From Paderewski Competition to Yoder Recitals - Nine Months of Music in California (Vol. 17, No. 2)

FEBRUARY: AMERICAN PADEREWSKI PIANO COMPETITION

Nine months passed since the 4th American International Paderewski Piano Competition, held in February 2026. Organized by the Paderewski Music Society at the Murphy Recital Hall in Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, the event was initiated by Prof. Wojciech Kocyan who teaches piano at Loyola Marymount and serves as Artistic Director of the Society. He is also the winner of the First Prize in a much older and larger II National Ignacy Jan Paderewski Piano Competition in Poland in 1986. 

The Los Angeles event, held every three years, showcased young international pianists aged 16 to 31 during a week of recitals that culminated with the award presentation and final concert. The 1st Prize went to South Korean pianist Seonghun Jeong who also won the Special Prize for best performance of a contemporary work. The 2nd Prize went to Wooyoung Cho (South Korea), third to Dominic Doutney (UK) and the Special Prize for the best performance of a work by Paderewski went to the youngest finalist, Pun Punyasavatsut (Thailand). In addition, the Jury awarded two Honorable Mentions: Vladimir Petrov (Mexico) and Daehyeon Jung (South Korea).

Prof. Wojciech Kocyan with two donors supporting the competition: 

Maja Trochimczyk and Lucyna Przasnyski

Seonghun Jeong  receives his First Prize, applauded by donors and Douglas Yoder, MC.

The Jury consisted of: Grammy-winning pianist, Gloria Cheng, Gramophone music critic and pianist Jed Distler, Prof. Wojciech Kocyan, Prof. Adam Wibrowski of Paris, and Prof.  Wojciech Switala of Katowice, Poland. The concert of award winners started with an introduction by Wojciech Kocyan introducing the larger-than-life figure of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a celebrated pianist, neglected composer, patriot-politician, a polyglot, and generous philanthropist with a golden heart.  All finalists received books about Paderewski - a collection of poems about him and essays (Paderewski Essays  & Poems by Maja Trochimczyk), and a set of Paderewski Plays by Kazimierz Braun. Both books were published in English by Moonrise Press in 2025, especially for this competition. 

The First Prize winner, Seonghun Jeong played one of Franz Liszt’s dramatic Legends and Carl Vine’s brilliant Piano Sonata No. 1 (1990). Unlike many classical pianists, he started his music education quite late, at the age of 14; graduating summa cum laude from Yonsei University in Korea. He won a series of nine First Prizes in various Korean piano competitions, including the Korean Liszt Association Competition,  and is currently continuing his music studies at Southern Methodist University in the U.S.  With impeccable technique and unparalleled virtuosity, Jeong captures his listeners' minds and hearts through his intensely dramatic and emotional interpretations of complex works. During the concert, I was particularly impressed with the talent of the English pianist, Dominic Doutney, who delighted the audience with the spirited and colorful rendition of Debussy.

MARCH: POLA BENKE CONDUCTS SANTA MONICA SYMPHONY

The second notable "Polish" event of  a year with music in Los Angeles was a concert of Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pola Benke, a cellist and conductor who recently became the Pricipal Conductor and the Artistic Director of the organization. Benke also serves as Assistant Conductor of the Pacific Symphony and Music Director of the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. Born in Poland, she holds Master’s degrees in Cello Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. In 2014 she finished her postgraduate studies with Marek Szpakiewicz at Azusa Pacific University. She previously held conducting positions with the Long Beach Symphony and Riverside Philharmonic and has participated in leading conducting programs and festivals throughout Europe and the United States, studying with distinguished conductors including Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Sian Edwards, Jonathon Heyward, Tomasz Golka (Music Director at Riverside Philharmonic), and Christopher Russell. 

With Ms. Benke's rise to the top position in Santa Monica, we now have two great Polish conductors in Southern California. Mr. Golka is also a violinist and Ms. Benke, a cellist - both have mastered the intricacies of the musical craft. 

Held on 14 March 2026, at John Adams Middle School Performing Arts Center, the concert was entitled: "Scenes from Life: Identity" and featured young pianist Ryota Yamazaki as soloist in Frédéric Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor. The evening commenced with a "identity" gesture of the conductor acknowledging her Polish background with Witold Lutosławski's Mała Suita (Little Suite) based on folk melodies. For this, Ms. Benke dressed in a colorful folk vest worn by women in villages where these melodies were originally performed.  The rendition was joyous, lively, and precise, accurately reflecting the intonations and rhythmic inflections of Polish folklore filtered through an artistic lens of one of Poland's greatest 20th century composers. 

Pola Benke with Ryota Yamazaki after the performance.

Already in the first piece, Ms. Benke's great rapport with the musicians became apparent. They simply loved making music together and their enthusiasm was easily shared by the audience, including small children allowed to sit .  The joyous mood of an international array of musicians continued in the Chopin Piano Concerto, delightfully played by the young virtuoso of Japanese background. Just like South Koreans who triumphed in the Paderewski Piano Competition discussed above, this east Asian pianist displayed a full understanding of Chopin's music, coupled with profound musicality and brilliant virtuosity. There are so many young pianists starting their careers in every decade, more and more of these talents come out of east Asia, where the respect for hard work, long hours of practice, and honoring tradition are still very much alive. I wish Ryota Yamazaki all possible success in the future!

Pola Benke with her Cello teacher, Marek Szpakiewicz

The second part of the concert presented one of the greatest classics of 19th century music, Ludwig van Beethoven — Symphony No. 1. The enthusiastic and well-prepared orchestra was attentive and responsive to every gesture of the talented conductor.  The music they created together was energetic, colorful and vibrant; thoroughly enjoyed by over 700 listeners in the audience, including a couple of toddlers who tried to climb up to dance on the stage. This is what we need to be truly happy and fulfilled - brilliant, vibrant communities filled with brilliant, vibrant music - played live on the stage, not from recordings!  

Another chance to experience such enthusiastic and exquisite music making was the concert on 19 October 2026, opening the new season dedicated to "Voices Unbound"  with a focus on individual and collective experience. On that evening, Benke conducted Marek Szpakiewicz as soloist in Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto. Alas, due to social obligation, I missed it... 

