New Year Concert
The Rector of the University of Wrocław, prof. Robert Olkiewicz, invites the university community to the New Year Concert performed by the Symphonic Orchestra of the University Philharmonic, which will be held on 1 February at 6 p.m. in the Aula Leopoldina of the University of Wrocław (Pl. Uniwersytecki 1).
The concert will feature soloists:
Marta Mazanek Matuszewska – soprano
Paweł Kucharczyk – tenor
Viktor Kuznetsov – violin
The concert will be conducted and conducted by Bartosz Żurakowski
Admission is free.
Marta Mazanek Matuszewska graduated with distinction from the Ignacy Jan Padarewski Academy of Music in Poznań in the vocal class of prof. dr hab. Anna Jeremus Lewandowska.
She is a laureate of numerous vocal competitions, including 2nd Prize at the Bogdan Paprocki National Vocal Competition in Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz (1st Prize was not awarded), as well as the Antonina Kowtunow Prize for the best vocalist in the world. Antonina Kowtunow for the Best Soprano of the Competition, 3rd Prize at the Bella Voce International Competition in Busko Zdrój, 3rd Prize at the Krystyna Jamroz National Vocal Competition in Busko Zdrój, or the Prize from Edyta Kulczyk at the Bogdan Paprocki National Vocal Competition in Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz.
In 2022, she debuted in the role of Frasquita in G. Bizet’s Carmen at Wrocław Opera. In addition, she created the part of Clorinda in the opera La Cenerentola by G. Rossini, which she received after winning auditions for the Royal Opera House in Warsaw. During the current artistic season, she also performed the role of Zerlina in the opera ‘Don Giovanni’ by W. A. Mozart, on the stage of the Lublin Opera.
She has performed as a soloist, among others, at the Philharmonics: Opole, Łomża, Częstochowa, as well as with the Karol Namysłowski Symphony Orchestra, the oldest in Poland, under the direction of maestro Aleksander Gref. She has also collaborated with “ORFEO” Fundacja im. Bogusława Kaczyńskiego
She is currently taking part in the training programme for young talents at the Opera Academy in Warsaw, where she collaborates with, among others, Olga Pasiecznik, Michał Biel, Izabela Kłosińska, Sophia Munoz, Mariusz Kwiecień and Hedwig Fassbender.
Paweł Kucharczyk born in 1990, a graduate of the Faculty of Vocal Performance and Acting at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the solo singing class of prof. Jerzy Knetig. During his studies, he performed on the stage of the Theatre Collegium Nobilium in Warsaw, creating the role of Egeo in Francesco Cavalli’s opera Il Giasone directed by Michał Zdunik. He has performed solo parts in selected sacred works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Stanisław Moniuszko and Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki. He has taken part in masterclasses by Ryszard Karczykowski, Jacek Laszczkowski, Jerzy Artysz, Olga Pasiecznik, Marcin Habela, Andrzej Dobber, Andrzej Lampert.
In the summer of 2022 he was engaged to join the ensemble of singers in the production ‘Amadeus’ directed by Anna Wieczur, staged on the stage of the Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw.
Laureate of the 3rd place of the International Vocal Competition ‘Bella Voce’ in Busko-Zdrój.
He was invited to record a CD with Stanisław Moniuszko’s songs ‘Moniuszko. Pieśni vol. 7’, with Jacek Szponarski and accompanied by pianist Jolanta Pszczółkowska-Pawlik.
He is also a graduate of the Piano, Harpsichord and Organ Department of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the organ class of prof. Józef Serafin and prof. Jarosław Wróblewski. He performs as a soloist and chamber musician.
Wiktor Kuznetsov – violinist, virtuoso artist who lives and works in Wrocław. Laureate of the International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Poznań in 1986, laureate of the International Nicolo Paganini Violin Competition in Genoa in 1987. The artist constantly performs in Poland, but also abroad, in Germany, Norway, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ukraine. He is appreciated by music critics for his extraordinary artistry.
