November 4 – 13, 2024

This fall, the Karol Rathaus chamber music Festival returns with its second edition, spotlighting extraordinary works of emigrant composers who, like Karol Rathaus, forged new artistic paths. The festival will feature five concerts, highlighting nearly 20 composers whose music reflects a rich tapestry of cultural influences, artistic trends, and historical contexts. Audiences can also look forward to pieces by contemporary composers, including American artists who trace their creative lineage back to Rathaus’s own educational heritage.

The chamber music festival celebrates Karol Rathaus, a prominent Polish composer of Jewish origin whose second homeland was the United State, and Queens College composers who have continued his legacy. Rathaus (1895–1954) was born in Tarnopol (now Ternopil in Ukraine) into a Polish-Jewish family. He was educated in Vienna and Berlin and studies with Franz Schreker. He taught composition in Berlin; when his compositions were classified as “degenerate art” by the Nazis, he left Europe and eventually settled in Flushing, Queens in 1938, becoming the first professor of composition in the Music Department (now the Aaron Copland School of Music) of the newly-created Queens College of the City University of New York.

Join us for a journey through fascinating life stories, a diversity of musical styles, and performances by some of the finest musicians in the world.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at 12:15 PM
Lefrak Concert Hall, Queens College 
65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367

Performers:
Urszula Kryger – mezzo-soprano
Grzegorz Mania – piano
Piotr Różański – piano
Program: works by M. Kowalski, I. Friedman, A. Tansman, M. Moszkowski

Tuesday, November 12, 2024, at 7:30 PM
Elebash Hall
365 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016

Performers:
Steve Beck – piano
Carrie Frey – violin
Ford Fourqurean – clarinet
Monika Gardoń-Preinl – piano
Bartosz koziak – cello
Grzegorz mania – piano
Abay Saha – piano
Lydia Saylor – soprano
Program: works by E. Smaldone, B. Saylor, J. Nichols, K. Rathaus, A. Tansman, L. Kraft, T. Musgrave

Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at 12:15 PM
Lefrak Concert Hall, Queens College
65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367

Performers:
Jakub Jakowicz – violin
Bartosz Koziak – cello
Monika Gardoń-Preinl – piano
Grzegorz Mania – piano
Program: works by S. Laks, W. Lutosławski, K. Szymanowski/P. Kochański, R. Ryterband, E. Smaldone

Urszula Kryger – mezzosoprano

Urszula Kryger is one of the most distinguished Polish singers. She is a graduate of Music Academy in Łódź with degrees both in piano and vocal studies.  She competed in many international music competitions winning the highest awards. Her greatest successes include the first prizes in the 1st Stanisław Moniuszko International Vocal Competition in Warsaw (1992), the 6th Johannes Brahms International Vocal Competition in Hamburg (1994) and the 43rd International ARD Music Competition in Munich (1994). Since then her career has been followed by music lovers and critics alike with unwavering interest.  In 1995 she gave a recital of Frédéric Chopin’s songs at La Scala. A year later, she debuted with great success in the role of Angelina in Gioacchino Rossini’s La Cenerentola on the stage of the Semperoper in Dresden. Audiences in Poland and in many countries around the world have often had the opportunity to admire her highly acclaimed interpretations in oratorios performed under the baton of such outstanding maestros as Jan Krenz, Jerzy Semkow, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Colin Davis and Armin Jordan.  She pays particular attention to chamber music – her art of lied interpretation blends perfection with remarkable naturalness. This rare combination has been highly appreciated by outstanding musicians who have shared the stage with her such as the pianists Hartmut Höll, Charles Spencer, Melvyn Tan and Pascal Rogé, the clarinetist Paul Meyer, as well as Tokyo String Quartet and Petersen Quartet.  Urszula Kryger has made several recordings for radio stations and record companies including Decca (Poulenc’s Polish Songs), Hyperion (Chopin’s Songs), CPO (Löwe’s Ballads), DUX (Russian Duets – Polish Music Industry Award – Fryderyk 2001, Songs by Moniuszko, Karłowicz and Szymanowski – Fryderyk 2002, Songs by Żeleński – Fryderyk 2012, Slavic Duets, German Duets, Górecki – Songs – Fryderyk 2021), BNL (Beethoven’s Arias), Naxos (Lutosławski’s Songs), Channel Classics (Szymanowski Complete Songs – Fryderyk 2004), the Polish Radio (Karol Szymanowski – Songs with Orchestra), NInA (Paweł Mykietyn – The Passion of St. Mark), Anaklasis (Aleksander Nowak Ahat-ilī – Sister of Gods – Fryderyk 2021).  The artist has also received the Karol Szymanowski Foundation award in appreciation of her thoughtful and highly artistic interpretations of the composer’s songs. Urszula Kryger is also a teacher. She gives numerous masterclasses and is a professor at the Music Academy in Łódź.