Arden in April 2026

APRIL: CHOPIN ACADEMY AT HELENA MODJESKA'S ARDEN

There are dozens of concerts played monthly in southern California, in major concert halls and ad-hoc spaces. The Helena Modjeska House and Gardens site in southern Orange County has partnered for the second time with the Chopin Academy, directed by Roza Yoder and broght young students with Chopin 's music to play under the live oaks in the "Forest of Arden" surrounding the historic property of great Polish theater star, director, producer, costume designer, artist and writer. I wrote about the April 2026 concert on this blog already. I gave all young musicians gift bags with pens, markers, notebooks, and brief biographies of Helena Modjeska published for this purpose by Moonrise Press.  The older pianists also received copies of Paderewski Essays & Poems.

https://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2026/04/poems-about-music-at-modjeska-historic.html

Mira Lei plays Chopin and Lutoslawski under live oaks in Arden.

It is such a great joy to hear youth play classical music in a site brimming with history and beauty.  The ancient live oaks, sago palms, and redwoods provided a magical background to the sounds of Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, Paderewski and Liszt.  These sounds could have been heard in Arden in the 1880s when Paderewski visited his mentor and friend and played for her guests on the piano in her salon... 

George H. Wood photo of Queen of the Night, 1860, National Gallery of Art.

JUNE: DESTROYING MAGIC IN MOZART'S MAGIC FLUTE

It does not matter who loses and who wins on the battlefield, it seems, as long as great music is played so well... and it can, if the Western civilization does not fall to its greatest enemy of terrorist Islam. But the Western civilization may also fall when it is attacked from within, when the rot inside reaches its heart. I reflected on this post-modernist cultural "rot" while enjoying the heavenly voices of soloist in the best opera of all times, W.A. Mozart's Magic Flute performed at the Music Center by Los Angeles Opera on 20 June 2026. I enjoyed it because I closed my eyes and focused on the extraordinary voices and fantastic orchestra, conducted by James Conlon in this final performance as Music Director. Miles Mykkanen was Prince Tamino, Sydney Mancasola Princess Pamina, Kyle Miller - Papageno, Aigul  Khismatullina - the coloratura Queen of the Night, and baritone Kwangchul Youn tried to reach the lowest registers of the Priest Sarastro. Incredible voices, fantastic arias and duets. So much to enjoy. Even the three priestesses, three boys, and other minor characters sung very well.  

Marcellina Sembrich Kochanska as Queen of the Night at the Metropolitan Opera, 1900

Alas, the production of the Komische Oper Berlin transformed childlike magic into monstrosities, the Queen of the Night because hideous spider, the dream of a house full of children by Papageno and Papagena - a satire of grotesque monsters, black insects crawled and blood poured from knifes across the whole huge screen.  Some, most gruesome images were cut out from the projection this time, compared to the one I saw two years ago in Warsaw, Poland. But the whole staging was thoroughly and completely disgusting. How can the sublimely, magnificently beautiful and enchanting Queen of the Night become an atrociously horrible spider? This transformation completely destroys the narrative and logic of the Magic Flute. I was so annoyed I wanted to write a complaint letter to the orchestra, similar to the one I meant to but finally did not write for Warsaw's National Opera. There, it was so gross, I felt nauseated. Why would this horror-of-a-distorted staging be taken around the world, from one theater to the next? To disgust all audiences? To convince them that this light-hearted magical piece is a dark, ominous fantasy, a distorted fruit of a sick mind? To destroy all beauty, charm and delight in the world, and replace it with ugliness, caricature, and hate? 

Casati as Queen of the Night, 1922

Bizarre! Maybe there is, indeed, a global conspiracy to destroy classical music to the applause by all the millions of Islamists who hate Western culture, Western masterpieces, and Western art? It definitely seems so, after the misadventure with the Magic Flute. How to counter it? All creators and managers of this monstrous project should - as punishment and "re-education" - have to watch the fantastic film that Ingmar Bergman made in 1975. The delighted faces of the audience, interspersed with the simple props and costumes on the stage - this is the true magic of the Magic Flute! 

JULY: LEONIDAS KAVAKOS'S STRADIVARIUS AT HOLLYWOOD BOWL

What is perfection in classical music? A Greek virtuoso violinist, Leonidas Kavakos playing a Russian concerto on an antique Italian Stradivarius violin, accompanied by American Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra under the baton of a Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård.  The program on 14 July 2026 (The Bastille Day, with fireworks in France!) paired two greatest masterpieces of the entire Western repertoire: Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, and Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. Everyone loves the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, so I was looking forward to this interpretation under the stars, interrupted by distant police car sirens and helicopter buzz... But.... what an experience! The music was simply breathtaking, not a note out of place, nothing casually thrown off. Pure musical bliss!  

I have to admit that I did not know Kavakos before this concert, that immediately captured my attention with incredibly rich and alluring sound of the violin. Even the amplification for the thousands at the Hollywood Bowl did not spoil the effect. The sonorities were so energetic, so rich and saturated in the whole range... simply heavenly! So, I did what any modern concert-goer would do, I googled Kavakos's violin - and voila!  A bona fide Stradivarius!  No wonder this Italian violin-maker was such a legend. The vibrations of his instruments touch the very soul of the listener.  The Greek virtuoso currently plays the so-called "Willemotte" violin made in 1734 by Antonio Stradivari who was then about 90 years old.  Kavakos purchased it in 2017; he loves his Stradivarius violins and previously for eight years played another instrument, nick-named "Abergavenny" and made in 1724. The Willemotte instrument has an unique acoustic profile, with intense richness of lower registers and full saturation of overtones in the highest registers. These complex characteristics were ideal for this ideal interpretation of the ideal violin concerto. You just had to be there. The energy in the air was incredible! 

The L.A. Phil musicians did their best to match the soloist's excellence and, under the baton of Thomas Søndergård reached heights of perfection in their rendering of Beethoven's joyous Seventh. They filled the "Dance" symphony with such incredible profusion of sophisticated musical details without losing track of the overall dramatic form. Even the best known slow movement, often played too slowly and too heavily as a funeral march, became an etheric, inspired movement into infinity. The Symphony's interpretation by Sondergard and the orchestra was modern, sophisticated, delicate, and uplifting - with a clockwork precision of rhythms, tempi, and soaring intensity of emotion. There were no encores, what else could you say, what else could you play, what else could you add to such perfection?  