Since his debut at the Berlin Philharmonic in 2004, the artist has regularly appeared as a soloist on this prestigious musical stage. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Wrocław Soloist Ensemble Ricordanza and the Wrocław Johann Strauss Festival Orchestra. He has recorded many CDs with these ensembles, including a reconstruction of Nicolo Paganini’s Violin Concerto from 1829 commissioned by the International Wratislavia Cantans Festival in 2002. A CD entitled Musica Sacromontana was commissioned by the J. Zaidler Music Society, which received the prestigious ‘Fryderyk’ music award in 2008. Viktor Kuznetsov has taught violin at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław since 1991, and since 2002 he has been vice-president of Wrocławskie Towarzystwo Koncertowe.
Bartosz Żurakowski – a highly regarded conductor by both Polish and international critics. The prestigious Herald Scotland, the oldest daily newspaper in the British Isles, compared Żurakowski to the legendary baton master Neeme Jarvi after a concert with the Scottish Opera Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow in 2014.
He is the founder and president of an artistic foundation that supports young artists, organises great musical events and is the originator and artistic director of the International Music Festival ‘BelleVoci’, which takes place annually in the Lower Silesian region. He is also the artistic director of the International Sacred Music Festival ‘Masters of Prayer with Music’ in Katowice, as well as the general artistic director of the International Viennese Music Festival ‘From Joseph Lanner to Robert Stolz’. The year 2012 was a breakthrough year for the artist in his career as a conductor, helped by the favourable reviews published in the foreign press, of an album released by Metier Records, featuring violin concertos by the Maltese composer Karl Fiorini. This has resulted in numerous invitations to the world’s concert halls, including: in May 2014, the artist was invited to the Scottish Opera in Glasgow with the City Glasgow Chorus, who performed Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem under his baton. In 2015, Bartosz Żurakowski again performed with the artists of Glasgow Opera, this time in a programme of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Żurakowski has given concerts at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York (USA), at the Teatro Degollado in Gualadajara (Mexico), at the Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto (Canada), at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City (Mexico), at the Gran Teatro National in Lima (Peru), Sala Sao Paolo in Sao Paolo (Brazil), at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow (Scotland), and at the Lviv Opera House (Ukraine). He regularly gives concerts in 40 countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He has also collaborated with the most eminent soloists and personalities: Kaja Danczowska, Neal Larrabee (USA), Ingolf Wunder (Austria), Alexi Volodin (Russia), Evgeni Mikhailov (Russia), Eugene Indjić (USA), Alena Baeva (Russia), Piotr Paleczny, Simon Trpceski (Macedonia), Shlomo Mintz (Israel), Jeremy Findley (Canada), Piotr Pławner, Martin Kasik (Czech Republic), Massimo Mercelli (Italy), Kazimierz Olechowski (France), Agnieszka Rehlis, Wojciech Kilar, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gwendolyn Bradley (USA), Urszula Kryger, Małgorzata Walewska, Ewa Podleś, Lorenzo Di Bella (Italy). In 2019, he was the winner of the ‘Personality of the Year’ of the Gazeta Wrocławska plebiscite in the field of culture. For his overall artistic activity in 2021, Żurakowski was honoured by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage with the honorary badge ‘Meritorious for Polish Culture’. The artist has recordings to his credit, including: in 2021 and 2023, with the Sudecka Philharmonic Orchestra, he recorded two CD albums of symphonic works by the outstanding Polish composer Jan Adam Maklakiewicz.
In 2023, he was awarded a scholarship under the ‘Marshal’s talents’ programme of the Opole Province. He is on the jury of the Nino Rota International Piano Competition in Italy and the Bolko von Hochberg International Song Competition in Germany. As of 2019, he is working with the Johann Strauss Festival Orchestra of Wrocław as chief conductor.
Date of publication: 29.01.2025
Added by: M.J.
