CERN RECITAL

on the occasion of 70th death anniversary of Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Michał Szymanowski – piano Ave Sikk – piano Hubert Niewiadomski – baritone

CERN, Main Auditorium 22 November 2011, 19:30

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Michał Szymanowski

Ave Sikk

Hubert Niewiadomski

Concert organised by the Polish community at CERN and PMK Geneva.

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G. Fauré Apres un rêve Sérénade Toscane

M. Ravel Donquichotte à Dulcinée (Chanson Romanesque, Chanson Epique, Chanson à boire) S. Rachmaninov O dolgo budu ja Ne ver mne drug P. Tchaikovsky Otchego Sred shumnogo bala Serenada Don Juana

Hubert Niewiadomski – baritone Ave Sikk – piano

***pause*** I. J. Paderewski Menuet in G Major op. 14 nr. 1 Mazurka in A Major op. 9 nr. 3 Phantastic Krakowiak op. 14 nr. 6 F. Chopin Nocturne F Minor op. 55 Phantasy F Minor op. 49 F. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody no. 12

Michał Szymanowski – piano

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Ignacy Jan Paderewski

18 November 1860 – 29 June 1941

Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, the second Prime Minister

of the Republic of Poland

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Ignacy Jan Paderewski at the age of 12, in 1872, was admitted to the Warsaw Conservatorium. After graduating in 1878, he became a tutor of piano classes at his alma mater. In 1881 he went to Berlin to study music composition with Friedrich Kiel and Heinrich Urban. In 1884 he moved to Vienna, where he was a pupil of Theodor Leschetizky. It was in Vienna that he made his musical debut in 1887. He soon gained great popularity and his subsequent appearances (in Paris in 1889, and in London in 1890) were major successes. His brilliant playing created a furore which reached to almost extravagant lengths of admiration; and his triumphs were repeated in the United States in 1891. His name at once became synonymous with the highest level of piano virtuosity. He was also a substantial composer, including many pieces for piano. He became world famous for the Minuet in G, Op. 14/1, part of a set of six pieces that are otherwise forgotten. In 1901 his opera Manru received its world premiere at Dresden, then it had its American premiere in 1902 at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1913, Paderewski settled in the United States. During World War I, Paderewski became an active member of the Polish National Committee in Paris, which was soon accepted by the Entente as the representative of Poland. Political activities Paderewski strongly contributed to the restoration of the independence of Poland. He was also active in pursuing various philanthropic causes.

At the end of the war, with the fate of the city of Poznań and the whole region of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) still undecided, Paderewski visited Poznań. With his public speech on 27 December 1918, the Polish

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inhabitants of Poznań began a military uprising against Germany, called the Greater Poland Uprising.

In 1919, in the newly independent Poland, Paderewski became the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (January 1919 – December 1919), and he thus represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference. In the summer of that year, he signed the Treaty of Versailles, which restored the territories of Greater Poland and Pomerania around the City of Gdańsk to Poland. Although this fell short of what the Polish delegates had demanded, these territories provided the core of the restored Polish state.In 1922 he retired from politics and returned to his musical life. His first concert after a long break, held at Carnegie Hall, was a significant success. He also filled Madison Square Garden (20,000 seats) and toured the United States in a private railway car. Soon he moved to Morges (near Lausanne) in Switzerland. After the Polish Defensive War of 1939 Paderewski returned to public life. In 1940 he became the head of the Polish National Council, a Polish parliament in exile in London. The eighty-year-old artist also restarted his Polish Relief Fund and gave several concerts (most notably in the United States) to gather money for it. During one such tour in 1941, Paderewski was taken ill on 27 June. Despite increasing health and signs of recovery Paderewski died suddenly in New York, at 11:00 pm on 29 June. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington Virginia, near Washington DC. In 1992, his body was brought to Warsaw and placed in St. John's Cathedral.

