Sunday, August 24 – 19.30
Sankt Petri church
Agata Szymczewska (violin), Wojciech Szymczewski (piano), Lidia Książkiewicz (piano), Thierry Escaich (organ)
duration: 1hour 30 (incl. pause)
This concert is the second musical tribute of Reconciliation festival to Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Born in 1867 in Warsaw, she pursued science passionately, moving to Paris to study at the Sorbonne, as higher education was forbidden to women in Poland. In Paris, she met and married Pierre Curie, with whom she conducted groundbreaking research. Together, they discovered the radioactive elements polonium (named after Poland) and radium. In 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie, along with Henri Becquerel, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on radioactivity. After Pierre’s tragic death in 1906, Marie continued their research, winning a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for isolating pure radium. She faced many challenges as a woman in science but persisted with quiet determination. Beyond the myth endures the profound love between two individuals, still radiant today, along with their enduring commitment to the service of humanity—an ideal that continues to inspire artists and scientists around the world.
– Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Liebestraum No3 , A flat maj.
– Readings
– Thierry Escaich : Improvisation on Liebestraum
– Clara Schumann (1819-1896):
- Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann, op20
- Scherzo no 2 op14
– Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Intermezzo (excerpt of Carnival Scenes from Vienna op26)
Pause (15 min)
– Henryk Wienawski (1835-1880)
- The Legend Op.17
– Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937): Myths, Op.30 (1915) for violin and piano
- La Fontaine d’Arethuse
Polish violinist, the winner of the 13th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznań in 2006, Agata Szymczewska has also received Passport of the Polityka weekly (an annual cultural award), four Fryderyk Awards (the most important music award in Poland), and the London Music Masters Award. Agata is the first violin of the renowned Polish string quartet – Karol Szymanowski Quartet. In the course of her intense artistic career, she has shared the stage with Krystian Zimerman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Martha Argerich, Maxim Vengerov amongst others and has collaborated with such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Sir Neville Marriner and Andrey Boreyko. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony and Decca. Currently her instrument of choice is a Nicolò Gagliano violin from 1755, on loan courtesy of Anne-Sophie Mutter.
Polish pianist, Wojciech Szymczewski was born in 1991 in Koszalin. He is a graduate of the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk in the solo piano class led by professor Waldemar Wojtal and chamber music class led by professor Anna Prabucka-Firlej and doctor Bogna Czerwińska-Szymula. Wojciech is a laureate of many regional, national and international competitions, including XVIII International Piano Competition J. S. Bach in Gorzów Wielkopolski in 2006, 6th National Music Competition J. Zarębski in Warsaw in 2006, Nationwide Auditions of Students of Piano Grades at II Degree Schools in Jelenia Góra in 2008. Since 2008, he co-creates a piano duet with Bartosz Kołaczkowski, his classmate from the chamber music class at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk.
In 2015, Wojciech Szymczewski started working at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk as an accompanist at the Department of Conducting, Composition and Theory of Music. Currently, he is a piano teacher and pianist – accompanist at the Music School in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz.
Composer, organist and improviser Thierry Escaich is a unique figure in contemporary music and one of the most important French composers of his generation. The three elements of Escaich’s artistry are inseparable, allowing him to express himself as a virtuosic performer, interpreter and creator at the highest level. In 2024, Escaich was appointed titular organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. Escaich composes works in many genres and forms, including opera, symphonic and chamber music. His catalogue numbers over 100 works which, with their lyrical, rich harmonies and rhythmic energy, have attracted a wide audience. Drawing from the French line of composition of Ravel, Messiaen and Dutilleux, and imbued with references from contemporary, jazz, popular and spiritual music, the distinctive sound-world of Escaich’s music is anchored by an obsessive rhythmic drive and compelling architecture. Escaich’s works are performed by leading orchestras in Europe and North America and by musicians such as Lisa Batiashvili, François Leleux, Andris Nelsons, Alain Altinoglu, Louis Langrée, Semyon Bychkov, Paavo Järvi, Alan Gilbert, Emmanuelle Bertrand and Paul Meyer.
Lidia Książkiewicz is a Polish pianist and organist based in France. Born in Poznań, she began studying piano at age five and organ at twenty. After graduating with first prizes and honors in both piano from the national academies of music in Bydgoszcz and Poznań, she won numerous international competition awards, including the 1st prize at the International Music Competition of the 20th Century in Warsaw (1994), the 1st prize at the International Organ Rimini in Italy (2004), the César Franck prize at the International Organ Competition of Haarlem, Netherlands (2000), and the Reger/Messiaen International Competition in Graz, Austria (2003). She also won the prestigious Grand Prix de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts in Angers, France (2004). After moving to France, she graduated from the Conservatory of Saint-Maur, receiving first prizes for organ and a gold medal for harpsichord. In 2004, she was a finalist at the International Organ Competition of Chartres. As a soloist, she has performed with numerous symphonic orchestras, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France, the Symphonic Orchestra of the Philharmonic in Krakow, Orchestre de Douai, and the Slovak Sinfonietta. Lidia Książkiewicz is currently the principal organist at the Cathedral of Laon, France.