I will remember this concert as one of the musical experiences of my life. For music lovers just music, only music is enough. And no, there were no Islamists there, claiming that our beloved music is cursed,  and has to be silenced, as "haram..." 

AUGUST: TCHAIKOVSKY SPECTACULAR CIRCUS WITH FIREWORKS

On 5 August 2026, another classical music treat at the Hollywood Bowl brought an evening of Tchaikovsky's favorites, ending with the perennially entertaining 1812 overture celebrating Russian victory over French invaders through the juxtaposition of their national anthems, and gun cannonade at the end... Alas, the organizers decided that music was not enough, ballet was too Western and everything had to be upgraded to "woke" "multi-kulti" nonsense. They added low-brow circus acts to the sublime ballet music, so it was necessary to close eyes to enjoy the performance, until the grand finale, with USC Trojan Marching Band in full regalia joining the orchestra for the firework explosions! 

 

Destroying the lovely suites from the Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake by circus contortions was not enough for the blasphemous and culturally-deaf-and-blind organizers of the concert.  The theatrical circus company Troupe Vertigo performed aerial acrobatics above the orchestra and a variety of circus act, such as throwing up a square table or playing with flags and balls... It was quite distracting and annoying. But the worst of the worst travesty and full-scale attack at Tchaikovsky, his music, his Russian patriotism, was in the circus accompaniment of the Slavonic March, Marche Slave, an occasional piece written in 1876  for a charity concert raising funds for Serbian soldiers wounded by Ottoman Turks who invaded their country. The piece portrays Turkish oppression at the outset, and ends with the Russian national anthem "God Save the Tsar."  The defenders of Christian Europe against Moslem invaders just had to be ridiculed on the Hollywood Bowl stage! Instead of a parade of flags, the circus performers dressed as monkey-tamers and had the "monkey" do funny tricks on stage, so the audience would laugh instead of reflecting on the ancient and ongoing Islamic invasion of the Christian West.  The Slavonic March is hardly a masterpiece, but to attack its content in this "post-modernist" commentary with fake monkeys and monkey-tamers? Atrocious. Shame on the Hollywood Bowl! 

SEPTEMBER: RAVEL'S BOLERO AND MIRACLES OF FRENCH MUSIC

While the Russians defeated Napoleon's forces in 1812 and the Hollywood Bowl commemorates this victory in its annual firework spectacle, "my" season of three concerts at the Bowl ended on 10 September 2026, with a triumph of French music: French conductor, Philippe Jordan and French pianist, Jean-Yves Thibaudet playing French music by Saint-Saens, Debussy and Ravel. A joy for the mind and heart. The highlight of the first part of the concert, introduced by Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila, was Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. The second half brought two more masterpieces by Ravel, the grand symphonic poem La valse, and the timeless Boléro. In between, as sorbet to clean the palate, we heard Stokowsky's orchestration of Claude Debussy's Clair de lune. Sweet and refreshing, indeed.  The three Ravel masterpieces on the program all got well-deserved standing ovations from the enthusiastic audience - the orchestra was at its best, and the conductor did justice to the perfection of the music. The large screens showed various sections of the orchestra, so I could see which wind instruments played solos in the subsequent variations of the Bolero and admire the musicians' stamina and musicality.  

OCTOBER: SOLO RECITALS BY DOMINIK YODER

In July, September, and October 2026, I went indoors to the lovely piano recitals at the musical home of Roza and Douglas Yoder. Their middle son, Dominik Yoder is now getting ready to compete in a variety of competitions, mastering the repertoire, and performing it repeatedly, so that his technique and interpretation reach the highest levels. Some of his concerts featured a selection from Chopin's Nocturnes and Etudes. Others included excerpts from Chopin or Beethoven piano sonatas. The most frequently heard grand finale or encore was virtuosic, and full of colorful details Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 2. 

On 11 October 2026, Yoder played the whole set of Rachmaninoff's Etude Tablaeux, Op. 39, preceded by Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 53, "Waldstein." The Sonata's extraordinary interpretation left no room for improvement; delighting the audience with the pianist's impeccable technique coupled with profound musicality. The last movement, especially, was beautifully structured, so the large-scale form could easily be perceived. After hearing the complete set of nine Etudes Tableaux, I still cannot say that I like this dense, chaotic, chromatic, and intensely dramatic music. Yoder's temperament is well suited to these complicated and virtuosic pieces, with their dark, brooding moods, and triumphant echoes of the ringing of church bells. The audience in a musical salon was seated within 5 meters away from the piano, and they were bathed in one rolling sound wave after another.  

L to R: Kacper and Dominik Yoder

Born in Los Angeles, Dominik was only two when he started learning the piano with his mother Roza Kostrzewska-Yoder. He studied piano privately and soon started giving concerts and participating in competitions. In 2025, he won first prize at Beverly Hills National Audition; 1st prize, New York Concert Guild Competition; 2nd prize, International Chopin Competition (Hartford); and 4th prize, Fujairah International Piano Competition. In 2018, he won Gold medal at Kosciuszko Foundation Young Pianists Competition (Washington, D.C.) and Grand prize at Redlands Competition. He also received over a dozen local, regional, and state competition first prizes, and the Outstanding Pole Award from the Consulate General of Poland in Los Angeles (2022). He gave concerts in Poland, Puerto Rico, Germany and across the U.S. More information: dominikyoder.com.

Dominik Yoder's talent, paired with hard work and dedication will take him to new heights, year after year. The middle son of three, he has created a unique musical path for himself. 

Kunst der Fuge, Piano Four Hands at Loyola Marymount, and Endless Motion (Vol. 15, No. 1)

Clouds above California, Photo by Maja Trochimczyk

Everything's different and everything's the same, in an endless dance of time.  I found my old CD of Johann Sebastian Bach's Kunst der Fuge, and enjoy driving around town listening to "always different always the same" masterly constructions in sound -  the famous theme coming in time after time again, higher and lower, straight and inverted, slowed down or breezing by. What an amazing feat of the human mind and imagination. Each section is recorded in a different orchestrations - strings, winds, organ, harpsichord... bring their unique qualities to the music.  