Monika Gardoń-Preinl – piano

Pianist, outstanding specialist in the field of chamber music, long-term academic teacher and accompanist. In 1991, she graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków in the class of prof. Stefan Wojtas. In 2013, she obtained a Habilitated Doctor Degree in Musical Arts. She has taken part in many competitions, initially for pupils and then students, winning them (including the prize at the Stendhall Foundation Competition, Chopin Competitions in Darmstadt and Göttingen) and in master classes for pianists (Rudolf Kehrer in Weimar and Rudolf Buchbinder in Zurich). She has given concerts in the country performing piano concertos with an orchestra and abroad (Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Estonia, Finland). As a chamber musician, she has performed with many outstanding artists from around the world in significant concert halls, also during the most important music festivals (maestro Peter Lukas Graf, Wolfgang Pfistermuller, Magnus Nilsson, Carlsten Svanberg, Robert Kozanek, Nicola Mazzanti, Carlo Colombo, Janos Balint, Wally Hasse, Foroug Karimi Diafar Zadar, Barbara Świątek-Żelazna, Tomasz Sosnowski, Marek Mleczko, Zdzisław Stolarczyk, Zdzisław Piernik, Maciej Łakomy, Grzegorz Mania, Piotr Różański, Maria Sławek, Jakub Jakowicz, Bartosz Koziak and others). After graduation, she joined her home university – the Academy of Music in Kraków. Currently, she is employed at the Department of Chamber Music as a university professor. She was the head of the Department of Accompaniment, head of the Department of Early Music, Vice Dean of the Instrumental Department, and currently she is a Vice Rector for Art and Science. She is a certified teacher at the W. Żeleński State Secondary Music School in Kraków. She is both a performer and a teacher. She is the co-author of an innovative, three-part sight-reading textbook for secondary music school students (PWM 2017-2022). She has participated in many concerts, master classes, auditions and competitions, and has been a lecturer during scientific sessions (devoted to both performance and educational problems). She has been repeatedly awarded with numerous diplomas and distinctions for outstanding accompaniment. Also, she is a laureate of state awards for her contribution to the development of art, including the Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis.

Jakub Jakowicz – violin

He learned violin with his father, Krzysztof, with whom he studied at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He was also the last pupil of Tadeusz Wroński. He has appeared with many renowned orchestras, including the Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Concerto Köln and Munich Philharmonic. He has worked with such conductors as Antoni Wit, Jacek Kaspszyk, Kazimierz Kord, Jan Krenz, Eiji Ōue, Agnieszka Duczmal and Marc Minkowski. As a chamber musician he has played with Heinz Holliger, Paul Gulda, Anna Maria Staśkiewicz, Katarzyna Budnik, Ryszard Groblewski, Avri Levitan, Daniel Möller- Schott, Andrzej Bauer, Marcin Zdunik and Paavali Jumppanen. He is a member of the Zehetmair Quartett, with which he recorded a Bartók and Hindemith disc awarded a Diapason d’Or (ECM). He has also recorded for ECM, Naxos, CD Accord, Dux. He has performed at the Berlin Philharmonic, Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and also at festivals in Salzburg,  Lucerne and Lugano. Jakowicz won violin competitions in Lublin, Wattrelos, France and Takasaki (Japan), as well as an ‘Orpheus’ from the ‘Warsaw Autumn’. Since 2004, he has taught at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. 

