Pianos to sizzle at chamber music series

Four hands, one piano. That’s the core of the Warszynski Piano Duo, a husband and wife team that have performed chamber concerts across North America, Europe and South Korea.

Mikolaj Warszynski, a Polish-born Canadian and Zuzana Simurdova, a Czech/Canadian pianist have probably been scrutinized by more airport security than most of their countrymen.

But it has never dampened an innate enthusiasm to perform some of the most-loved pieces of the classical repertoire.

On Jan. 31, the two versatile pianists will host a recital as part of the St. Albert Chamber Music Series at Don’s Piano Place.

They have completed a two-year contract as instructors at the Catholic University of Daegu in Seoul and have returned to Canada before embarking on a new tour of Poland.

“Recently we did two tours of Europe performing as solos and duos. It’s fun. We get to travel and enjoy the summer together,” Warszynski said.

Born in Gdansk, Warszynski immigrated to Canada when he was four years old. His mother, Tatiana, is a violinist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. His father, Tadeusz, is a visual artist and instructor at the University of Alberta Fine Arts Department.

Surrounded by varying artistic disciplines since birth, Warszynski refined his pianistic talents studying first at the University of Alberta with Marek Jablonski followed by stints at Colorado’s Aspen School of Music, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Holland’s Rotterdam Conservatory and the University of Montreal.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, Simurdova was born in the northern Czech town of Ostrava near the Polish border. For six years she attended the Janácek Conservatory of Music named after Leos Janácek, a revered Czech composer known for incorporating folk themes into operas and chamber works.

A winner of the UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries, Simurdova travelled to the Banff Centre for a three-month period and met Warszynski at a round-table discussion with other artists.

“My first impression is he has these very big eyes and he appeared as a sophisticated man,” laughs Simurdova.

At the time, Warszynski was in his second session of a one-year residency.

“I noticed her but I was neutral. But I remember the open concert where everyone played together. We flirted around. We were just getting to know each other,” he noted.

“But a little later she invited herself into my studio. She came in just as I was opening a care package filled with chocolates.” And the rest ladies and gentlemen, is history.

In addition to booking recitals and concerts as a duo, the couple plays an equal amount of solo recitals. Simurdova, for instance, was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in 2011 as the recipient of the Chopin Award at the IBLA Grand Prize International World Competition.

Surprisingly Chopin is not on the Saturday night program. However, Antonin Dvorak’s lively Legends, Op. 59 for a piano duet promises to warm up any winter chills.

“It’s full of Slavic intimacy and it’s an epic narrative. It’s big in scope and emotions, and it’s a nice way to get used to the music,” Warszynski explained.

Simurdova broadens the Czech theme with contemporary composer Lubos Fiser’s Sonata No. VI.

“It’s very atmospheric. It’s almost like a horror movie. He was an expert in writing movie music. It’s very tonal and it’s a way of introducing the Czech contemporary scene.”

She continues with Bedrich Smetena’s Concert Study Op. 17 in G-sharp minor “On the Seashore.”

“It’s very difficult. It’s 12 pages long and it jumps through all the tonalities. You have to be perfect technically to express what’s inside the musical lines.”

Warszynski picks up the ball with Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s Etude Op. 4 No. 3 in B-flat minor, a beautifully crafted romantic piece that pulses with an ebb and flow.

He also performs Claude Debussy’s L’isle joyeuse, a virtuosic piece with an Impressionist flair.

The duo closes the concert with Francis Poulenc’s Concert for Two Pianos in D Minor.

“French music is more jubilant, more carefree,” explains Warszynski.

“And sarcastic,” adds Simurdova with another laugh. “I can feel it from the music. He changes character. He doesn’t let you breathe. You think you are playing a nice melody and then ‘boom’ it’s fast.”

The duo performed this program in Europe.

“We have had the experience to get to know what works and we’ve developed an intimate experience.

Three sisters – Ashley, Kayleigh and Stephanie Minaker – open the program with a 10-minute set of Cornelius Gurlitt’s Impromptu and Timothy Brown’s Triana.

“Both are fast-paced pieces,” says Ashley, the eldest at 17. “Impromptu is similar to Triana. The dynamics are hard and fast with a few quiet moments. Triana is upbeat, funny and sassy. It’s a tango.

As emerging artists, the Minaker trio was the recipient of the 2014 St. Albert Rotary Music Festival’s piano scholarship for ensemble.