Kyiv
May 11-19
Lavra Gallery, Lavrska st. 1

Janusz Olejniczak is the youngest laureate of the International Chopin Piano Competition.

He won an award of the Alfredo Casella Piano Competition in Naples. Olejniczak plays concerts in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia, in the most famous concert halls, like the Berlin Philharmonic, Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Santory Haal in Tokyo, Lincoln Center in Washington, Tonhall in Düsseldorf. He taught in the Krakow Music Academy for four years and gave many master classes abroad, in Canada, Japan, Columbia, and in the Mozart Academy.

His performances, recorded for Sony Classical, Opus 111, BeArTon, Polskie Nagrania, Selene and CD Accord studios, won many prestigious awards. Janusz Olejniczak recorded the soundtracks to Roman Polanski’s film “Pianist” and Jerzy Antrczak’s “Chopin: Desire for Love”. The pianist also showed his worth as a talented actor in Andrzej Żuławski’s film “Blue Note”. Not only did Janusz Olejniczak create Chopin’s character on the screen, but he also masterfully performed the composer’s pieces on an instrument similar to that the genius played.

In his repertoire the pianist concentrates mainly on interpretations of music of Chopin (especially mazurkas and nocturnes), concerts of Bach, Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt. His modern repertoire, which includes Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev, Massenet, Górecki, Kilar, and Lutosławski, is also met with admiration. He willingly participates in chamber music performances: her recorded with Stefania Toczyska and Olga Pasiecznik, Andrzej Bauer and AUKSO M Orchestra. He made several recordings on early musical instruments.

Agata Szymczewska is a highly gifted 27 years old Gdansk born violin player, who won the 13th Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznan in 2006. She won the first prize of the competition, the Gold Medal, and the Audience Choice award. In 2009, after a series of concerts with Krystian Zimerman and several prominent Polish virtuosos, she recorded a CD of Grażyna Bacewicz’ music on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label. Now she studies in the Hochschule fur Musik Und Theater in Hanover.