May 7 at the JP2 Friendship Center we launched a concert of the acclaimed violinist KINGA AUGUSTYN, she did perform with Alla Milchtein (on piano).
We heared the works by S. Prokofiev and E. Ysäye. It was a fabulous concert that ended with standing ovation for the artist. looking forward for the other events for the Olde Adults Celebration.
Few notes about the artists:
Polish-American Kinga Augustyn is a versatile New York City-based virtuoso concert violinist and recording artist. “Stylish and vibrant” (The Strad Magazine), and “beyond amazing, one hell of a violinist!” (The Fanfare Magazine), Ms. Augustyn has performed as a soloist with orchestras in North and South America, Europe and Asia, and they include the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Catskill Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, Western Piedmont Symphony, Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, Wrocław Philharmonic Orchestra, the MAV Symphony Orchestra of Budapest, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Universidad Mayor. She has toured China and performed at China’s most prestigious venues such as Beijing Poly Theater and Shanghai Oriental Art Center. As a recitalist and chamber musician Kinga has appeared at the Stern Auditorium and the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Cultural Center, Teatro Ristori (Verona, Italy), Gran Teatro La Fenice (Venice, Italy), Teatro dal Verme (Milano, Italy), and Teatro Municipal de Las Condes (Santiago, Chile). In addition to concerti with orchestras and recitals with piano, Ms. Augustyn frequently performs unaccompanied solo violin recitals and she also plays baroque violin.
Kinga Augustyn is often praised for her musical interpretations, profundity, deft phrasing, beautiful tone, mastery of the bow, perfect intonation, and for unique programming ideas. “With completely secure technical control, she couples a tapestry of tone color to her innate musicality” (The Fanfare Magazine). Music Web International describes her playing in the Bruch Violin Concerto with Janacek Philharmonic as “extremely moving and expressive,” characterized by “beauty, richness and smoothness of her tone,” and as “music she responds to on a deeply personal and emotional level.”
Ms. Augustyn’s repertoire includes music both standard and lesser–known, stylistically varied and ranging from early baroque to contemporary. Kinga is an advocate of new music and has performed and recorded multiple world premieres of works written especially for her. She also researches and brings awareness to lesser-known composers, including those of her native Poland. “A mature, unconventional performing artist, undoubtedly deserving the title of ambassador of Polish culture” (Ruch Muzyczny), up to date Augustyn has recorded three albums of Polish music. Grażyna Bacewicz: A Portrait was released in 2022 on Centaur Records. The other two albums, released on Naxos, are world premieres by the contemporary Polish composer Romuald Twardowski (b. 1930), recorded with the Torun Symphony Orchestra and Mariusz Smolij, and the Polish Violin Music, a highly praised, “fascinating” (The Strad) album of lesser-known Polish works.
In 2021 Augustyn released on Centaur Records Turning in Time, a critically acclaimed album featuring 20th and 21st Century unaccompanied solo violin works by Krzysztof Penderecki (world premiere of Capriccio), Debra Kaye (world premiere of Turning in Time), as well as other works, significant in the violin repertoire, by Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Isang Yun and Grażyna Bacewicz. Gramophone calls the album “remarkable” and praises Augustyn for “vibrant intensity, caressing the phrases and bringing bold focus to the electric unfolding of creativity”.
Augustyn’s expanding discography also includes the Paganini Caprices, which music critics consider as convincing as Perlman’s or Midori’s, and an “an enduring benchmark” (Classical Net); La Pasión, featuring 6 Tango-Etudes for Solo Violin by Astor Piazzolla; Telemann 12 Fantasias for Solo Violin (Centaur Records), in which “her interpretations are convincing in every piece here, and the Baroque spirit of the violin and Telemann’s mastery abiding throughout” (Music Web International); and Glen Roven’s Runaway Bunny Concerto performed with Catherine Zeta-Jones as a narrator and featuring Kinga Augustyn’s Solo Violin Cadenza (GPR Records).
Ms. Augustyn has won international awards, including First Prizes at the Alexander & Buono International String Competition (USA), Artist International Presentations (USA), and the J. S. Bach String Competition (Poland), as well as other top honors that include prizes at the Johannes Brahms International Competition (Austria), the Kloster Schoental International Young Artist Competition (Germany), Michael Hill International Violin Competition (New Zealand), and the Kosciuszko Foundation Wieniawski Violin Competition (USA).
Kinga Augustyn studied at The Juilliard School with Cho-Liang Lin and Naoko Tanaka, and earned there both the Bachelor and the Master degrees as a full tuition scholarship recipient. She holds a doctorate from the Stony Brook University, where she was also awarded a full-tuition scholarship and assistantship and worked with Phil Setzer and Pamela Frank.
On a regular basis Kinga Augustyn plays a violin made by Joseph Gagliano in 1774, generously on loan to her from a private collector. When playing early music in a historically informed style, she plays Lukas Wroński’s uniquely designed violin inspired by the famed statue Venus de Milo.
Alla Milchtein:
Currently, Alla is a staff pianist at Mannes College New School for Music where she works for the College and Prep divisions. Past positions include being part of the accompanying staff at the Rotterdam Conservatory (The Netherlands), the Rudolf Steiner College (The Netherlands), Scuola di Musica di Fiesole (Italy) and the Jalisco State Choir (Mexico).
Alla has performed at festivals throughout Europe, Mexico and the United States, including The Cervantino International Music Festival in Guanajuato (Mexico), Festival de Mazatlán (Mexico), “Kamermuziek Festival tussen Maas & Waal” (The Netherlands), “Het Rusische Muziek” (The Netherlands), Beverly Hills Chamber Music Festival (United States), Lucca Music Festival 2008 (Italy), Aspen Music Festival (United States), and Glimmerglass Festival (United States).
Ms. Milchtein served as a staff pianist at Competitions, including Mannes Concerto Competition (New York, USA), International Voice Competition (Sinaloa, Mexico), Postacchini International Violin Competition (Fermo, Italy), Vriendenkrans Concours of Concertgebouw (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), etc.
As a coach/répétiteur, Ms. Milchtein has previously worked for Glimmerglass Opera (Cooperstown, USA): Lost in the Stars, Aida; Mannes Opera (New York, USA): Don Giovanni, Lucia di Lammermoor; Aspen Opera Aspen (USA): A Midsummer Night’s Dream; New Opera NYC ( NY, USA): Iolanta ; Jalisco State Opera (Guadalajara, Mexico): Les Contes D’Hoffman, Carmen, Hamlet, Armida; Rotterdamse Opera Productions (Rotterdam, The Netherlands): Oberto, Aroldo; ‘Blue Bottle” Opera Company (Amsterdam, The Netherlands): Don Giovanni; Vocedidone Opera Studio (The Hague, The Netherlands): Le Nozze di Figaro, Hansel and Gretel; “Pepita Embil” Zarzuela Company (Guadalajara, Jalisco): Los Gavilanes, Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardiente, El Niño Judio, Luisa Fernanda, and El Barbero de Lavapies .
Alla Milchtein received both a Bachelor’ s degree in Piano Performance and Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Chamber Music from Rotterdam Conservatory (The Netherlands), where she studied with Mila Baslawskaja.
Ms. Milchtein also pursued her Professional Studies in Collaborative Piano at Mannes College New School for Music (New York) where she studied with Cristina Stanescu. During her studies she was awarded a scholarship and was also a recipient of “excellence in accompanying” Award.
Ms. Milchtein was awarded a fellowship from COJECO Blue Print to record a CD of solo piano music of Jewish composers from around the world which will be released in 2015.
