LIVE Performances:
1. Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow - 15 Oct 2023
2. Eastman School of Music - Rochester, NY, USA - 07 Nov 2023
3. University at Buffalo - Buffalo, NY, USA - 08 Nov 2023
4. Percussive Arts Society International Convention - Indianapolis, IN, USA - 11 Nov 2023
5. Zespół Państwowych Szkół Muzycznych nr 4 im. Karola Szymanowskiego on Warsaw - 27 Nov 2023
6. Marcin Błażewicz: Sahay Manush – a piece for the duo of marimba and multipercussion. Performed in Poland and the rest of Europe but rarely in the US. Written for Marta Klimasara and Jurgen Spitschka in 2005. The contradictions between marimba and unmelodic instruments in this piece are based on the philosophy of Yin and Yang. The idea of creative spontaneity comprised in the virtuosic and improvisatory passages is influenced by the poetry of Bengali Bauls, who strived to attain the essence of matters by the free development of their improvised poems. “If you want to be happy, enjoy your life and be more alert in order to realize what is important and what is not. If you keep opting for what is essential, sooner or later you will become an essential man, adbar manush. In order to achieve that, one must be a spontaneous, unconstrained man, sahaj manush.” I'm performing the piece with Tomasz Kowalczyk.
5. Steven Stucky: Isabelle Dances - Steven Stucky was also a Pulitzer Prize winner and a composer who’s music was performed by ensembles such as New York Philharmonic. Isabelle Dances is another great addition to marimba repertoire, and although stylistically completely different from Marimba Variations, still in my opinion represents the best music ever written for the instrument. I have met Stucky during his visit at the Eastman School of Music in 2011 when I gave the second performance of the piece after Isabelle Huang for whom it was written.
4. Charles Wuorinen: Marimba Variations - Charles Wuorinen was a Pulitzer Prize Winner and a leading representative of the New York’s "uptown" modernist school of composing. He contributed greatly to the percussion literature with the pieces such as Percussion Symphony, Janissary Music and many others. Marimba Variations will always be a great addition to the catalogue of top pieces written for the instrument.
3. Tomasz Arnold: Scherzo 3 – one of the two solo pieces from the Chopin – Alter Ego collection. The piece is based on the Scherzo no. 3 by F. Chopin. Very challenging piece demanding great amount of technical ability and virtuosic attitude from the performer.
2. Ania Vu: Floating Dandelions - a new piece commissioned for the project. Here is a program note provided by the composer: floating dandelions for solo marimba attempts to depict the philosophy of surrendering oneself to the natural flow of the universe and letting go of control. The delicate pappus – the white and feathery part of a dandelion – quietly relishes in its wanderings by being carried around by the unsteady wind; it’s in constant motion, even when being gently caressed by the breeze that barely lifts it up from the ground or vigorously thrown into a whirlwind of temporary chaos.
1. Witold Szalonek: Agnesissimo-Africanissimo – a rarely performed, forgotten piece that’s included in the collection called “Anthology of Contemporary Music” published by PWM in 2003 (a collection that includes the first publication of the famous Toccata by Anna Ignatowicz). I decided to revive this piece, as I found it interesting but hadn’t found any recordings of it. A complicated rhythmic layer balances simplistic melody, which gives a hint of an inspiration that likely comes from the traditional African music performed on contemporary marimba’s great grandfather - Balafon. This highly virtuosic (or at times even crazy) piece was composed in 2001 for a Polish marimbist Agnieszka Pstrokonska-Nawratil and it’s the last piece from Witod Szalonek’s catalogue of works.
A recital with a program that includes famous and unknown Polish-American works for solo marimba. The first of the series that I call Marimba Trips involves literature from Poland and USA presented together in a structured and curated recital program with a short commentary on the performed works. The heart of the idea is to introduce Polish marimba literature to American percussionists as well as milestones of American literature unknown in Poland to the Polish musicians.
The pieces that are included in the program are picked according to the three folowing categories:
1. Polish Composers that passed away (Witold Szalonek, Marcin Blazewicz)
2. USA composers that passed away (Charles Wuorinen, Steven Stucky)
3. Emerging composers connected to both countries (Tomasz Arnold, Ania Vu)
The program is as follows:
A recital with a program that includes famous and unknown Polish-American works for solo marimba. The first of the series that I call Marimba Trips involves literature from Poland and USA presented together in a structured and curated recital program with a short commentary on the performed works. The heart of the idea is to introduce Polish marimba literature to American percussionists as well as milestones of American literature unknown in Poland to the Polish musicians.
The pieces that are included in the program are picked according to the three following categories:
1. Polish Composers that passed away (Witold Szalonek, Marcin Blazewicz)
2. USA composers that passed away (Charles Wuorinen, Steven Stucky)
3. Emerging composers connected to both countries (Tomasz Arnold, Ania Vu)
The program is as follows:
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