But as I listen and engross myself in the interlocking pattern of heavenly polyphony, I begin to think that something's missing, there is no unpredictability, no improvisation, no ornaments, no pause in this  musical clockwork Universe of perfect order.  So I remember Chopin's love of improvisation and his habit of rewriting pieces when sent to publishers in different countries. This gives modern editors, used to the idea of one definitive text, a huge headache, because these versions or variations are all equally valid and cannot be brought to one common denominator of a single "artwork" that is fixed forever in its repetitive patterns. An informative summary with multiple examples of the "Minute Waltz" in different editions is found on the website Music Universe in Hong Kong:

 https://musicuniverse.hk/2022/02/17/different-editions-of-the-chopins-works/

A comparison of different editions of many Chopin's works is possible on the website of the Chopin Institute in Warsaw: chopin.nifc.pl, for instance Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15, No.  3, associated with the gloominess of Hamlet by many commentators:

 https://chopin.nifc.pl/en/chopin/kompozycja/174_nocturne-in-g-minor

 Played by Artur Rubinstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTfeTJME7-I

or the Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 in D-flat Major, one of the most beloved of Chopin's compositions:

https://chopin.nifc.pl/en/chopin/kompozycja/174_nocturne-in-g-minor

Played by Artur Rubinstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ8RVjm49hE

Instead of one definitive edition, both Nocturnes have three "first editions" listed - by M. Schlesinger, (France), Breitkopf-& Hartel (Germany), and Wessel & Co.  (United Kingdom). There are two manuscripts and three scores for each. 

If there had been more "first" editions of these works in Chopin's lifetime, these too would have been different. Just as time flows in one direction, and you cannot enter the same river twice, so is with music - every time Chopin played, he made small changes, introduced new melodic variants, ornaments, chords... Why then, are we so fixated on finding and fixing just one definitive "work of music" that is described in notation to its minute details and changes so little from one performance to the next? 

Just like Chopin kept improvising when playing his Impromptu or Nocturnes, so do birds in their song - especially the master singers of great creativity, the European nightingale and blackbird, and the American mockingbird.  I love spending mornings in the garden in the spring,  when the mockingbirds mark their territory with song. The melodies become artful with variational repetition of short phrases, but their repertory is endless and the joy they bring is endless too. There is nothing more perfect than life-well-lived, and you can live well when you cherish each moment, each second, each impression, each sound.  

Is it only possible to enjoy the fleeting moment while focusing on the ever changing, ever the same melodies of the mockingbird? (The name is so bad, this birds is not "mocking" anyone, just singing his heart out...)

The improvisation is true freedom of creativity, this music does have wings! But what about scores fixed in notes, and painstakingly learned and repeated by human performers? Are they inferior to the divine feathered kind?  They are just different. There is beauty in hearing the same complex work played by different talented interpreters. The joy of being surrounded and permeated by moving waves of sound is as intense in a garden as in a classical music concert. Two conditions: the music is live and it is acoustic, without any artificial electric distortion and amplification. 

Zarebski Duo in concert, 25 February 2024

The Zarebski Piano Duo gave such a concert this Sunday, February 25, 2024, at Murphy Recital Hall of Loyola Marymount University. The concert was truly delightful, with its program perfectly arranged, alternating little-known 19th-century repertoire of virtuosic dances, with contemporary minimalist and surrealist styles of female composers. The rendition of the music was perfect as well, and the whole program full of inspirational moments. 

The genre of "piano-four-hands" was popular in the 19th century, especially for young couples who could flirt while their hands touched and crossed...  I must say I was a bit prejudiced against it, especially after laughing my head off at a Warsaw Autumn performance of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring by a piano-four-hands-duo. It was completely ridiculous, to my ears... The massive, primordial chords of full symphony orchestra feebly imitated on one keyboard. No matter how hard they tried, they failed miserably... 

But yesterday, the Zarebski Piano Duo raised this forgotten genre to new heights in their masterly concert at Loyola Marymount University. Grzegorz Mania and Piotr Rozanski from Krakow presented a fantastic, well-thought-out program with many beautiful pieces, starting from Juliusz Zarebski himself, a revelation! Born in 1854 with a great talent and a short life-span, he died at 31, so did not write much. But what he created is surely a set of masterpieces.  Reverie et Passion op. 5 provided an amazing (I'm overdoing on superlatives here, but it was truly superb and I never heard it before, so ... a double delight!) opening to the program. It converted me from a foe to a fan of "piano-four-hands" as I was able to appreciate the virtuosity and the intensity of sonorous polyphony, whole avalanches of sound spanning the keyboard. The music deeply moved the listeners.  While the melodious and romantic composition evoked the youthful intensity of emotion, it paradoxically made me think of incredibly original, virtuosic pieces by Conlon Nancarrow, Studies for Player Piano contain impossible scales, huge chords, light-speed arpeggios, all played by a pre-programmed machine... What if a transcription was made for two people? Could these pieces be played by pianists as well? I'm always in favor of people over machines...  

The minimalPrelude by Anna Roclawska-Musialczyk (b. 1987), was "minimal" only in its use of a repetitive basic phrase that provided an ostinato of sorts for the whole composition, a bit like Ravel's Bolero. Luckily, its overall form was composed-out with dramatic peaks and moments of tranquility, so it was not as tedious as early minimalism of Steve Reich or John Adams. The music was beautifully laid out in its temporal flow, and gave ample opportunity for both pianists to showcase their talents. 

The author of the next composition, Ignacy Friedman 1882-1948) was a contemporary of the modernist Karol Szymanowski, yet he wrote in the "old-fashion" style of a 19th-century virtuoso. Nonetheless, his Five Waltzes, Op. 51 had memorable melodies and quite a few surprises along the way, reminiscent of Haydn's Surprise Symphony. . . The juxtaposition of this melodious set in traditional dance rhythms with the preceding and following modernist textures made it even more memorable.  Highly recommended! Here a note about Frederick Delius (1862-1934) should be made - he wrote romantic music of heavenly beauty in the era of stark modernism but was and is beloved for it, not condemned because he did not follow some fashion. We should take a second look at Friedman and other virtuosi who created such beautiful music, so rarely heard!

Hanna Kulenty at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, 2022

Having been friends with Hanna Kulenty (b. 1961) since the college years at the  Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw (now Chopin University of Music), and having spent many hours listening to her piano improvisations and concerts, I could tell the next composition Van of 2014 was hers after the first few phrases. She is among the unique contemporary composers that created their own, personal harmonic language, some of which she had revealed during her lecture of students at the Chopin Academy of Roza Kostrzewska Yoder and Douglas Yoder in Los Angeles during her visit in October 2022.  (At that time she was the feature of Paderewski Lecture-Recital organized by USC Polish Music Center).  The secret was using bi-tonality keyed a second apart, plus "dominant-ninth" chord structures - if I remember correctly. Do not quote me, if I do not. Let her musical language remain hers.  