Bartosz Koziak – cello

Described as a “visionary and poet of the cello”, Bartosz Koziak has gained the acclaim of music lovers and critics not only for his extraordinary interpretation of works by both classical and contemporary composers but also for his thoughtful and often daring program choices. As an established performer of contemporary music, Bartosz Koziak was a long time and regular guest participant in Krzysztof Penderecki’s concert projects. He participated in the first CD recording of the Concerto grosso conducted by the composer and has performed most of his cello works Bartosz Koziak has given first performances of a number of works including the  “DoubleCello Concerto” by Hanna Kulenty, the Cello Concerto by Anna Zawadzka-Gołosz, “Sixth commandment” by Elżbieta Sikora, performed together with “Quando stanno morendo. Diario polacco no.2″ by Luigi Nono as part of the Sikora/Nono project with Les Métaboles ensemble and SWR Experimentalstudio. His discography includes recordings of Grażyna Bacewicz’s Second Cello Concerto, Krzysztof Meyer’s Cello Concerto “Canti Amadei”, Bohuslav Martinů’s Cello Concerto No.2 and the premiere recording of Feliks Nowowiejski’s Cello Concerto (DUX), two CDs with Justyna Danczowska of cello and piano works by Schubert, Schumann, Franck and Shostakovich, and an album of Martinů, Kodály and Ravel, recorded with Anna Maria Staśkiewicz (Sarton). He has performed at the Konzerthaus, Berlin, Rudolfinum, Prague, Cité de la Musique, Paris, Teatro Politeama, Palermo, the Khachaturian Concert Hall, Yerevan and  the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. The orchestras he has played with as a soloist include the  Polish National Philharmonic, NOSPR, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Concerto Budapest, the Armenian State Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic, the Radio Orchestras in Warsaw and Budapest, the National Orchestra of Ukraine, and has been conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki, Jan Krenz , Antoni Wit, Gabriel Chmura, Jacek Kaspszyk, András Keller, Volodymyr Sirenko and Sergey Smbatayan. He has been invited to leading festivals including Warsaw Autumn, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival, Yerevan Music Perspectives, Young Euro Classic in Berlin, Musica Polonica Nova, Chopin i Jego Europa, Warsaw and East Meets West, Korea. Bartosz Koziak won the 3rd Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in 2001 in Warsaw, the 2nd prize at the Isang Yun Competition in Tongyeong (Korea) and is a laureate of the Mikola Lysenko International Competition in Kiev. He was awarded a Special Prize at the Prague Spring Competition and was winner of the 1st prize at the 11th International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music in Kraków. He has also received prizes at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and ARD in Munich. In 2003, he received a special award from the Polish Culture Foundation presented by Ewa Podleś. He graduated with distinction “Magna cum Laude” from the classes of Professor Kazimierz Michalik and Andrzej Bauer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, and from Philippe Muller’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris . Thanks to Kaja Danczowska, he plays a 19th-century copy of  a J. Guadagnini  instrument which the eminent Polish cellist Dezyderiusz Danczowski used for concerts.

Piotr Różański – piano

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 – piano

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 his Ph.D. 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. Mania is a versatile pianist, regularly duetting with violist Katarzyna Budnik and pianist Piotr Różański. Mania 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, Mania divides his time between professorship at the Feliks Nowowiejski’s Music Academy in Bydgoszcz, lecturing copyright law 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-Warsaw.

Presented by Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association, Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York, and in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York.The project was implemented with the financial support of the Małopolska region. Partners include Foundation Totalizator Sportowy, American Composers Alliance, and Flushing Town Hall