
Musical Worlds of Polish-Jewish composers
Together with the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College/CUNY, Kosciuszko Foundation, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York, Polish Music Center, and Polish Cultural Institute New York, we invite you to concerts in New York and Washington featuring music by M. Weinberg, S. Laksa, I. Friedman, G. Fitelberg, R. Ryterband, and I. Waghalter! 🎻🎹
Program:
🎼 5.12, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York, at 7:00 PM
Duets and trios: M. Weinberg, S. Laks, G. Fitelberg
Performers: Herbert Piano Trio: Joanna Kreft (violin), Bartosz Koziak (cello), Bartłomiej Wezner (piano), and Grzegorz Mania (piano)
🎼 7.12, The Kosciuszko Foundation, New York, at 7:30 PM
Song recital featuring works by M. Weinberg, R. Ryterband, F. Chopin, and I.J. Paderewski
Performers: @Magdalena Molendowska (soprano), Bartłomiej Wezner (piano)
🎼 11.12, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, at 7:00 PM
Cello and piano duets by S. Laksa, M. Weinberg, and K. Rathaus
Performers: Bartosz Koziak (cello), Grzegorz Mania (piano)
🎼 12.12, LeFrak Hall, Queens College, New York, at 12:15 PM
Cello and piano duets by S. Laksa, M. Weinberg, and K. Rathaus
Performers: Bartosz Koziak (cello), Grzegorz Mania (piano)
Free admission to the events.
This project is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Haritage of the Republic of Poland from the state budget
The project is co-financed by the Malopolska Region
Partners:
PERFORMERS

Joanna Kreft started playing the violin at the age of six with Barbara Zbrzyska, and then continued her education with Maria Langowska and Krystyna Jurecka. In 2013, she graduated the I. J. Padarewski Academy of Music in Poznan under supervision Marcin Baranowski. In 2019, she graduated the baroque violin under Aureliusz Goliński in The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Joanna won the Grand Prix at the Music Festival and Masterclass in Piła (2012) and International Competition for Concert with Hamburger Camerata (2017). She received two special awards in the 14th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań (2011). In 2015, as a member a Herbert Duo , she was laureate of The Violin and Piano Masterclasses in Lausanne leaded by Pierre Amoyale and Anne Queffelec. Moreover, she participated in master courses with the professors, as: Pamela Frank, Riccardo Minasi, Nabuko Imai, Sadao Harada, Xiaoming Wang, Nam Yun Kim and Viktor Pikajzen. In 2013 she has participated in The Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland. Joanna performed as a soloist, among others, with the Münchener Kammerorchester, Arte dei Suonatori, Concerto Copenhagen conducted by Lars Urlik Mortensen, Hamburger Camerata, Chamber Orchestra for the Polish Radio Amadeus, Aukso conducted, Polish Philharmonic Orchestras and The State Youth Orchestra of Armenia. In 2013, she participated in Seiji Ozawa Academy in Switzerland. Joanna has recorded music for Mezzo, Radio Television Suisse – Espace 2, Second Channel of the Polish Radio and Danmarks Radio Program 2. She was a recipient of scholarships awarded to her by the Minister of Culture -the Young Poland Scholarship Programme and the Hans and Eugenia Jütting Foundation.