Already in college, Hanna Kulenty developed the "polyphony of arc" - composing music from interlocking arcs of sound that appeared and disappeared at times, in a modern version of the polyphony of melodies we hear in Bach's Kunst der Fuge...  These "arc"-based textures contrasted several melodic, harmonic, textural "lines" of music that were  seemingly going on forever, but only occasionally were audible to the audience. It was their sudden appearance and disappearance that gave the music direction and created the patterns of expectation and fulfilment or disappointment that is key to listening to classical music. (As per the authoritative text of Leonard B Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in Music).  While working on her doctorate and "habilitation" (the second academic degree beyond the doctorate in the European system), Hanna's interest moved on beyond lines of harmonic-rhythmic patterns into juxtaposing whole dimensions of time, that is slowing down or accelerating, waxing and waning. Here whole musical universes evolve and collide. Her most recent iteration of style is called "surrealist music" - and it indeed sounds surreal when the whole orchestra slowly grinds to a halt, or slides downwards in a massive glissando taking the audience on an unpredictable ride into the unknown. 

In introducing Kulenty's Van, the musicians spoke of Hanna's interest in visual arts, and treating music as a kind of "audible sculpture."  Yes, and no,  I think that the multi-dimensional music of Kulenty is focused on the multiplicity of simultaneous "times" rather than the solidity of sculptures. Her Van gave a taste of her ability to sculpture multiple time layers into a coherent and engaging whole. The musicians rendered her sound world perfectly and drew the audience in so much so that it erupted in a fervent applause after the piece ended. 

While thinking of music as sculpture, let me quote the famous poem by Rainer Maria Rilke "An die Musik" that perfectly encapsulates the concept of musical work as a "sound sculpture" forever fixed in time through its notation.  In hearing Kulenty interpreted by the Zarebski Duo, we were privileged to enter into such a heavenly sound artifice. 

TO MUSIC

Music: breathing of statues.  Possibly:

stillness in pictures.  Speech where speech

ends.  Time upright and poised

upon the coastline of our passions. 

Feelings for whom?  You are the transformation

of all feeling into – what?  . . . audible landscape.

You stranger: music.  Heart’s space

that’s outgrown us.  Innermost us

which it’s scaled, surmounted, gone beyond

into holiest absence:

where what’s within surrounds us

the way the most skillful horizon does,

or the other side of the air,

pure,

immense,

no longer lived in. 

           ---- Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by William H. Gass

A fascinating commentary on this poem may be found on the blog Poetry Letters of Huck Gutman, https://www.huckgutman.com/rainer-maria-rilke-to-music.  

Sierra Mountains from the air, by Maja Trochimczyk

The balance of the program was more entertaining and more "salon-style" than the masterly segment from Zarebski to Kulenty that consisted of a series of masterpieces, all first rate... In contrast the remainder of the concert featured music that was pleasing but somewhat "second rate."  This reminded me of my favorite quote from a poem on artistic quality by e.e.cummings, where the distance from first to second was enormous, and much larger than the following distance from second to tenth... Alas, I cannot find this poem, now that i need it... 

 Alexander Tansman's En tournant la T.S.F. (1951) is a series of cute miniatures musically representing different countries one could hear when turning the knob on the radio and listening to music from around the world. We were graced with a visit to France, England, Poland and Hungary if I'm not mistaken. A trip to Venice, with its lilting Barcarolle rhythm, provided an encore for the whole concert. Pleasing and lovely pastiches of stereotypical "national" characteristics, these miniatures were a tad too stereotypical to be truly visionary like Friedman's Waltzes heard earlier. These pieces were written for children, so they have their merits. To my taste, they were a bit too "trite" for a serious concert. Tansman was prolific and his oeuvre includes masterpieces and works of merely utilitarian or pedagogical value. 

Katarzyna Kwiecien-Dlugosz (b. 1978) wrote a set of Seven Aphorisms for Piano 4-hands entitled Cinderella and dedicated to characters from the fairy-tale. We heard the vicious step-mother and the fairy Godmother along with Prince Charming, and ended the exploration of the tale with the "Glass Slipper." According to the musicians, the "Glass Slipper" with its delicate shiny textures was their favorite. For the audience, however, the villain, as often, won the contest, presenting the most interesting and rich array of harmonies, dissonances, and aggressive rhythms.  We heard four "Aphorisms" and it would have made more sense to this listener at least, to skip Tansman entirely, and play all of Kwiecien-Dlugosz's composition. As it ended with the "slipper" and did not even allow Cinderella herself to sing her song, it was somewhat disappointing in presentation.  

Piotr Rozanski, Prof. Wojciech Kocyan, Grzegorz Mania

The final three works, Polonaise, Valse and Hungarian Dance, Op. 11 by Maurycy Moszkowski (1954-1928) showcased the virtuosity and collaborative talents of both pianists in a late 19th-century set, relying again, like Tansman, on national stereotypes and dance types.  I would not compare Moszkowski's Polonaise with Chopin's; not in the same league. However, as a lively and energizing conclusion to the concert, it felt just right.  

My tinge of disappointment with the second half of the program appeared later, when I reflected on the concert while driving back and listening again to Bach's "heavenly sewing-machine"  of Kunst der Fuge.  While at Loyola, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire program alternating 19th century classics with minimalist and surrealist modern pieces. At the concert, nothing was out of place. Perfection itself! This also may be the choice of the musicians, to present more difficult, original and intense music first, and end with light-weight fare, so as to not overwhelm the perceptive faculties of the listeners.

Many thanks and hats off to the two gentlemen from the Zarebski Duo for their courage and dedication in resurrecting and bringing back to concert halls a forgotten repertoire of romantic and late romantic Polish music. Bravo! 

The audience included quite a number of Modjeska Club members and the concert was organized jointly by our member, LMU Prof. Wojciech Kocyan, and Polish Music Center at USC. One of the listeners, Prof. Targowski, wrote his own mini-review in bullet points, since he is a computer scientist recognized for his analytical mind. Below is his summary of this performance (translated into English):

"It was great music, brilliantly performed.  To me, a musical layman, it reminded me a bit of Chipina, of course not in relation to the nocturnes.  

