Polish duo to perform in Hilo
Two young Polish musicians have developed a new creative take on classical music. For the last decade they have been bringing it to audiences worldwide, garnering critical acclaim everywhere they perform, according to the 91直播 Concert Society.
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, a Hilo audience will experience this innovative duo when HCS opens its 64th season with violinist Karolina Mikolajczyk and accordionist Iwo Jedynecki.
Their concert is 7 p.m. at the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center.
Karolina and Iwo bring great energy to the stage, shining a spotlight on not only existing repertoire for accordion and violin but also innovative arrangements and commissions for this unusual ensemble.
Thanks to Iwo’s transcriptions, the duo is able to boldly venture into renowned works of chamber music and even orchestral literature, “giving them new character and delightfully diverse coloring, and at times sounding almost like a full orchestra,” accoring to HFS.
Mikolajczyk studied violin at conservatories in Cologne as well as in Warsaw, where she graduated with honors. Jedynecki holds performance degrees from Germany, Poland, and the United States (New York University) and was the first accordionist recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship.
Iwo Jedynecki began lessons on the accordion when he was 7. He shared how Poland’s state music school system allowed him to get an early start.
“When you’re in the first grade of a state music school, you can pick up an instrument of your choice and then you can actually practice it and have lessons, for how long you want, until college,” he said in a news release.
Initially, Jedynecki planned to take piano lessons, but spots had run out.
“The music teacher suggested accordion,” he said. “Because there was a great teacher who was a soccer player and soccer lover, just like me, we hit it off and I stayed with accordion.”
The married duo’s Hilo concert will include well-known favorites from the Baroque through the 20th century, by composers including Vivaldi, Chopin, Ravel, Gershwin, Piazzola, and Philip Glass, as well as music by Polish composer Aleksander Tansman and French composer Graciane Finzi.
Tickets for the Sept. 17 concert are available at Basically Books and Most Irresistible Shop, with remaining tickets sold at the door.