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Michał Karol Szymanowski was born on 27th July 1988 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He began his musical education and formal piano training at the age of seven, at the Arthur Rubinstein State Music Schools in Bydgoszcz, where he sharpened his skills under the guidance of Prof. Ludmila Kasjanenko. At present, he is a student at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, in Prof. Katarzyna Popova-Zydroń’s piano class and in Prof. Zygmunt Rychert’s conducting class. In his promising career he has a record of the following prizes and distinctions. Honourable Mention (2001) and Third Prize (2004) in the International F. Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth in Szafarnia, Poland; First Prize in the 7th Polish National Competition for Young Instrumentalists in Bydgoszcz, Poland, 2002; Third Prize in the Polish National Piano Competition for Piano Students of Secondary Music Schools in Krakow, Poland, 2004; Honourable Mention in the 5th National Piano Competition EPTA in Krakow, Poland, 2006; Fifth Prize in the 7th International Competition for Young Pianists ‘In Memory of Vladimir Horowitz’, held in Kiev, Ukraine, 2007; Aniela Młynarska-Rubinstein Special Prize, EMCY Art For Music Special Prize, and a Special Prize awarded by the President of the City of Bydgoszcz, in the 7th International Competition for Young Pianists ‘Artur Rubinstein in Memoriam’, held in Bydgoszcz, Poland, 2007; Prize winner in the 25th ‘Talents Week’ National Festival in Tarnow, Poland, 2007; Honourable Mention in the 5th Young Pianists’ Interpretations of Chopin Festival in Konin, Poland, 2008; Second Prize in the Polish National F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland, 2008. Michał Szymanowski has attended music courses taught by such distinguished musicians as prof. Dang Thai Son, prof. Bernard Ringeissen, Prof. Krzysztof Jabłoński and Prof. Victor Mierzanov. He frequently performs in Poland (Poznań, Inowrocław, Włocławek, Tarnów, Bydgoszcz) and abroad (United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Schwitzerland, Czech Republic, Ukraine). He has given concert performances with such orchestras as the Symphonic Orchestra of the Świętokrzyski Philharmonic Hall; recorded and released on DVDs, the National Ukrainian Symphonic Orchestra, and the Polish Orchestra ‘Sinfonia Iuventus’.

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Ave Sikk completed her training as a pianist and as an accompanist at the Music Academy of Estonia in the class of Helin Kapten and Ivari Ilja and later she continued her studies in Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Lyon.

From 2000 to 2004, she worked as a vocal coach at the Opera of Lyon and she accompanied many solo recitals of the singers from the Lyon Opera Studio. Since 2001 she is a professor of accompaniment and the director of chamber music at the Music Academy of Estonia. Meanwhile, since 2004, is an accompanist and vocal coach in Conservatoire Superieure de Musique de Geneve.

She has collaborated with many recognized singers including Edda Moser, Nathalie Stutzmann, Olga Guryakova, Sergei Leiferkus, Vladimir Chernov, Robert Tear, Dale Duesing, Danielle Borst, Gilles Cachemaille, Philippe Huttenlocher, Gloria Davy, Jaakko Ryhänen, Ingrid Kremling, Sonya Yoncheva and with conductors such as Yuri Temirkanov, Ivan Fischer and Christian Badea.

During her career Ave Sikk collaborated with various ensembles and is regularly invited to work at the National Opera of Estonia.

She has given concerts in France, Switzerland, Spain, Lithuania, Finland and Estonia.

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Hubert Niewiadomski, a baritone and a physicist.

Since 2004 he works at CERN in the TOTEM experiment and in 2008 he obtained a PhD in experimental particle physics from Manchester University. As a student of Computer Science at Warsaw University of Technology Hubert started his vocal education with K. Zachwatowicz-Jasieńska. At the same time he was an initiator and a producer of a series of classical music concerts in his University (concerts of up to 250 performers). In the years of 2005-2009 he studied opera singing in the class of G. Cachemaille in Conservatoire Supérieure de Musique de Genève. Currently he works with Ave Sikk. He participated in numerous master classes (Alain Garichot, Ulrich Koella, Irwina Gage, Robert Tear, Omara Porras, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt and Ton Koopman). Hubert interpreted the masterpieces of oratorio music including St. Mathew’s Passion by J.S. Bach, numerous cantatas by J.S. Bach, Requiem by Durufle, Requiem by Faure, Messe in G by Schubert, Messe solennelle de Ste-Cécile by Gounod. He also performed numerous vocal recitals composed of art songs and arias. He participated in several operas. He gave concerts with recognised orchestras such as Warsaw Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Radio Orchestra, Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of Geneva Conservatory of Music and Geneva Baroque Orchestra in many splendid venues in Europe.

Since 2004 Hubert is also an organist of the Polish Catholic Mission in Switzerland and plays in St. Theresa church in Geneva.

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G. Fauré Apres un rêve In a slumber which held your image spellbound I dreamt of happiness, passionate mirage, Your eyes were softer, your voice pure and sonorous, You shone like a sky lit up by the dawn;

You called me and I left the earth To run away with you towards the light, The skies opened their clouds for us, Unknown splendours, divine flashes glimpsed,

Alas! Alas! sad awakening from dreams I call you, O night, give me back your lies,

Return, return radiant, Return, O mysterious night. G. Fauré Sérénade Toscane O you, charmed by a delightful dream, You sleep in your bed, quiet alone, Wake up, look at the singer, Slave to your eyes in the clear night! Awake my soul, my thoughts, Hear my voice carried on the breeze: Hear my voice sing! Hear my voice crying in the dew!

