Monday, March 6, 2023 at 7pm ET, doors open at 6:30pm ET
Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York
233 Madison Avenue, Jan Karski Corner, New York 10016 NY

Due to the limited number of seats, please kindly register for the event
by emailing ny.publicaffairs@msz.gov.pl by Sunday, March 5, 2023.

This event is recommended by the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

The Polish Consulate in New York cordially invites you to a concert of piano for four hands Polish Women Composers for International Women’s Day. Two renowned pianists from Poland, Grzegorz Mania and Piotr Różański will present a special repertoire consisting of the works of 5 Polish contemporary women composers.

Repertoire
Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz – Sonatina for four hands
Scherzo. Na karczowisku (On the clearing of land)
Menuet. W karczmie nad ranem (At the inn in the morning)
Allegro. Karczemna awantura (A rowdy brawl)
Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk – Minimal prelude
Hanna Kulenty – Van for four hands
Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska – 3 Dances in Balkan rhythms
Allegro Choro
Lento Choro
Presto Choro
Anna Rocławska-Musiałczyk – Toccata

The artists are visiting United States with a presentation about Polish women composers, which they will deliver at the Mississippi University for Women’s Music by Women Festival. Subsequently, they are going on a tour to San Diego, Columbus, Los Angeles, and New York.

Piotr Różański graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music in Kraków, majoring in piano (in the class of Ewa Bukojemska and Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń) and chamber music. Following his Doctor of Arts degree in 2014 and a post-doctoral degree in 2019, Różański was appointed Assistant Professor of Piano at the Academy of Music in Kraków and is on the faculty of the Chopin Music School in Kraków.

He is a top prize winner of international piano and chamber music competitions, including the 2006 Chopin National Piano Competition, the 2008 YAMAHA Foundation Scholarship Piano Competition, the 2010 Independent International Competition for Musical Individualities, as well as semi-finalist in competitions in the United States, Slovakia and Austria. He has performed throughout Poland, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, France, Great Britain, Lithuania, Ukraine, Israel and the United States. 

Piotr Różański’s CD albums include Schumann & Prokofiew and Mieczysław Weinberg: Sonatas for Violin and Piano (recorded with Maria Sławek), as well as Poland for 4 Hands (recorded with Grzegorz Mania). He has lectured at international conferences in Kraków, Katowice, Łódź, Gdańsk, Olsztyn, Poznań, Tallin, Moscow, Guimarães, and authored articles on piano literature in addition to serving as editor of collective publications. Różański’s interests include piano literature discoveries and pioneering performances of piano music for the left hand. He also collaborates with PWM Editions on new music publications, including editing piano works by Roman Ryterband, a selection of duets for piano four hands, and a selection of piano pieces for the left hand.

Grzegorz Mania graduated with distinction from the Academy of Music in Kraków (where he studied piano under Stefan Wojtas) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (where he was tutored by Martin Roscoe, Charles Owen and Caroline Palmer). He also read law at Jagiellonian University, and obtained a PhD for a dissertation about music and copyright law. In 2019 he obtained a post-doctoral degree in the Academy of Music in Kraków.

He works extensively as a recitalist, an orchestral soloist and a chamber musician and is a member of the Piano Cooperative and the Extra Sounds Ensemble. Mr Mania is a versatile pianist, regularly duetting with Katarzyna Budnik, violist and Piotr Różański, pianist. He has appeared at international festivals throughout Poland, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Finland, Austria, Italy, Norway, Iceland, Vietnam, Israel, the United States of America, Cyprus, and Ukraine, and has been a finalist in a number of international solo and chamber competitions from 2002 to the present.

A co-founder and president of the Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association, Mania also co-authored an innovative, 3-part sight-reading handbook for pianists. PWM Editions recently published Mania’s definitive volume on music and authors’ rights, as well as his selection of works for piano four hands for intermediate and advanced pianists. 

Currently, Grzegorz Mania divides his time between professorship at the Feliks Nowowiejski’s Music Academy in Bydgoszcz, lecturing law at the music academies in Kraków and Wrocław and rehearsing chamber music programs all over Poland. He is also an artistic director of chamber music festivals in Kraków, Rzeszów, Zielona Góra and Gdańsk.

Photograph by Natalia Jensen, courtesy of the artists.