The Festival is most proud to offer the following events, November 5, 6, 11, 12, and 13, 2016. These constitute the Third Annual Ignacy Jan Paderewski Festival of Raleigh The first year of the Festival, 2014, was a great success with three concerts and four lectures. The second year, 2015, featured four concerts by distinguished and accomplished pianists and one formal lecture celebrating the life and artistic contributions of Paderewski. The third year we will again feature four concerts by distinguished and accomplished pianists. The beginning of the series of events, November 5, coincides with the 100th anniversary of the announcement by the Central Powers–Imperial Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy–of a potential reconstitution of some sort a Polish state. This insincere project had, however, the beneficial effect of opening a bidding war by forcing some counter-offer by the Allied powers–which were soon to include the United States.
Paderewski’s first appearance in Raleigh, January 23, 1917, came at the very moment of President Woodrow Wilson’s opening bid–offered ten weeks before the formal declaration of war by the United States..
In offering our Third Annual Paderewski Piano Festival in Raleigh, we are well on our way to becoming a permanent feature in the cultural landscape of Raleigh and the Triangle.
Saturday, November 5, 3:00pm
Saint Mary’s School, Smedes Parlor
Pianist: Artem Yasynskyy (Ukraine). Artem Yasynskyy is a Ukrainian pianist, the prizewinner of the Gina Bachauer Competition in Salt Lake City and the winner of the Cincinnati World Piano Competition. His first solo CD for Naxos “Joseph Hofmann. Piano Works” received favorable critiques, giving him the opportunity to record the next CD in September 2016. Thanks to his great successes in the United States, Mr. Yasynskyy will perform his Debut Solo Recital at Carnegie Weill Hall, New York, in December 2016.
Sunday, November 6, 3:00pm
North Carolina Museum of History, Daniels Auditorium
Pianist: Jean Dubé (France). At age 34 French and Canadian pianist, Jean Dubé, has become a “unique musician who can perform just about anything–not to mention his phenomenal piano technique” (Normunds Šnē, Riga National Orchestra) and “is able to give us pure music like Horowitz, Arrau, Kempf and others among the greatest artists” (Mayor of Paris for Culture). At age nine he received a Steinway piano as First prize in the Mozart competition in Paris and performed as soloist with Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra. At 14 he graduated from the National Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris. He has been a First Prize Winner in the Utrecht Liszt International Competition and has recorded some thirty compact discs to critical acclaim. He has juried international competitions and performed in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia as solo recitalist, in chamber music, and as a concert soloist with noted conductors .
Friday, November 11, 1:30pm
The Cary Theater, 122 East Chatham Street, Cary, North Carolina
Film The Pianist: This is a showing of the Academy Award winning film The Pianist, directed by Roman Polański. The film relates the story of Władysław Szpilman who survived World War II in that most difficult of circumstances: Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Janusz Olejniczak, who will perform on Sunday, November 13, at the North Carolina Museum of Art, performed the piano sequences in the film and recorded the sound track.
A short presentation by Dr. Alvin M. Fountain II, Honorary Consul, Republic of Poland, on the circumstances of "The Pianist" in occupied Warsaw will precede the showing of the film.
The Cary Theater has only about 150 seats. Please buy your tickets early.
Saturday, November 12, 3:00pm
North Carolina Museum of Art, Main Auditorium
Pianist: Alexia Mouza, (Greece/Venezuela). Ms. Mouza is a young Greek-Venezuelan pianist who participated in the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2015. She has attained distinctions including First Prize at the International Piano Competition “Della Steinberg” in Madrid, Third Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, and First Prize with honors at the “Filon 2000” Pan-Hellenic Piano Competitions, among others. La Provincia di Como has placed her in distinguished company: “Alexia showed such a vigorous and passionate temperament that it makes one think of the young Argerich.“ She has given concerts in Europe, Asia, and the United States and is currently studying with Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of music in Tel Aviv.
Sunday, November 13, 2:00 pm
North Carolina Museum of Art, Main Auditorium
Pianist: Janusz Olejniczak (Poland), playing an all Chopin program. This program will be preceded by Paderewski’s Sonata for piano and violin in which Mr. Olejniczak will collaborate with Paulina Sokołowska, violinist. Olejniczak began playing piano at the age of six, study under Walewska, Bakst, and Drzewiecki. In 1970 at age 18, he placed sixth in the Chopin Competition and fourth in the Casella Competition in Naples. From 1971 to 1973, he studied in Paris under Schmaeling and Małcużyński and thereafter again in Warsaw under Hesse-Bukowska and completed his post-graduate studies from 1977 to 1978 in Essen under Merzhanov and Badura-Skoda. Olejniczak has played and recorded in all areas and combinations of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, often for radio and television as well as on compact disc. He has taught at the Academy of Music in Kraków and held master classes in Poland, Canada, the United States, and Japan. He has judged for many international piano competitions, including the Chopin Competition. He will be accompanied on the Paderewski Sonata by violinist, Paulina Sokołowska, herself a noted soloist and chamber musician in Poland, Belgium, and elsewhere on the Continent, and a member of the faculty of the Warsaw Chopin Conservatory of Music.
We hope you will join us for these special events, to learn and experience the great and beautiful piano legacy of Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
We gladly accept donations and emphasize that contributions are tax deductible. The Ignacy Jan Paderewski Festival of Raleigh, Inc. is a 501©(3) tax-exempt public charity under the provisions of sections 170, 2055, 2106, and 2522 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent of applicable law.