Under your window, my voice expires in vain. And every night I repeat my martyrdom Without other shelter than the starry sky. The wind breaks my voice and the night is cold: My song goes into a supreme focus, My lips tremble, murmuring I love you. I cannot sing anymore! Ah! deign to show yourself! deign to appear!

If I were sure that you did not want to appear

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I would go to forget you, ask to sleep To sleep till morning To sleep until I love you no more! M. Ravel Donquichotte à Dulcinée Chanson Romanesque

If you told me the eternal turning Of the world, offended you. I would send Panza: you would see it motionless and silent.

If you told me you were bored by the number of stars in the sky. I would tear the heavens apart, Erase the night in one swipe.

If you told me that the now-empty space doesn't please you, Chevalierdieu, with a lance at hand I would fill the wind with stars.

But, my Lady, if you told me that my blood is more mine than yours. That reprimand would turn me pale And, blessing you, I would die.

Oh, Dulcinée. Chanson Epique

Good Saint Michael, who gives me the chance to see my Lady and to hear her. Good Saint Michael who deigns to choose me to please and defend her. Good Saint Michael will you descend With Saint George to the altar Of the Virgin in the blue mantle.

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With a beam from heaven, bless my sword And his equal in purity And his equal in piety As in modesty and chastity: My Lady.

O Great Saint George and Saint Michael The angel who guards my watch My sweet Lady, so much like you Virgin in the blue mantle. Amen. Chanson à boire

Fig for the bastard, illustrious Lady Who, for losing me in your sweet eyes Tells me that love and old wine Put my heart and soul in mourning.

I drink to pleasure! Pleasure is the only goal, To which I go straight... When I've drunk !

Fig for the jealous, dark-haired mistress who moans, who cries and swears Always being the pallid lover, Watering down his his intoxication

I drink to pleasure! ... S. Rachmaninov O dolgo budu ja In the silence of the mysterious night, your alluring babble, smiles and glances, your fleeting glances, the locks of your rich hair, locks pliant under your fingertips - I will long be trying to get rid of the images

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only to call them back again;

I will be repeating and correcting in a whisper the words I've told you, the words full of awkwardness, and, drunk with love, contrary to reason, I will be awakening the night's darkness with a cherished name. S. Rachmaninov Ne ver mne drug Don't believe, my friend, when in a surge of sorrow I say I don't love you any more! In the hours of ebb don't believe that the sea has betrayed - It will be back to the shore filled with love.

I'm already longing, full of the same old passion, I'll give my freedom back to you again, And now the waves are running back with roaring From a distance to the beloved shoreline. P. Tchaikovsky Otchego Why are the roses so pale? o speak, my love, why? Why in the green grass are the blue violets so silent?

Why with such a lamenting voice does the lark sing in the sky? Why from the balsam weed does there rise the scent of wilting blossoms?

Why does the sun shine down on the meadow, so coldly and morosely? Why is the earth so gray and desolate like a grave?

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Why am I myself so ill and dull? My lovely darling speak, O speak, my heart's most beloved love, why have you abandoned me? P. Tchaikovsky Sred shumnogo bala In the midst of the noisy ball, amid the anxious bustle of life, I caught sight of you, your face, an enigma.

Only your eyes gazed sadly. Your divine voice Sounded like pipes from afar, Like the dancing waves of the sea.

Your delicate form entranced me, and your pensiveness, your sad yet merry laughter, has permeated my heart since then.

And in the lonely hours of the night, when I do lie down to rest, I see your pensive eyes, hear your merry laugh...

And wistfully drifting into mysterious reveries, I wonder if I love you, but it seems that I do! P. Tchaikovsky Serenada Don Juana Darkness descends on Alpujara's golden land. My guitar invites you, come out my dear!

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Whoever says that there are others who can be compared to you, whoever burns for your love, I challenge them all to a duel!

Now the moon has set the sky alight, come out, Nisetta, oh come out, Nisetta, on to your balcony, quickly!

From Seville to Granada in the silence of the nights, one can hear the sound of serenades and the clashing of swords.

Much blood, many songs, pour forth for the lovely ladies; and I, for the loveliest one of all am ready to give my song and my blood.

Now the moon has set the sky alight, Come out, Nisetta, oh come out, Nisetta, on to your balcony, quickly!