Bartłomiej Wezner (piano)
Bartłomiej Wezner is one of the most versatile pianists of his generation: a soloist, a chamber music instrumentalist, a teacher, and a promoter of culture. Mr. Wezner is the winner of a number of international chamber music competitions: St Martin’s Chamber Music Competition (2011, London – 1st prize), 16 Premio Trio di Trieste (2015, Triest – 3rd prize), Academie de Musique de Lausanne (2015, Lausanne – laureate), the 50th International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch (2014, Holland – laureate of the Lied Duo category) as well as the 17th International Kiejstut Bacewicz Chamber Music Competition in Łodz (2010 – 3rd prize). He won the best pianist awards at the vocal competitions in Warsaw (2007), Katowice (2008), Łodz (2009), Sopot (2010), and Częstochowa (2013). As a soloist, he won the Special Prize at 6th International I.J. Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz (2004) as well as an Honorary Mention at the 15th International L. Janáček Piano Competition in Brno (2008, Czech Republic). Born in Nysa in 1981, he graduated from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz in the class of the piano taught by Professor Ewa Pobłocka (2006). In the years 2002-2004 he also studied under Professor Jerzy Sulikowski. At the same time he learned the harpsichord with Professor Urszula Bartkiewicz. In 2013 he completed his doctoral studies with the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, and, in 2019 habilitation. In 2014, started working at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz as Assistant Professor as well as the dean of the Inter- Departmental Faculty of Piano Chamber Music. Additionally, Mr. Wezner works as the Chancellor of the Paderewski Piano Academy in Bydgoszcz as well as the artistic director of the Music at the Blumwe Villa festival. Bartłomiej Wezner’s performing aesthetics has been influenced by master classes taught by such world-renowned artists as Maestro Janoš Starker, Stephen Kovacevich, Raphaël Pidoux (Wanderer Trio), Ewa Podleś, Kevin Kenner, Maja Nosowska, and Marcin Sikorski. He has performed with outstanding musicians: Vadim Brodski, Maria Machowska, Joanna Kreft, Agata Schmidt, and Ingrida Gápova. He is the pianist and the founder of the following ensembles: BMF Piano Trio, Herbert Piano Trio, Surrealistic Five. Together with his father and his siblings they form a unique family quartet Wezner Ensemble. As a harpsichord player he has cooperated with the Capella Bydgostiensis chamber orchestra as well as early music ensemble Illo tempore. He has played in Poland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Sweden, Greece, Germany, Serbia, Montenegro, Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy and the United States. As a soloist he has performed with Capella Bydgostiensis, the Toruń Symphony Orchestra, the Opole Philharmonic, the Lviv National Chamber Orchestra Akademia and the Bydgoszcz Philharmonics, among others. In the past, he was the piano tutor at the Maestra Terasa Żylis-Gara Vocal Master Course in the Radziejowice Palace (2008), Young Singers of Małopolska workshops ran by Professors Helena Łazarska and Zofia Kilanowicz in Nowy Sącz (2012), Thomas Hampson’s Master Course at the Gorzów Philharmonic (2014) as well as the official pianist of the 14th, 15th and 16th XIV, XV i XVI International Ada Sari Vocal Art. Competition in Nowy Sącz (2011, 2013, 2015), the 9th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw (2016), International Karol Szymanowski Competition in Katowice (2018) and 4th International Karol Lipiński Violin Competition in Toruń (2019). Mr Wezner has been the recipient of the following scholarships from the following institutions: the Piano Texas Festival and Academy in Fort Worth (2006, USA), the International Dartington Summer School (2012, Great Britain), the Beethoven Haus in Bonn (2015, Germany) as well as the Marshall of the Kuyavyan-Pomeranian region (2011, 2012, 2017) and the Minister of Culture’s Young Poland scholarship (2012). The pianist is equally adept at the classical repertoire as well as the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has performed at world premier performances and recordings of compositions by Hanna Kulenty, Zbigniew Bargielski, Roxanna Panufnik, Marcin Masecki, and Michał Dobrzyński, among others. Mr. Wezner’s concerts have been broadcast by „Dwójka” Polish Radio and RTS Suiss, among others. He has recorded for CdAccord, Dux, Fonoteus and Acte Préalable record labels.
