Piano Recital - Weston, MA - May 4
In the Recital:
Jacek Kortus,
born on July 12th,1988. He began his musical education at the age of four under the guidance of the Poznan-based pianist Jozef Walczak Now he studies piano with Prof. Waldemar Andrzejewski (who has been his tutor for the last 10 years) in the Music Academy in Poznan . He has won 11 main prizes in international and national piano competitions, the most important of which are:
1st prize in the 9th Piano Competiton “Chopin for the Youngest” in Antonin (2005)
1st prize in the National Ludwik Stefanski Piano Competition in Plock (2002)
2nd prize (1 st was not granted) in the 1 st National Wladyslaw Kedra Piano Competition in Lodz (2002) -
2nd prize in the National Piano Competition in Zagan (2001)
2nd prize in the National Paderewski Piano Competition in Piotrkow Trybunalski (2000)
PROGRAM
F.Chopin-Nocturne Op.48 No.1 in C-Minor
F.Chopin-Waltz Op.34 No.1 in A-flat Major
F.Chopin-Mazurka Op.17 No.1 in B-flat Major
F.Chopin-Mazurka Op.17 No.4 in A Minor
F.Chopin-Sonata Op.35 in B-flat Minor
Intermission
F.Liszt- Sonata in B minor
Time: 80 min
Jacek Kortus received scholarship from the Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and the First Lady Jolanta Kwasniewska Foundation „Young Talents Aid” and the scholarship from the Polish Minister of Culture in 2002. In 2003, he reached the finals of the Stefan Seiler Piano Competition in Kitzingen, and in 2004 - won a special award in the 6th International “Artur Rubinstein in Memoriam” Competition for Young Pianists in Bydgoszcz. A year later, in October 2005, he reached the finals of the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, and received an honorable mention. After that competition, he played fifty recitals and concerts with symphony orchestras in many European countries as well as the USA, Brazil, Chile, Japan and Morocco, as well as the major Polish Philharmonic Halls. The CD Chopin and Liszt sonatas released under the „Muza - Polskie Nagrania” label is his debut on record.
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Jacek Kortus Web Site in Polish:
This piano recital was organized to honor
the Polish Constitution Day of May 3rd
Adopted by Sejm (Parlament) on May 3rd, 1791 the Polish Constitution is widely known to be the first democratic Constitution in Europe and is considered as the most important, creative and patriotic achievement of Poles on behalf of their Republic.
The historic significance of the 1791 Constitution is related not only to its content but also to its spirit. It finally dismissed the Russian rights for continuous intervention, and so-called “guarantees” of a Polish political system and instead, gave an exclusive mandate to Poles to create and develop their own system of governing.
The years of independent reign (1788-1792), and the two months of military struggle against the intervening Russian army, left Poles with an everlasting heritage of love for democracy and freedom.
After the third partition of Poland (1795), following 7 months of a fearless insurrection lead by Tadeusz Kosciuszko against overwhelming forces of Russia and Prussia, Poland ceased to exist on the European map for 123 years. In spite of this tragedy, Polish people never lost their identity, language, or knowledge of their rich historic past thanks to strong family traditions and patriotic support of the Catholic Church. Poles fought continuously by various means until they gained independence in 1918. Although the 1791 Constitution was not suitable for the 20th century Republic, the founding date of the Constitution of May 3rd, was declared a national holiday.
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