Polish patriots carry a love of homeland deep in their hearts. At times the passion may be guarded but it is always there, simmering below the surface, ready to explode into song and dance.
As March 1, 2010 marked the 200th birthday of Frederyk Chopin, one of Poland’s most beloved composers, The Polish Culture Society of Edmonton celebrated in champagne style.
Earlier in the year several Chopin inspired concerts engaged the talents of classical pianists Rafal Blechacz and Jan Lesicki as well as jazz instrumentalist Kuba Stankiewicz. “Polish people have big pride in his music. He is the most quoted and paraphrased for jazz because of his romantic melodies,” says Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) violin soloist Joanna Ciapka-Sangster.
She is one-third of the Magda Adamek Trio presenting Chopin For Three, at the final salute to the great composer tomorrow night at the Alberta College Conservatory of Music.
The three virtuosos, including University of Alberta music instructor Magdalena Adamek (piano) and University Symphony conductor Tanya Prochazka will perform a diverse repertoire of polonaises, mazurkas, nocturnes and a waltz.
They also play Trio in G Minor, a score in four movements written by Chopin at the age of 20 before he left Poland, never to return.
Edmonton-based Ciapka-Sangster made her mark in St. Albert in 1994 where she performed for two years as part of the Arden Ensemble, a chamber group founded by local residents ESO bass player John Taylor and his wife Kathy Hogan, an Alberta Baroque Society viola player.
“At that time, it was the only string chamber group I played with. I felt privileged to be part of it and to be playing with the best players from the orchestra and the community.”
Two years earlier, she had emigrated from her hometown of Gdansk, near the Baltic Sea. Her brother had studied cello and her grandfather, both a violinist and violinmaker, imbued her with a love of folk songs.
But the lure of creative freedom kept Ciapka-Sangster in Canada after visiting a friend in 1992 and fuelled her dream to play with accomplished musicians.
Describing Adamek, Ciapka-Sangster says, “She’s an incredible interpreter of Chopin. She feels it. She is sensitive and has flawless technique.
And of Prochazka she adds, “She has unlimited musical ideas. Whatever style you ask her to play, she will do it, but with her own twist.”
“We are wrapping up the centennial and this is the last concert. It is music that is rarely performed and it will be a nice evening.”
