Chamber Music Festival in Bielany | Fryderyk Chopin's Mazurka

About the event

The program features piano works by Fryderyk Chopin Performer: Marek Bracha – piano Marek Bracha is a versatile pianist educated in Warsaw and London. He actively performs with a classical music repertoire, which he plays on both modern and historical instruments. The pianist also collaborates with Polish composers, expanding his repertoire with new solo, chamber, and orchestral works. He has premiered pieces by I. Zalewski, D. Przybylski, J. Bruzdowicz, and M. Majkusiak. He performs on historical pianos and conducts lectures and workshops introducing the issues of historical performance (including the Academy of Historical Pianos in Lusławice in 2017). Through his concerts around the world (including China, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, USA, Venezuela, Chile), he popularizes Polish music. As a soloist, he has worked with conductors such as Alun Francis, José Maria Florêncio, Jerzy Maksymiuk, and Jacek Kaspszyk. As a chamber musician, he performs with Tobias Koch, Marcin Masecki, Maciej Frąckiewicz, and ensembles such as Atom String Quartet, Royal String Quartet, and Meccore String Quartet. In February 2018, he debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York, performing works by F. Chopin. In 2019, the pianist collaborated with ensembles such as the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw, the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra AMADEUS, the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic Orchestra (premiere of Mikołaj Majkusiak's Concerto for Flute and Piano), ATOM String Quartet (“Mozart Improvised”). In January and February, further performances of John Neumeier's ballet "The Lady of the Camellias" took place, in which the pianist performed F. Chopin's works on the stage of the Grand Theatre – National Opera. The artist also prepared the concert program "Jewish Mazurkas" consisting of mazurkas written in the 19th and 20th centuries by Polish composers of Jewish descent. This program includes compositions by M. Szymanowska, J. Wieniawski, Wł. Szpilman, A. Tansman, and M. Weinberg. In the autumn of this year, the "Jewish Mazurkas" recital was recorded by TVP Kultura. In November, Marek made another trip to Japan. As part of his original project Heritance: Radiating Piano, he conducted a lecture and workshops on the influence of traditional music on 19th and 20th-century piano music in the works of Polish and Japanese composers. The culmination of these activities was a recital in Tokyo, where the pianist performed the previously discussed piano works. Marek Bracha is the co-founder and curator of the WarszeMuzik festival, which he organizes together with flutist Ania Karpowicz. The chamber music festival takes place every August in the public space of Warsaw, in selected surviving pre-war courtyards in the area of the Warsaw Ghetto. The pianist is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (2012), also graduating with distinction from the Masters of Music program at the Royal College of Music in London in Kevin Kenner's class (2011), and postgraduate studies in piano with Vanessa Latarche and in historical instruments with Geoffrey Govier (2012). The pianist's discography includes a solo album with works by Fryderyk Chopin released by NIFC and the album "Modern Soul" recorded for CD Accord, in which Marek Bracha accompanies violinist Agata Szymczewska. The album received the "Supersonic" award from Pizzicato magazine. Marek Bracha is represented and recommended by the Ludwig van Beethoven Association. ⚠️ Free admission. Limited seating