Schedule of Events:

Saturday, November 2, 2024

3:00pm: Eric Guo

Eric Guo appeared in Raleigh already two years ago, after our Artistic Director, Adam Wibrowski, had discovered him in various venues, when he was still only 19 years old. He was that year to play only one concert with us; when another pianist had to cancel, he-on the spur of the moment-agreed to play a second concert. He's that good. And also prepared. His current teachers are John Perry and James Anagnoson at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Canada. He has also studied with John O'Connor at same Conservatory. He is ready to study at any moment, at any place, at any time. In place of a more formal rendering of his biography and given that he is play two concerts in Raleigh this year, I append excerpts of an Associated Press article written by Monika ?cis?owska and filed from Warsaw on March 6, 2024, barely six months ago. Note, once again, that playing two concerts in short order has become almost a normal event for him.

First Concert

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Etude in A flat Major, Op. 25 No. 1
Nocturne in B Major, Op. 9 No. 3
Impromptus in G flat Major, Op. 51
Etude in G flat Major, Op. 10 No. 5
Variations in B flat Major, Op.2, on Mozart "La ci-darem...
Version for one piano by Fryderyk Chopin.

INTERMISSION

Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 - Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Scherzo in B flat minor, Op. 31 - Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Location: North Carolina Museum of Art - 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, North Carolina

Sunday, November 3, 2024

3:00pm: Eric Guo

Second Concert

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Six Bagatelles, Op. 126

Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111

1. Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato (in C minor)
2. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice cantabile (in C Major)

INTERMISSION

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21

Version for one piano, arrangement by ERIC GUO.

1. Maestoso
2. Larghetto
3. Allegro vivace

Location: North Carolina Museum of Art - 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, North Carolina

Saturday, November 9, 2024

3:00pm: Gabriel Bortnowski

Gabriel Bortnowski was born in 2002 in Koszalin, Poland. He graduated from Gra?yna. Bacewicz School of Music in Koszalin, and he is currently a student at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. He began playing the piano at the age of four and his first teacher was his grandfather, Aleksander Bortnowski,, and his father, Pawe? Bortnowski, followed in due time. He continues his studies with Prof. Zbigniew Raubo in Katowice. This highly capable young pianist has already won many prizes in national and international competitions including the 2nd Prize in the 51" National Polish Chopin Competition in Warsaw (2022), the First Prize in the 4th Natan Perlman International Piano Competition in Saint Petersburg, Russia (2020), the Grand Prize ("Golden Parnas") in the 15th International Piano Forum "Bieszczady without Borders" (2020), and 2nd Prize in 1st International Competition for Young Pianists "C. Bechstein" in Lviv, Ukraine (2019). He has developed a great interest in chamber music since he was little. Together with his sister, Julia, they formed a piano duo which was awarded many prizes, including The Grand Prix in the 4th International Piano Competition "Gran Klavier" in Spain (2017). In 2016, together with his friends, Wiktor Dziedzic and Konstancja ?mieta?ska, he formed The Bacewicz Trio which was awarded, among others, the 2nd Prize in the International Radio Competition for Young Musicians "Concertino Prague" (2018). Gabriel Bortnowski has been awarded scholarships of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland three times and has also been awarded on several occasions by his hometown with the Mayor of Koszalin Scholarship.

He has performed in many prestigious concert halls across Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Czech Republic and France, including Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Warsaw Royal Castle, Marienkirche in Neubrandenburg, Jindrichuv Hradec Castle and Orangery at Parc de Bagatelle in Paris. He has also performed as a soloist with orchestra multiple times. He has played with Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw, Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra, and Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra in Ukraine.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Sonata No. 21 in B flat Major D. 960

I. Molto moderato
II. Andante Sostenuto
III. Scherzo (Allegro vivace con delicatezza)
IV. Allegro ma non troppo

INTERMISSION

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Four Mazurkas, Op. 17
No. 1 in B flat Major
No. 2 in E minor
No. 3 in A flat Major
No. 4 in A minor

Scherzo in C sharp minor, Op. 39
Nocturne in E Major, Op. 62 No. 2
Waltz in A flat Major, Op. 42
Polonaise in A flat Major, Op. 53

Location: Saint Mary's School - 900 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina

Sunday, November 10, 2024

3:00pm: Michal Karol Szymanowski

Michal Karol Szymanowski has specialized in performing the works of Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Thus, he is a natural for inclusion in our 11th Annual Paderewski Piano Festival in Raleigh. He recently published a CD of the Paderewski creations.

Although he appears in our Festival as this year's most mature artist-at age 36-his accomplishments began when he was quite young.

One of the most promising Polish pianists of the young generation, Micha? Karol Szymanowski was born in 1988 into a musical family. He graduated with honors from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, where he studied piano with the renowned Katarzyna Popowa-Zydro? and symphonic-operatic conducting under Zygmunt Rychert. He honed his skills with Eldar Nebolsin at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. At present he continues his piano education as a doctoral student and at the same time works as an assistant lecturer at his alma mater and at the Academy of Music in ?ód?.

Micha? has won top awards in a number of national and international piano competitions, including the International Chopin Piano Competition in Darmstadt, Germany, Mozarteum International Piano Competition in Aachen, Germany, the International Chopin Piano Competition in Daegu, Korea, the Zar?bski International Music Competition in Warsaw, the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Piano Competition in Katowice, the Paderewski International Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz, the International Competition in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in Kiev, and twice in the Polish National Chopin Piano Competitions in Warsaw. In 2015 he was the highest placed quarterfinalist in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Barcarolle in F sharp Major, Op. 60 - Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Laguna-A Poem for Piano, Op. 36 - Ludomir Ró?ycki (1853-1953)
Circle of Fifths (1947) - Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991)

INTERMISSION

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941)

Menuet in G minor, Op. 1
Preludium à capriccio, Op. 1
Introduction and toccata, Op. 6

Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op. 21
Allegro con fuoco
Andante ma non troppo

Polonaise in B Major, Op. 9 No. 6

Location: Saint Mary's School - 900 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, North Carolina

Date: November 2-3 and 9-10, 2024

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