• Technique: playing all notes with precision, perfect clarity of sound, balance between two musicians, as well as velocity and dynamic differentiation.
• Cooperation and coordination: the musicians maintained balance and  synchronization, especially in difficult moments.
• Engagement of listeners (especially me and my wife Irmina) in their performance. I think they had a shared musical vision.
• Dynamics: the musicians could appropriately express differences between forte and piano, crescendo and decrescendo.
• Sound balance: both hands had equal contributions to the overall sonorities. Both musicians brought out the full sound range of the piano.
• Repertoire and difficulty of the piece: good selection and meeting technical challenges.
• Overall impression: The performance was convincing, gripping and memorable."

Maja Trochimczyk, Wojciech Kocyan, Wanda Presburger of the Modjeska Club.

Now that I thought of audible landscapes and sound sculptures, I thought of the living paintings done with computer assistance (called AI, but should be called "plagiarism software")  by Turkish digital artist Rafik Anadol. I loved his imagery of evolving California landscapes so much that I wrote a series of poems about them: https://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2023/05/rafik-amadols-living-paintings.html

California landscape living painting by Rafik Anadol.

 

After a Visit to an Art Gallery

In a hall of Rafik Anadol's living paintings

the Universe breathes and moves

mountain ranges rise and fall

oceans clash and dance

If I could live a million or a billion years 

that's how I'd see the Earth - rising and falling - 

a sea morphs into a lake shrouded in mists, 

becomes the bottom of a mountain valley, 

a melting glacier among snow-covered peaks, 

under a cluster of alien stars.  

Living, breathing matter folds itself into itself,

twists and changes. The patterns, 

pulled by invisible strings of constellations, 

form and re-organize themselves in waves 

upon waves of revealed, transient beauty.

Ah, so that's what it was, that's what it is. 

Nothing's fixed. There is no ground under our feet.

Everything is fluid. Only the endless motion.   

(c) 2023 by Maja Trochimczyk

On Kocyan and Sadej, or the Charisma of Musicians and the Magic of Live Music (Vol. 14, No. 2)

After two years of capricious and arbitrary bans on live performances, that caused huge damage to the cultural lives of many countries, destroyed cultural institutions and hurt artists' careers, in the fall of 2022, we were finally able to organize and attend live theatrical performances with live classical music. I will not dwell on reasons for the lockdowns of whole societies and countries, for which the idea was imported from China along with the virus that purportedly caused these lockdowns (see book by Michael Sanger on this topic). 

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder"... so after an extended period of relying on Zoom for substitute in-person meetings and on video recordings of theater and concerts, as well as films for cultural experiences, we could realize that the magic of live performance with live music is completely irreplaceable and any substitute is a failed simulacrum.  As in "bad coin replaces good coin" law of monetary circulation first defined by Nicholas Copernicus, who also stopped the Sun and moved the Earth, in detailed observations that ushered in the heliocentric view of our cosmic neighborhood: the "bad coin" of recordings replaced the "good coin" of live performances.  

My readers can guess here that I much prefer live classical music concerts to recordings. I must admit that I do rely on recordings during my long drives on California freeways; these are much better than listening to the radio, for I decide what I want to hear and how many times. I do get stuck on some Chopin etudes (as recently The Aeolian Harp, Op. 25 No. 1);  I spent a good six months with a collection of Chopin nocturnes... and enjoyed my time with Anonymous Four' the Sacred Harp CD, Rachmaninoff's Second (not Third) Piano Concerto, Bulat Okudzava, Rachel & Vilray, and Dominika Swiatek singing poems by Zbigniew Herbert... not necessarily in that order... But if I want to completely focus on an artwork, a piece of music, I have to hear and see it live. 

On March 18, 2023, in a midst of a very busy Polish events season in California, I attended a Recital by mezzosoprano Katarzyna Sadej accompanied by Wojciech Kocyan, extraordinary pianist, professor at Loyola Marymount University. I had previously organized a concert for Sadej for the Modjeska Club - a celebration of 100 years of Poland's regained independence through important songs marking each decade, event or era.  The recital took place in a private mansion in Beverly Hills, with an audience of 100, and accompaniment of Basia Bochenek. The magical voice filled the salon to the brim, resonated in each heart. I called it then "the voice of the century" - so rich, flexible, sonorous, and so well used by musically endowed and beautiful singer. 

If we lived in a different era, where the color of skin, eyes and hair did not decide who got the main roles in the big opera houses, and if we did not have the forced shutdown of all joy-bringing activities, such as going to the beach, or a concert due to some machinations of social engineers bringing in their nefarious plans for humanity under the guise of health care - SADEJ would be a household name in the classical music world, and her portraits would be on covers of all classical music magazines. With luscious, extra long blond hair, blue eyes, classic regularity of features, and perfect model's figure (her father was a judo trainer), Sadej looks like a Goddess of Music... But we live in the reality of this world, so we have to collect our gems of delight where we find them, not on the grand opera stages, but in college recital halls... 

The recital of Kocyan and Sadej was a jewel of music-making, and a worthy addition to my collection of the best concerts ever.  Hearing Messiaen's Turangalila in Avignon in 1987 was one such event; Xenakis's Persephassa for six percussionists surrounding the audience with mobile clouds of sounds, glissando, tremolo, a primordial force - heard in Warsaw, was another; Ivo Pogorelic's Chopin at the second stage of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw from which he was promptly kicked out, but only after the whole audience listened to his piano pianissimo with bated breath - was yet another moment of musical magic. At Loyola Marymount's Recital Hall I came for an unforgettable experience, due to the quality of music selected for the program and the incredibly beautiful renditions of these classic songs. 

