Saturday, March 2 | at 7pm
Georgia State University, 15 Gilmer St
Atlanta, GA 30303
Tuesday, March 5 | at 7pm
Consulate General of the Republic of Poland
233 Madison Avenue (Jan Karski Corner)
New York, NY 10016
RSVP by February 29: ny.publicaffairs@msz.gov.pl
Saturday, March 8 | at 7:30pm
500 W University Av M301
El Paso, TX 79968
Sunday, March 10 | at 3:30pm
USC Ramo Recital Hall
820 W 34th St, Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, March 13 | at 12:00pm
540 Cornish Dr.
Encinitas CA, 92024
Thursday, March 14 | at 7:30pm
Thompson Recital Hall at Bemidji State University
1500 Birchmont Dr NE
Bemidji, MN 56601
Friday, March 15 | at 4:00pm
Third Coastal Chamber Collective Community
Presbyterian Church
703 N Pokegama Ave.
Grand Rapids, MN 55744
The Cracow Duo: cellist Jan Kalinowski and pianist Marek Szlezer return to the U.S. for a tour with concerts in Atlanta, New York, El Paso, Encinitas, and Grand Rapids. During the tour, audiences will have the opportunity to hear works by Fryderyk Chopin, Mieczysław Weinberg and Andrzej Panufnik, whose 110th birth anniversary is being commemorated this year, as well as Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, among others. Contemporary music, of which the artists are passionate advocates and tireless promoters worldwide, will also be featured, including music by Marcel Chyrzyński and Wojciech Widłak.
Magazine “The Strad” wrote about the Cracow Duo: “Kalinowski and Szlezer, friends since childhood, have a wonderfully natural rapport and there is an arresting quality to their playing that gives life to the music”. They studied together in Cracow and Paris, and began to perform together as Cracow Duo twenty years ago. Since that time, their concerts and recordings received the highest critical acclaim in Poland and abroad. They performed on the most prestigious stages, including Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, Alfred Newman Hall in Los Angeles, Carnegie Hall in New York, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico, Salle Cortot in Paris, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Cracow Duo tour is presented in partnership with the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and the Polish Cultural Institute New York
Jan Kalinowski (born 1982) Studied at the Music Academy in Cracow, the École Normale de Musique in Paris and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart under the guidance of Professors: Witold Herman, Paul Julien and Peter Buck. He has also taken part in master classes given by David Geringas, Ivan Monighetti and Arto Noras. He received scholarships from Polish and foreign foundations, as well as the City of Cracow, the Malopolska Region and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. He has recorded for radio and television, including the cello concertos by Witold Lutosławski (Lebanese National Orchestra, Azerbaijan State Philharmonic) and Marek Stachowski (Beethoven Academy Orchestra). As a solist he has been performing under the baton of many renowned conductors, such as: Rauf Abdullayev, Łukasz Borowicz, Wojciech Czepiel, Jacek Rafał Delekta, Jurek Dybał, Michał Dworzyński, Jacek Kasprzyk, Adam Klocek, Paweł Kotla, Paweł Przytocki, Daniel Rajskin, Jacek Rogala, Maciej Tworek, Alan Urbanek and Antoni Wit. He is Professor, he works at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow, where he holds his own cello class. In 2014 DUX published an album with his artistic project Polish Cello Music containing works by polish composers for cello ensembles from one to eight instruments. Jan Kalinowski also recorded the V Suite by Johann Sebastian Bach for the Bach Society and took part in recording the album: Krzysztof Penderecki – chamber music vol. II Violoncello Totale (DUX, 2017). For his artistic activity and commitment to promote Polish music, he was awarded the honorary badge Meritorious for Polish Culture by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. From 2012 he plays the instrument by Wojciech Topa.
Marek Szlezer (born 1981) Is one of the most sought-after Polish pianists. His career started with the Grand Prix at the International Piano Competition in Rome at the age of 12. He has studied at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, the Music Academy in Cracow and the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Belgium with Ewa Bukojemska, Abdel Rahman El Bach, Dmitri Bashkirov and Marcella Crudeli. He has held grants from Polish and foreign foundations, as well as the City of Cracow and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. He is a prizewinner of many prestigious competitions in Poland and abroad. His consummate performances of Frederic Chopin’s music have won him numerous prizes: 1st Prize at the National Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the special prize of the Chopin National Edition. He had the honor to play a concert on Chopin’s original piano at the Jagiellonian University on the night Poland entered the European Union. Marek Szlezer has performed in such prestigious concert halls as Carnegie Hall, Palais des Beaux Arts, Salle Cortot, Wigmore Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Alfred Newman Hall and NCPA. He has performed with leading orchestras, including the English Chamber Orchestra, National Symphonic Orchestra of Ukraine and the National Polish Radio Symphonic Orchestra. He discovered the piano music of Jadwiga Sarnecka and recorded a selection of her compositions for DUX. He is the author of numerous research papers about piano works of Polish composers, published by Polish Music Publishers and Euphonium, as well as book publications and articles about Polish music. He has recorded several albums (DUX, EMI, Amadeus and Moderato Classics among others), receiving an enthusiastic critical acclaim in prestigious musical magazines (Gramophone, Kulturspiegel, The Strad, Pizzicato, Fanfare, American Record’s Guide among others). He is Professor, he works at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow, where he holds his own piano class. For his artistic activity and commitment to promote Polish music, he was awarded the Gloria Artis medal by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Marek Szlezer is Steinway Artist.