25.06.2022 Events, Music

Filipczak Siblings and Polish Composers

Inaugural concert of a new POSK Classic series.

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Filipczak Siblings and Polish Composers project presents one of the most popular works by Chopin, Wieniawski, Paderewski, hidden gem by Szymanowski and Bacewicz, as well as rarely heard Paderewski’s Sonata for Violin and Piano.

Magdalena Filipczak on violin and Łukasz Filipczak on piano, at POSK London.

Magdalena will perform on 300 years old fine Italian violin by Nicolo Gagliano.

She is a musical chameleon, quickly getting under the skin of whatever she’s playing, wrote The ARTS DESK about award-winning Polish violinist Magdalena Filipczak. With her eclectic and extensive repertoire she has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in the UK (including Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, St John’s Smith Square), in Europe (among others in Het Concertgebouw, Tallinn Philharmonic, Cracow Philharmonic, Baltic Philharmonic) as well as in the USA, Canada and South America. Magdalena’s Carnegie Hall recital debut, postponed due to the pandemic, will be on May 30th 2023.

Among her many international competition successes, she is the winner of the IV Heino Eller International Violin Competition in Estonia and recipient of special prizes for the best interpretation of Bach (Bärenreiter Edition Prize) and the best concerto performance (Music Academy in Tallinn Prize). Most recently Magdalena has received Gold Prize of 2018 Manhattan International Music Competition, Silver Prize at 2018 Berliner International Music Competition, and First Prize at 2017 United States International Concerto Competition. For her achievement she was awarded Młoda Polska Scholarship (Young Poland) by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

Magdalena’s new CD with a renowned Hungarian pianist Peter Frankl is in the final stage of postproduction. Her solo debut CD‘ Essence of Violin ’has been praised by critics, including THE STRAD Magazine. She has also featured in two discs recorded with Gruppo Montebello at the Banff Arts Centre in Canada, two CDs with music by Grammy Award composer Tim Garland ‘Songs to the North Sky’ and ‘Weather Walker’, and two CDs with music by Peter Gregson Quartets: One and Quartets: Two. Media appearances include BBC Radio 3, Chicago WFMT Radio, Dutch Radio 4, Canadian Radio, Bulgarian TV, Polish, Austrian and Estonian TV and Radio. Magdalena also toured Brazil and Argentina as a guest leader/director with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra.

After graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she studied with the distinguished Polish violinist Krzysztof Smietana, she was awarded an Individual Artist’s Fellowship. At the Guildhall she won the Max and Peggy Morgan Violin Concerto Prize, and together with her brother, pianist Łukasz Filipczak, Ivan Sutton Chamber Music Award of the City Music Society in London. Magdalena also trained voice at the Guildhall with John Evans and later she had private lessons with Benita Valente in America. Currently she is a recipient of the prestigious Fellowship Award of CUNY Graduate Center in New York for Doctoral Studies in Music Performance.

Magdalena was one of the Holland Music Sessions ’New Masters on Tour, and she was admitted and performed at American music training programs, including Itzhak Perlman Chamber Music Program and Residencies, Yellow Barn, Norfolk Festival, as well as Krzyżowa-Music in Poland, and IMS Prussia Cove in the UK. Magdalena has been awarded scholarships from the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, the Philharmonia Orchestra/Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, the Craxton Memorial Trust, the City of London Corporation, the Derek Butler Trust, the Wolfson Foundation, the English Speaking Union, the Norfolk Festival/ Yale Summer Music School Fellowship, the Fishmongers ’Company, the Solti Foundation and the Zetland Foundation.

She has given masterclasses in Brazil, Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program and through Itzhak Perlman’s Music Residencies in America. Currently Magdalena is an Adjunct Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music (Queens College) in New York.

As a soloist and chamber musician Polish pianist Łukasz Filipczak has given concerts in England, France, Belgium, Germany, Ukraine and several other countries, performing at some the world’s most iconic venues, including Berliner Philharmonie, the Royal Festival Hall.

Most notable performances include: Chopin’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Hanseatica Orchestra under Michał Krężlewski at Lutoslawski’s Studio One (the Polish Radio Concert Hall) in Warsaw, premiering and recording the Symphonic Poem by A. Kurylewicz as the soloist with the Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in Warsaw, premiering F. Nowowiejski’s Fantasy for Cello and Piano as well as conducting from the keyboard Henryk Górecki’s Piano Concerto at International Cultural Institute and Embassy Concert Series at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, appearing with a solo recital at music festivals such as the Hebdenbridge Piano Festival in England and the XXXI Chopin’s Confrontations Festival in Antonin, Poland, touring with I’Culture Orchestra conducted by Maestro Sir Neville Marriner, Bruno Cinquegrani and Pavel Kotla.

Łukasz graduated from Nowowiejski Music School in Gdansk where he studied piano with Bozena Szurek and later Jan Kulesza at the Gdansk Music Academy. In 2005 Łukasz won a scholarship to study with Caroline Palmer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later with Paul Roberts and Charles Owen, graduating with Guildhall Artist Master Diploma (Piano Solo Performance& Piano in Chamber Music Classes).

nterpretation of Cochran’s works at 2017 Julian Cochran International Piano Competition, the Ivan Sutton Chamber Music Award in London (2009), Bronze Medal at the International Marlow Music Festival Concerto Competition (2008), special prize at the 10th National Piano Competition in Konin, 2nd prize at Polish Chamber Music Competition in Gdansk (2003), and 3rd prize at the National Chamber Music Competition in Wroclaw. Scholarship awards amongst others include the Sydney Perry Award by the Philharmonia Orchestra/Martin Musical Scholarship Fund as well as multiple scholarships of the

International Piano Summer School in France – Music at Castelfranc, Music at Ambialet, Music at Albignac where one of the masterclasses with his participation was recorded by BBC One TV.

His vast chamber music experience, with many different ensembles, among others, include cooperation with cellist Roman Jablonski, violinist Krzysztof Smietana, sopranist Anna Bajor, his sister violinist Magdalena Filipczak and cellist Piotr Gach.

Between 2010 – 2015, Łukasz was co-artistic director of Devonia Concert Series in London that he co-founded. For many years Łukasz has been the Pianist in Residence at the Studio Sienko Gallery in London. He has also co-founded and co-directs the Górecki Chamber Orchestra – a new international chamber orchestra based in London.

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