I came to hear Karol Szymanowski's Kurpie Songs, but there were only three on the program, selected from a set of 12 songs op. 58.  These original arrangements of folk songs and dialect texts are among the most important compositions of Polish 20th century. Of course, these were sung well, with proper inflection and gusto. After all, both musicians are Polish.  The Loyola Marymount University's website described them as follows: "Renowned Polish-Canadian-American mezzo-soprano Katarzyna Sadej's ... international, eclectic career spans concert, opera, film, chamber music, oratorio, recital and voice over. Her solo appearances include the National Arts Center Ottawa, L.A. Opera, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the National Theater in Taipei, to name a few. Sadej is joined at the piano by Dr. Wojciech Kocyan, world renowned pianist and Clinical Professor of Music at LMU. He is a laureate of several international piano competitions, including F. Busoni and Viotti, as well as a special prizes winner of the XI International Chopin Competition and the First Prize winner of the Paderewski Piano Competition." The concert was presented by the LMU Department of Music and the Paderewski Music Society where Prof. Kocyan serves as Artistic Director. 

The recital started from six Gypsy Songs op. 55 (Cigánské melodie) by Antonin Dvorak, one of which was also used as an encore ("Songs My Mother Taught Me"), of delightful and flexible melody that you'd hum long ago after the concert. Indeed, this is the most famous of all these songs, and it was transcribed for various instruments to become a lovely salon piece.  Sadej enriched this song with the intensity of her voice and sweetness of expression.  It was such a treat to hear it twice! 

Other songs from this set had more lively folksy rhythms, as appropriate to a set of poems by Czech poet Adolf Heyduk idealizing the nomadic life of the Gypsies. The songs were originally written for a male voice (tenor), but were entirely suitable for the mezzosoprano.  The only issue I had to struggle with during this part of the program was to see Kocyan as an accompanyist instead of a soloist. He had to subdue his formidable technique and talent, in order to play simple arrangements and let the singer shine. I expressed that regret after the concert, saying that the recital should have included at least two solo pieces from the period to show off Kocyan's talent, but he dismissed my concerns, stating that it was a Vocal Recital! 

The second part of the program started from the most famous set of Trois Chansons de Bilitis by Claude Debussy, to poems by Pierre Louÿs published in 1894 with a claim that they were ancient verse found in Greek ruins. In 1897, Debussy took three of these poems - The Flute of Pan, The Hair, and the Tomb of Naiades - and set them as a melancholy and expressive portrayal of deeply felt emotions. Sadej and Kocyan rose to the occasion in their interpretation of this often heard classic, creating an unforgettable musical gem. The resonance of Sadej voice permeated the recital hall, in an electrifying moment of musical magic. One has to revert to "purple prose" to describe moments such as this one. 

The next two love songs were by 20th century composers, American Tom Cipullo and Roman Ryterband, a Polish Jewish musician who became a citizen of Switzerland and Canada before settling in Palm Springs, California. They were both pretty, but after a month, I cannot recall them at all.  Nice, but not extraordinary! There is a reason these composers have not reached the levels of recognition of the grand masters. But minor masters are good to hear too... if only to let the masterpieces shine.

The recital concluded with three songs by another French composer, Henri Duparc, Chanson triste, I'invitation au voyage, La vie anterieure. I previously knew them only from a recording while studying music history - Jessye Norman sang Chanson triste with pianist Dalton Baldwin, with ethereal high notes. There are few more beautiful sounds in the world than those made by opera singer singing in a high register quietly, so the otherworldly voice spreads out and reaches, it seems, to the end of cosmos. Hard to experience this fully while listening to recordings. What a treat it was to hear this effect live, so beautifully rendered by Katarzyna Sadej! Her voice sounded richer, more saturated, more resonant than Norman's but then I listened to Norman only on recording, so I cannot tell. But definitely in the same class. . . 

Sadej beautifully rendered I'invitation au voyage, with its effortless leaps from low to high register. For a weak singer such alternations of pitch are a disaster, bridged with heavy portamento, and marked by drastic change of timbre. But a fantastic singer like Sadej or Norman can make these alternations and melodic shifts sound natural and inspired - evoking deep, dramatic emotions in a large arc of melody supported by incessant arpeggios of the pianist. Bravo!  

All classical music fans know the name of Jessye Norman. Let them also know the name of Katarzyna Sadej! She let her voice shine and resonate, and definitely touched the listeners' hearts. The last song, with its steady introduction and ultra-dramatic central part, provided a suitable conclusion to the recital. Oh, how I love this music... time for some more "purple prose." Or not. Better still, find another concert of Katarzyna Sadej and hear her live. I've met an opera fan with deep pockets that travelled around the world following his favorite singer for ultimate aesthetic experience. If I had deep pockets and more time, I'd definitely do the same... Here's the Dvorak's Gypsy Melody "Songs My Mother Taught Me" as an encore of the concert.

The collaboration of two master musicians was extraordinary as well, but it was to be expected. Next time, though I'd like to hear some more Debussy for solo piano by Kocyan... However, he is more and more interested in artistic collaborations, as he stated: "It was such a pleasure and an unforgettable experience to play with Katarzyna - that's why we are musicians, for those moments in life. On the other hand, I am more and more inclined to do mixed recitals, like the 19. c. kind: a few solo pieces, some arias, some songs , maybe some chamber music." So, if you are in the Los Angeles area, keep your eyes open for announcements of Kocyan's concerts! 

Special thanks to EWELINEB® fashion studio for dressing the singer for the performance in an elegant black and white gown.  The gown is from the special EWELINEB collection  inspired by the film Memoirs of a Geisha and Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini. The  a black embroidered dress with a white lace cape was called by a reviewer "the pièce de résistance" of the entire collection, that "is exotic, yet subtle, elegant and sublime." I borrowed all photos for this post from Ms. Sadej's Facebook page, where she wrote: "Thank you to the amazing pianist Wojciech Kocyan for this wonderful musical collaboration! Juan Antonio Espino I am so grateful for your fabulous photography of our event, and to  EWELINEB®   - Thank you for making me feel fabulous in these gorgeous gowns since 2018!!"

More information about Katarzyna Sadej, whose "Earth Singing Project" is an inspiring adventure outside of the concert hall, into stunning natural landscapes, is found on her website: https://katarzynasadej.com/. Let's hope to hear her often and see her star in operas and recitals worldwide. And let's hope that the misguided social engineers and insane, power-hungry officials that shut down our concert halls for over two years and denied us access to life-affirming beauty and healing inspiration, will never get a chance of destroying our lives again. 

And here I am with flowers... 

