Adam Makowicz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Adam Matyszkowicz |
| Born | 18 August 1940 Hnojník, Eastern Moravia, Nazi Germany |
| Genres | Jazz, classical piano |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Labels | Jaymz Bee |
| Website | |
Adam Makowicz (born Adam Matyszkowicz; 18 August 1940) [1] is a Polish pianist and composer living in Toronto. [2] He performs jazz and classical piano pieces, as well as his own compositions.
Adam Makowicz was born into a family of ethnic Poles in Hnojník (eastern Moravia, now in the Czech Republic), in an area annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. [3] After the war, he was raised in Poland. He studied classical music at the Chopin Conservatory of Music in Kraków. [1] Overcoming cultural restrictions under the communist government, he developed a passion for modern jazz. [1] At the time, political freedom and improvisation were disapproved of by the pro-Soviet authorities. Nonetheless, he embarked on a new professional life by switching from the career of a classical pianist to that of a touring jazz pianist. After years of hardship, Makowicz gained a regular gig at a small jazz club in a cellar of a house in Kraków. He was named the "Best jazz pianist" by the readers of Poland's Jazz Forum magazine, and was awarded a gold medal for his contribution to the arts.
In 1977, Makowicz made a 10-week concert tour of the United States, produced by John Hammond. At that time, he recorded a solo album titled Adam on CBS. In 1977, he settled in New York. [1] Makowicz was banned from Poland during the 1980s after the Polish regime imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity movement. At that time, he took part in Ronald Reagan's initiative called "Let Poland Be Poland", joining many artists and public figures.
During the 2000s, he moved to Toronto, Canada, and continued his career as a concert pianist and recording artist. In the course of his career, Makowicz has performed with major symphony orchestras, such as the National Symphony Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall, at the Kennedy Centre, and other major concert halls in Americas and in Europe. He has recorded over 30 albums of jazz, popular, and classical music, with his own arrangements of pieces by Chopin, Gershwin, Berlin, Kern, Porter, Rodgers, and other composers. Makowicz also wrote and recorded his own compositions for piano. [4] [5]
Makowicz has been building bridges between cultures by his numerous concerts performance and recordings of cross-cultural and cross-style compositions. He performed and recorded music by Chopin and Gershwin with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony in Washington, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and other internationally recognized companies. In 1999, in commemoration of 150th anniversary of Chopin's death, Adam Makowicz played his piano tribute to Chopin at the French embassy in Washington. His interpretations of classical pieces by Chopin and Gershwin are marked by finesse, inventiveness, and extraordinary technical virtuosity. [6]
Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than his earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue. It was written in 1925 on a commission from the conductor and director Walter Damrosch. A full performance lasts around half an hour.
Janina Fialkowska, is a Canadian classical pianist. A specialist of the Classic and Romantic repertoires, for more than thirty years she has appeared regularly with professional orchestras around the world, often performing the music of Chopin, and also contemporary Polish composers including Lutosławski and Panufnik. In 1990, she gave the world premier performance of the recently discovered Franz Liszt Third Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Nelson José Pinto Freire was a Brazilian classical pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, he was noted for his "decorous piano playing" and "interpretive depth". His extensive discography for labels such as Sony Classical, Teldec, Philips, and Decca has garnered awards including the Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or. Freire appeared as soloist with the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He played and recorded piano duo music with Martha Argerich, a long-time musical and personal friend.
Leonard Pennario was an American classical pianist and composer.
Kemal Gekić is a Croatian-born American concert pianist and Full Professor of Piano Performance at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, USA.
Jean-Yves Thibaudet is a French pianist.
Kevin Kenner is an American concert pianist.
James Tocco is an American concert pianist. He is the youngest of thirteen children born to Vincenzo and Rose Tocco, both Sicilian immigrants.
Benjamin Grosvenor is a British classical pianist.
Janusz Olejniczak is a Polish classical pianist and actor.
Daniel Vnukowski is a Polish Canadian pianist and classical music broadcaster.
Vestards Šimkus is a Latvian pianist, composer and improviser.
Albert Tiu is a classical pianist from the Philippines.
Frédéric Chopin's Allegro de concert, Op. 46, is a piece for piano, published in November 1841. It is in one movement and takes between 11 and 15 minutes to play. The principal themes are bold and expressive. It has a curious place in the Chopin canon, and while its history is obscure, the evidence supports the view, shared by Robert Schumann and others, that it started out as the first movement of a projected third piano concerto, of which the orchestral parts are either now non-existent or were never scored at all. There is no evidence that Chopin ever even started work on the latter movements of this concerto.
Igor Lovchinsky is a Russian-American classical pianist.
Peter Jablonski is a Swedish concert pianist.
Nobuyuki Tsujii is a Japanese pianist and composer. He was born blind due to microphthalmia. Tsujii performs extensively, with a large number of conductors and orchestras, and has received critical acclaim for his unique techniques for learning music and performing with an orchestra while being unable to see.
Đặng Thái Sơn is a Vietnamese-Canadian classical pianist. In 1980, he won the X International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, becoming the first pianist from Asia to do so. He has received particular acclaim for the sonority and poetry in his interpretations of Chopin and the French repertoire.
Daniil Olegovich Trifonov is a Russian pianist and composer. Described by The Globe and Mail as "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso" and by The Times as "without question the most astounding pianist of our age", Trifonov's honors include a Grammy Award win in 2018 and the Gramophone Classical Music Awards' Artist of the Year Award in 2016. The New York Times has noted that "few artists have burst onto the classical music scene in recent years with the incandescence" of Trifonov. He has performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony and the Munich Philharmonic, and has given solo recitals in such venues as Royal Festival Hall, Carnegie Hall, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Berliner Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Concertgebouw, and the Seoul Arts Center.
Sondra Bianca is an American born concert pianist and pedagogue who retired early in her career from recording and live performances.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
