Ewa Kupiec WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI Complete Works for Piano Solo

"Pure substance“, Ewa Kupiec is praised by Fono Forum, Germany’s leading magazine for classical music. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung certifies: “Kupiec plays with a rare mixture of spirit, a faultless technique, a complete understanding of musical texture and an ability to shape music with transparency and an impressive richness of colours. Her playing is brilliant but never obtrusive, full of atmosphere and subtly virtuosic.”



Ewa Kupiec regularly performs at the world’s leading festivals but also with major orchestras, which in recent seasons have included Munich Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Royal Danish Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Orchestre de Paris. Conductors she worked include Marin Alsop, Neeme Järvi, Ingo Metzmacher, Xian Zhang, Sakari Oramo, Semyon Bychkov, Herbert Blomstedt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Lothar Zagrosek, Gilbert Varga, Christoph Poppen, Andrey Boreyko, and Marek Janowski. Renowned Polish maestro Stanislaw Skrowaczewski has initiated and supported an exceptionally fruitful musical collaboration between the two, and as such they have performed all over the world and, released in 2003, recorded Chopin’s piano concerti  together.



2014 sees four special releases: Polish composer’s Andrzej Panufnik’s piano concerto for the complete recording of his œvre, together with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin (cpo), Grażyna Bacewicz‘ piano quintet arranged for piano and string orchestra for the Naxos label together with the Bydgoszcz Philharmonic, piano quintets by Scharwenka and Dvorak with the Armida Quartet (Solaris), and Chopin’s works for piano and cello with Johannes Moser (Hänssler).



Ewa Kupiec is closely connected to the music of Chopin and other Polish composers. For his 200th birthday she offered three different Chopin recital programs. Next to standard works, her concerto repertoire includes works by Loewe or Veress. For Sony, she has recorded Władysław Szpilman’s music, known from the movie „The Pianist“.



In 2012 she played an especially striking juxtaposition of the Paganini variations both by Rachmaninov and Lutosławski, together with the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra. A dramaturgically wonderful incidence not only because he gave new luster to the classical concert solo, but also because these are two of Ewa Kupiec’ typical showpieces among which – next to Chopin’s work – Richard Strauss early masterpiece Burleske can be found.



Equally interesting are Ewa Kupiec’s solo and chamber music programs, for example with cellist Johannes Moser or the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. In 2013, which marks Witold Lutosławski’s 100th birthday, she dedicates a special recital program to him – she worked with him when a young pianist. She will also perform his piano concerto in 2013, together with the German Philharmonic Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate.



Ewa Kupiec is recognised as one of Europe’s most dedicated interpreters of contemporary music. Her Berlin Konzerthaus performance in 2005 of Schnittke’s First Piano Concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra was the first performance of this work since 1964 and was released by Phoenix in 2008, together with other Schnittke works for piano and orchestra. Her recital and chamber music programs often include contemporary works, and different composers have dedicated pieces to her.



Among Ewa Kupiec‘ numerous recordings are works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Lutosławski, Szymanowsky (ECHO Klassik 1997) and Paderewski. 2007 Haenssler released her recording of Janacek‘s solo works and in 2008 Phoenix published Schnittke’s piano concerti with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. 2010 saw the release of Żal, with solo works by Chopin and Schubert, and in 2011, in cooperation with Deutschlandfunk, she published a CD with solo works by Kodály and Enescu (Solaris). 2012 saw the release of Chopin’s piano concertos and Nocturnes selection on the Australian ABC label, and 2013 the premiere recording of Lutosławski’s works for piano solo (Sony).



Ewa Kupiec studied in Katowice, at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and in 1992 she won the ARD Music Competition (category duo piano/cello). From autumn 2011, she will be a professor for piano at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.