio appassionato

2.Largo 

3.Largo ma non troppo

Wanda Głowacka, cello / Anna Kijanowska, piano

Avner Dorman (b. 1975)

Sonata no. 3 "Dance Suite"  for Solo Piano                     

1. Prelude

2. Oud and Kanun

3.Techno

Anna Kijanowska, Piano

The event is financed from the Sylvian and Eugenia Bobinski Fund.

ROMAN RYTERBAND

(b. 1914, Łódź, Poland – d. 1979, Palm Springs, CA, USA) 

Ryterband became known with the 1961 Chicago-based Dialogue for Two Flutes. For the 200th anniversary of the United States, he composed the Tunes of America, and in 1977 received the Kosciuszko Foundation Award for his Suite Polonaise for piano.

"(...) Ryterband's music is not just beautiful. It is profound. Others may harbor simplistic notions of national and religious identity but Ryterband was truly a citizen of the world, a war refugee who journeyed from Poland to Switzerland to Canada and the United States, moved by fate but always following the path of his music. He wasn't a mere survivor of war and catastrophe. His music conquered loss and destruction and transformed them into light. Long after the war ended, Ryterband reflected on the essence of his creative life:

People of the world in which we are compelled to live are unfortunately separated by a great deal of differences. These differences certainly make the world and our life colorful and sparkling, but overplayed they produce discord, unrest, and suffering. Believing in the high mission of the arts, and in music as the most sublime international language, I have ever since preached understanding among people by means of this universal idiom. I trust that my share might contribute to getting a bit closer toward the ideals of harmony, happiness, and mutual respect – ideals pursued by the people of our great country since its inception and by mankind in general. (...)"

Read: Roman Ryterband: Life and Work - A publication by USC Thornton Polish Music Center 

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