Over the course of thirty years, the festival MIDIS-MINIMES has become a veritable institution of the Brussels music scene. The procedure is the same every year:  a musician or a group of musicians is/are invited to play at a short, 35-minute recital at lunch time for the reasonable price of 5€, giving four concerts a week.  
At present, the festival is doubling up in Flanders, Leuven to be more precise, in collaboration with the CC30/Schouwburg: this is the festival ZOMER VAN SINT-PIETER.

Polish pianist Piotr SAŁAJCZYK will play at both festivals on 16 and 17 August with a recital entirely devoted to Karol SZYMANOWSKI. His three Maski (Masks), composed in 1915-1916, will undoubtedly be the high point of the performance: these pieces, which are terribly complex, showcase the virtuosity of the pianists who play them. 
+++ Find out more about Piotr SAŁAJCZYK on his internet site

PROGRAMME
Karol Szymanowski, Masks, op. 34 (Sheherazade, Tantris the Buffoon and Don Juan’s Serenade)
Karol Szymanowski, Mazurkas, op. 50 (Sostenuto, Molto rubato, Allegretto, Allegramente. Vigoroso)

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
as part of festival Zomer van sint-Pieter
>>> 30CC/Schouwburg (Bondgenotenlaan 21, 3000 Leuven) – see map
>>> Tuesday 16 August 2016 – 12:15 (concert length: 35 minutes)
>>> €5 | free (-12)
+++ More on this concert on the festival’s website

as part of the festival Midis-Minimes
>>> Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles (Rue de la Régence 30, 1000 Brussels) – see map
>>> Wednesday 17 August 2016 – 12:15 (concert length: 35 minutes)
>>> €5 | free (-12)
+++ More on this concert on the festival’s website

Piotr SAŁAJCZYK
This pianist performs both as a soloist and with chamber music groups. After graduating with honours from the Karol Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice where he studied piano under Józef Stompel, he continued his studies at the Salzburg Mozarteum in Pavel Giliov’s class. He currently holds the post of assistant professor at his Alma Mater. In 2011, DUX released his first album, a collection of sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (op.111) and Franz Schubert (D 960). The CD, conceived as an artist’s credo, received an enthusiastic welcome from music critics and was awarded the Maestro prize by the French magazine Pianiste and the Pizzicato Supersonic Award by the Luxembourg magazine Pizzicato. The pianist takes a close interest in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. His repertoire includes a large number of productions, given the fact that he works closely with such renowned artists as Piotr Plawner, Urszula Kryger, Agata Zubel, Apollon Musagète quartet and the Silesian Quartet. With the latter, he recorded a CD of chamber compositions by K. Meyer for Naxos. The artist regularly gives solo performances with excellent orchestras, such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, National Polish Radio’s Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonia Juventus and the Polish Philharmonic Orchestra. He also participates in a number of music festivals, such as the Warsaw Autumn  (Warszawska Jesień), the Peking Festival of Modern Music, Musica Polonica Nova, the Gstaad Musical Summits, Music and Snow in Swizerland and the Budapest Spring.