Photo: Anna Lubańska

 
In the programme:

Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Gerald Finzi,
Fryderyk Chopin, Frank Bridge, Gustav Mahler,
Alma Mahler, Sergei Rachmaninov, Erich Wolfgang Korngold,
Petr Eben, Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann,
Franciszek Maklakiewicz

intermission

Richard Strauss, Raoul Koczalski,
Hugo Wolf, Kurt Weill, Francis Poulenc,
William Bolcom, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Michel Legrand

   Anna Lubańska. A graduate of Warsaw's Academy of Music in the class of Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa (1994). Even as a student, she gave many concerts in Poland and abroad (France, Germany, Monaco, Switzerland). She is a prize-winner of the Ada Sari International Vocal Competition in Nowy Sącz (first prize and three special mentions, 1993) and competitions in Paris (1994) and Brussels (Queen Elisabeth Competition, 1996). She joined the Warsaw opera house permanently in 1993, singing parts such as Jadwiga in Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor, Mercedes in Bizet's Carmen, Flora in Verdi's La Traviata, Mother in Marta Ptaszyńska's opera for children Pan Marimba (Mr Marimba), Suzuki in Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo, Emilia in Verdi's Otello, Madelon in Giordano's Andrea Chénier, and the Third Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute. In 2006 she appeared at the Polish National Opera in a concert version of Berlioz's Roméo et Juliett conducted by Marc Minkowski.

   She has worked with the Warsaw Chamber Opera, singing the part of Marceline in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, and with the State Silesian Opera in Bytom. She has appeared on concert stages in Warsaw as well as Białystok, Katowice, Lublin, Opole, and Szczecin. She has been a guest of the Wratislavia Cantans festival. She also performs in chamber and oratorio/cantata repertoire, including Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Pergolesi's, Rossini's, Szymanowski's and Vivaldi's Stabat Mater, Bach's Magnificat, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion and Mass in B Minor, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's and Verdi's Requiem.

   In the current repertoire of the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera, Lubańska has been Jadwiga in Moniuszko's The Haunted Manor, Olga in Tchaikovsky's Onegin, Mother Ubu in Penderecki's Ubu Rex, Amneris in Verdi's Aida, Margret in Berg's Wozzeck, Berta in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Voix de la Tombe in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, Aunt Pelagia in Ptaszyńska's Magic Doremik, Marthe in Gounod's Faust, Rosalie in Tansman's The Solemn Oath, and Kseniya's Nurse   in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.

   Marcin Kozieł. Pianist, organist, singer. A graduate of Gdańsk's Academy of Music, he has been living and working in Vienna since 2003. He completed a course in the class of Prof. David Lutz (song accompaniment) at the University of Vienna, and studied with Kristin Okerlund at the Vienna Conservatory in the opera coaching class. He works with Vienna's cultural institutions, including the Theater an der Wien and Kammeroper, with singers such as Daniela Fally, Angelika Kirschlager and Malin Hartelius, and vocal teachers, including Prof. Helena Łazarska, Prof. Gerhard Kahry, and Robert Holl. In Poland, he has been the accompanist of many acclaimed performers, including Hanka Bielicka, Łucja Prus, Jerzy Połomski, Jerzy Zelnik, Andrzej Hiolski, Aneta Łastik, Zofia Rysiówna, Danuta Błażejczyk, and Agnieszka Fatyga. He has performed on concert stages in Zagreb, Ljubljana, Bucharest, Tbilisi, Kishinev, Istanbul, Skopje, Sofia, and at cultural centres in Tel Aviv, Paris, the Vatican.

   Apart from playing the organ and the piano, he has always been interested in singing. He has worked with Cappella Gedanensis, the Schola Cantorum Gedanensis Polish Chamber Choir, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. He honed his vocal skills with Halina Mickiewiczówna (1999-2001) and at vocal courses in Duszniki and Santiago de Compostella. As an accompanist, he has been invited to appear at numerous music competitions, courses, and festivals: the Ada Sari Competition (Nowy Sącz 2003, 2005, 2007), Maria Callas Competition (Athens 2005), Robert Schumann Competition (Zwickau 2004), Meetings with a Master (Lubostroń), Mozarteum in Salzburg, Festival of Polish Songs in Warsaw. He has been a coach and music director for projects such as Mozart's The Magic Flute (Japanese tour 2005), Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief (Germany 2006), Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride (Stadttheater Wien 2007), and Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus (Yehudi Menuhin Festival, Gstaad 2008).

   As of 2003, he has been working with the vocal ensemble of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, whose intensive concert programme takes them all over the world, from China, through Russia, to all the major concert halls of Europe, where they appear with leading conductors. He is also the coach and deputy conductor of the Jung Wien choir (Latvian tour and jubilee performance at the Konzerthaus, 2006). He and Manfred Schiebel have formed a piano duo since 2006.


 Photo: Archive