MAŁGORZATA WALEWSKA & ROBERT GRUDZIEŃ
7th of August, 7:30 pm., Farny Church
Kazimierz Dolny

“FARNY” concert  is a special event to present the latest album of famous mezzo-soprano Małgorzata Walewska – the star of New York’s Metropolitan Opera and many other world music scenes. The artist´s recital can be acclaimed as an artistic event of the year. Concerts of Małgorzata Walewska always attract crowds. Her famous name acts as a magnet for the audience who admires her voice not only in the largest opera halls but also in the temples. Last year brought establishing cooperation between Małgorzata Walewska and virtuoso Robert Grudzień which will be held at the joint initiative of the concerts. Artists perform sacred music by Franck, Pergolesi, Handel, Schubert and Gounod. One of the fruits of their collaboration is recording an album in mid-July 2009. The recording was made in the parish church in Kazimierz which is famous from the organs of Simon Liliusz dated of 1620. A concert of duo Małgorzata Walewska and Robert Grudzień will be an event of the TWO RIVRSIDES festival.

Małgorzata Walewska
mezzosoprano
A world-famous and one of the best known Polish opera singers. She graduated with distinction from the Warsaw Music Academy in 1994. When she was still a student, she was awarded the 2nd prize at the International Music Competition in Wrocław in 1990 and the 1st prize at the Alfred Kraus Competition on Canary Islands in 1992. She was the finalist of international competitions: the Belvedere Competition in Vienna (1992), the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia (1992) and the Stanisław Moniuszko Competition in Warsaw (1992).

She debuted with the role of Aza in Paderewski’s „Manru”, staged in the Grand Thearte in Warsaw in 1991. Later she sang in opera theatres in Berlin (Deutsche Oper), Bremen, Düsseldorf (Deutsche Oper am Rhein), Essen, Geneva, Klagenfurt, Las Palmas, Luxemburg, Rome (Teatro della Opera), Santa Cruz, Florida (Palm Beach Opera) and New York (MET). Between 1996-1998 she was cooperating with the Vienna State Opera and since 1999 she works for the Dresden Semperoper.

Among her partners on stage were: Renato Bruson, Placido Domingo, Simon Estes, Edita Gruberova, Thomas Hampson, Dmitrij Hvorostovsky, Luis Lima, Luciano Pavarotti and Bernhard Weikl. She took part in many music festivals. She sang on stages in Austria, Finland, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the USA.

This year together with Robert Grudzień she is promoting their album entitled ‘Farny’, recorded in Kazimierz Dolny by the Vistula River.

Robert Grudzień
A well-known musician – organist, pianist and harpsichord player, and producer of concerts, spectacles and music festivals. Graduated from the Music School in Lublin, Music Academy in Łódź and Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf. Among his partners on stage were: Małgorzata Walewska, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Wiesław Ochman, Marek Torzewski, Konstanty Andrzej Kulka. He cooperates with Poznań Boys’ Choir “Polish Nightingales”, Jerzy Maksymiuki, Krzysztof Zanussi and Krzysztof Penderecki. He gave concerts during the most prestigious music festivals in Poland, Europe and other continents. He received many prizes and distinctions for his artistic and charity activities, e,g. the Radio and TV Committee Award in 1990 and in 2006 Medal for Merit to Polish Culture, awarded by the Polish Minister of Culture. He often gives lectures in Switzerland and Germany.

www.grudzien.pl
www.myspace.com/robertgrudzien