• 07-02-2023, Tuesday, at 7:00 pm - Ticketed event

During this year’s first concert from the cycle JUVENUM HORTUS, held on 7th February 2023 at 7 p.m., Iwona Grysak and Rafał Pikusa (students from Prof. Dariusz Samól’s class at the Szczecin Academy of Art) will present the first Szczecin performances of works by contemporary US composers: Denis Bédard, Stephen Dankner, David Maslanka, and Marilyn Shrude. The saxophonists will be accompanied by pianists Dorota Maciaszczyk and Rafał Paweł Urbanek.

Event partner: RADIO SZCZECIN

CONCERT PROGRAMME

Stephen Dankner (b. 1944) – Concerto for saxophone and concert band

(Allegro Moderato; Scherzo: Molto vivace; Andante, Giocoso)

Marilyn Shrude (b. 1946) – Renewing the Myth for saxophone and piano

Perf. Rafał Pikusa – saxophone, Rafał Paweł Urbanek – piano

David Maslanka (1943-2017) – Concerto for saxophone and concerto ensemble

(Song: Fire in the Earth; Interlude: Bright Window, Your Night Is Full of Stars; Song: Dear Jesus, What Have You DONE?!; Interlude: Starry Night; Song: Mortal, Have You Seen This?)

Denis Bédard (b. 1950) – Fantasy for soprano saxophone and piano

Perf. Iwona Grysak – saxophone, Dorota Maciaszczyk – piano

• IWONA GRYSAK
• RAFAŁ PIKUSA
• DOROTA MACIASZCZYK
• RAFAŁ PAWEŁ URBANEK

Bios

IWONA GRYSAK

2nd year MMus saxophone student at the Instrumental Department of the Szczecin Academy of Art (class of Prof. Dariusz Samól, DMA, Habil.). Winner of numerous music competitions and festivals, incl. the 29th Concorso Internazionale per Giovanni Musicisti ‘Città di Barletta’ (1st prize and the award for the best saxophonist) and the 12th Concorso Internazionale Città di Filadelfia (1st prize in the solo category and the main prize ‘Paolo Serrao’).

She has premiered many works by Polish and foreign composers, as well as developing her abilities at master classes taught by world-famous artists such as Patrick Meighan, Wildy Zumwalt (USA), Philippe Geiss, Jerome Laran, Nicolas Prost (France), Hans de Jong (The Netherlands), Paweł Gusnar, Magdalena Jakubska (Poland), and many others.

Iwona Grysak has received scholarships from the President of the City of Szczecin and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

RAFAŁ PIKUSA

Graduate of the Witold Lutosławski Primary Music School in Jasło (class of Jan Szmyd) and student of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Music School Complex in Tarnów (saxophone class of Joanna Dołęga); currently a student at the Szczecin Academy of Art (class of Prof. Dariusz Samól, DMA, Habil.). Member of Saxes saxophone quartet and Saxademus Quartet; participant of numerous master classes and saxophone performance workshops taught by such master instrumentalists as Paweł Gusnar, Hans de Jong, Michał Knot, Jerome Laran, Philippe Portejoie, Andrzej Rzymkowski, Dariusz Samól, Mieczysław Stachura, and Bernard Steuer.

Pikusa has won prizes in international competitions and festivals, including a music competition in Moscow (1st prize) and a chamber music contest in Saint Petersburg (2nd prize).

DOROTA MACIASZCZYK

Pianist and chamber musician, since 2020 – lecturer at the Chair of Piano and Organ, Instrumental Department of the Szczecin Academy of Art.

She has appeared on such CDs as Artur Cieślak – Selected Works, Clarinet and New Polish Chamber Music, as well as Robert Muczyński in memoriam. Muczyński’s life and chamber works are the subject of her doctoral dissertation, while his musical language has been discussed in her book The Clarinet Yesterday and Today: Theory Meets Practice (Poznań 2019).

As a chamber musician she has performed with such artists as, among others, Nicholas Cox, Guntis Kuzma, Antonio Saiote, Paweł Jakub Wojtasiewicz, Kornel Wolak, and FeelHarmony Quintet, taking part in live recordings (during philharmonic chamber music concerts) of Francis Poulenc’s Sextet for wind quintet and piano and Jean Françaix’s Sextet.

RAFAŁ PAWEŁ URBANEK

Pianist, chamber musician, and conductor. he graduated in piano from the class of Prof. Ewa Pobłocka (DMA, Habil.) and Bartłomiej Wezner (DMA, Habil.) as well as in orchestra and opera conducting from the class of Prof. Wojciech Michniewski (DMA).

He worked as a vocal répétiteur in Prof. Hanna Michalak’s (DMA, Habil.) vocal class at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. He conducted student concerts held as part of the ‘Academic Rebel Sinfonietta’ project as well as Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 at the Warmia and Mazury Feliks Nowowiejski Philharmonic in Olsztyn. He is currently an academic staff member at the Szczecin Academy of Art.