Chopin or Szymanowska? Kocyan's Quiz at the Bowers Museum (Vol. 4, No. 8)

On Sunday, June 30, 2013, at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, during a lecture-recital about "Maria Szymanowska, the Court Pianist to the Tsarinas" Wojciech Kocyan let the audience compare and identify the music of Szymanowska, born in 1789 and publishing since 1810 to her death in 1831, and Chopin, born in 1810 and composing since his childhood to 1849.

Instead of playing their music in a straightforward piano recital, Kocyan arranged six pieces in pairs, in random order, and asked the audience to identify the composers. To make things harder, the pieces were put in the same, or very similar key. The two pieces in A-Flat major were fast, effervescent, and virtuosic, with melody barely indicated above a web of arpeggios. The two pieces in F Minor were melodic and expressive, poignant event. The pieces in E-flat Major were whimsical, nostalgic, and dance-like - both could actually be danced at an aristocratic salon.

In A-Flat Major:

Chopin – Etude in A-flat major, Op. 25 No. 1, known as The Aeolian Harp since Robert Schumann's review in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, composed before 1837, dedicated to Maria d'Agoult.

Szymanowska – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcmvkbmtygNocturne in A-flat Major “Le Murmure” published in Paris by Henry, with the title on the cover “First Pianist of the Tsarinas of Russia”

In F Minor:

Szymanowska – Polonaise in F Minor, no. 4 from the same collection of 18 Dances dedicated to Princess Vyazemsky

Chopin – Waltz in F minor Op.70 No.2, composed in 1841 and dedicated to Elise Gavard and Anna Caroline Oury [de Belleville] in different editions

In E-flat Major:

Chopin – Waltz in E flat Major Op.Posth., composed around 1827 (he most likely heard Szymanowska in Warsaw at that time), played by Biret Idil, from YouTube.

Szymanowska –  Contredanse, pub. 1820 Leipzig, in 18 Dances dedicated to Madame la Vera Viazemsky nee Princesse Gagarin, wife of Prince Pyotr Viazemsky (in 1819-21 he lived in Warsaw, was friends with Pushkin and Mickiewicz), with a quotation from opera Jean de Paris by Pierre Boieldieu.

Wojciech Kocyan plays Szymanowska and Chopin. Photo by  Maria Kubal.

The audience filled out the answer cards that were collected and counted during the reception. Three books on Szymanowska by Stanislaw Dobrzanski were given to three winners randomly chosen from among 20 listeners who gave correct answers. The lecture recital was attended by about 140 people, so the proportion of correct answers was about 14%, which means that the majority of listeners mistook Chopin for Szymanowska and Szymanowska for Chopin. This indicates the similarity of their compositional styles.

Wojciech Kocyan and Maja Trochimczyk present Szymanowska. Photo by  Maria Kubal. 

To make things harder, Kocyan, who just learned the Szymanowska pieces for this event, but has played Chopin for his entire career, that started with an award in the Warsaw Chopin Competition, decided to not play from memory, but rather use scores, without clearly visible names on the covers, so that the pieces would be identified solely by ear.

As a bonus, the wonderful and witty pianist, selected a piece that grew a collective "aah" from the expectant audience just after two chords. Everyone recognized Chopin's Waltz in C-Sharp Minor Op. 64 No. 2, composed in 1846-47, dedicated to Charlotte de Rotschild and beloved by generations.

Chopin - Waltz in A Minor, op. 34 no. 2, and Waltz in C-sharp Minor Op. 64, No. 2 played by Valentina Igoshiona, from YouTube.

The event started with my lecture on "Fashion, Portraits and Szymanowska's Professional Image" richly illustrated with portraits of the virtuoso pianist, teacher of princesses, and composer of romantic music, endowed with rich melodic invention and a talent for filigree ornamentation, and expressive harmonic progressions. Certain cadences, motives, textures, and melodies in "Chopin's style" pointed to an inspiration or a shared language of the era that is now forgotten, since we only remember Chopin. The poster by the lectern by Janusz Majewski of Poland celebrates another Queen of Polish culture - Helena Modjeska (Modrzejewska), an actress and director, and the patron of the Modjeska Club that sponsored the event.

To learn more about Szymanowska, the audience could buy a book published in 2006 by the Polish Music Center, with a CD insert by Dobrzanski. The book is a result of Dobrzanski's doctoral studies (he's now a piano professor in Kansas) and includes my chapter on Szymanowska's songs.

To learn more about Szymanowska's music I recommend the purchase of her Complete Piano Works, issued by Acte Prealable in Poland this spring, and recorded on three CDs by Slawomir Dobrzanski (AB 181-83). This is a "must-have" set and hopefully some of these recordings will become available for download individually, starting from Szymanowska's greatest hit - her Nocturne "Le Murmure" which was used by Adam Mickiewicz as an accompaniment to poetic improvisations back in her salon in St. Petersburg. There are no excerpts from the CD set available online, but her two Nocturnes have been posted:

• Maria Szymanowska - Nocturne in B-flat Major
• Maria Szymanowska - Nocturne in B-flat Major, played by Anna Briscoe

The picture on Dobrzanski's CD is the same as the one towering above the performers in the auditorium: Szymanowska styled as a Roman Goddess and placed at a piano, with a putto handing her the book of music, to indicate angelic inspiration, in a exquisite evening gown and elegant interior, with a window pointing at the smoking peak of Vesuvius. Walenty Wankowicz painted Szymanowska in Naples, where she played for the Russian Ambassador on January 19, 1825 and socialized with Princess Natalia Golitzin, one of her closes friends and supporters.

Maja Trochimczyk with poet and artist Kathabela Wilson

Pictures were taken by Maria Kubal and Kathabela Wilson, poet, musician, and artist. The audience included also Prof. Roman Koropeckyj of UCLA, a noted specialist in Mickiewicz, Dr. Mira Mataric, Serbian-American poet and translator, and Susan Dobay, Hungarian-American artist. extraordinaire. Barri Mogilewsky (married to a Polish-American, hence the name), represented the Bowers Museum and coordinated the afternoon, whereas Andrew Z. Dowen, President of the Modjeska Club, represented the Club and coordinated the reception.

To see more pictures from the event, visit the Picasa Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/Maja.Trochimczyk/KocyanAndTrochimczykOnSzymanowska#

Maja Trochimczyk, with Modjeska Club's President Andy Dowen,
and Barri Mogilewsky of the Bowers Museum. June 30, 2013. Photo by  Maria Kubal.