Bartosz Koziak (cello)
Bartosz Koziak is the winner of the 3rd Witold Lutoslawski International Cello Competition in 2001 in Warsaw, Poland, a winner of the 2nd prize at the International Cello Competition in Tongyeong (Korea) in 2006 (“Isang Yun in memoriam”), winner of the 2nd prize at the Mikola Lysenko Competition in Kiev in 2007 as well as winner of the International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Kraków, a laureate and a winner of a special prize at the Prague Spring Music Festival in 2006. Bartosz Koziak also received prizes at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002 and the ARD competition in Münich in 2005. In 2003, he received a special prize of the Polish Cultural Foundation awarded by Ewa Podleś. Bartosz Koziak is a holder of a scholarship granted by the French government and a participant in the programme of the Polish Ministry of Culture “Młoda Polska”. He performed at Konzerthaus in Berlin, Rudolfinum in Prague, Teatro Politeama in Palermo, Studio of Witold Lutoslawski, Khachaturian Hall in Yerevan, the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall. As a soloist, Bartosz Koziak collaborated with the Polish National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice, Sinfonia Varsovia, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Concerto Budapest (under Andras Keller), Armenian State Orchestra (under Sergey Smbatayan), Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, radio orchestras in Warsaw and Budapest, as well as a majority of philharmonic halls in Poland conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki, Jan Krenz, Antoni Wit, Gabriel Chmura, Jacek Kaspszyk, Tan Dun and Massimiliano Caldi. Since 2007 he plays in piano trio with the violinist Kaja Danczowska and the pianist Justyna Danczowska. He is invited to renowned festivals, such as Warsaw Autumn, L. van Beethoven Easter Festival, Mecklemburg Vorpommen, Young Euro Classic in Berlin, Chopin and his Europe. Bartosz Koziak is for many years playing with the pianist Agnieszka Kozło as well as with the violonist Anna Maria Staśkiewicz. In the recent years Bartosz Koziak has been regularly invited for participation at concert projects of Krzysztof Penderecki. He participated in the first recording of “Concerto Grosso” conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki and made several recordings for Polish Radio. Bartosz Koziak graduated in the class of Prof. Kazimierz Michalik and Andrzej Bauer at the Fryderyk Chopin University in Warsaw, receiving a “Magna cum Laude” distinction and completed Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris in the class of Philippe Muller. Thanks to the kindness of Kaja Danczowska he plays on a 19th c. copy of J.B. Guadagnini’s instrument, previously used by the outstanding Polish cellist Dezyderiusz Danczowski during his concerts.
Grzegorz Mania (piano)
Grzegorz Mania graduated with distinction from the Music Academy in Krakow, where he studied piano under Professor Stefan Wojtas. He is also a graduate (distinction) of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he was tutored by Martin Roscoe, Charles Owen and Caroline Palmer. Grzegorz is also a graduate of the Jagiellonian University, where he read law and recently obtained a PhD for a dissertation about music and copyright (awarded by the Polish Ministry of Science). He works as a soloist, with orchestra, as an accompanist and chamber musician, as well as regularly duetting with Alicja Smietana, Romana Szczepaniak, Maria Slawek, violinists and Piotr Rozanski, pianist. He is a member of the Extra Sounds Ensemble – the group has recently recorded a CD for Solo Musica, Munchen with pieces by Corelli, Vivaldi, Schnittke and Kreisler. Grzegorz played in many important halls and during many national and international festivals in Poland and abroad – UK, France, Austria, Italy, Norway, Iceland, Vietnam, Israel, USA. Performing at the International Chamber Music Workshops in Pulawy (Poland, 2003-2005), he has also been a finalist in a number of international solo and chamber competitions from 2002 to the present. He won numerous awards for an outstanding accompaniment during national and international instrumental competitions. He has played in master- classes by, among others, Jerome Rose, Victor Rosenbaum, Wolfgang Redik, Tadeusz Gadzina, Anthony Spiri, Peter S. Buck, Piotr Reichert; and has received coaching from Alexander Baillie, Ewa Bukojemska, Krzysztof Smietana, Wiesław Kwasny, Altenberg Trio, Alisdair Beatson, Carole Presland, Krzysztof Chorzelski and Jan Janski. Grzegorz is a co-founder and president of the Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association. He is an author of a book “Music and copyright law”, as well as a co-author of an innovative sight-reading handbook for pianists publishedby prestigious PWM Edition, famous from its edition.
Magdalena Molendowska (soprano)