DR. BLANKA BEDNARZ
Violin, Viola, Chamber Music
Violin, Viola, Chamber Music
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Violinist Blanka Bednarz is an alumna of the "Talent School" in Poznan, Poland, Univ. of Kansas and the New England Conservatory in Boston. Her playing has been hailed as “beautiful, mature and rich in color” (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland). As soloist, she has performed with the Hunan Symphony Orchestra, the Connecticut Virtuosi, Symphony and Chamber orchestras of the New England Conservatory, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Polonia and others. In 2007-8 she joined the Vega String Quartet-in-residence at Emory University in Atlanta, GA (“marvelous foursome” --Strad). She collaborated with artists such as Barry Snyder, Rita Sloan, Brian Ganz, Doris Stevenson, Jeffrey Solow, Simon Gollo, Monte Belknap, Adrian Levine, Richard Stoltzman, Russell and Leslie Harlow, Corigliano and Amernet Quartets, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Alarm Will Sound, Baltimore, Utah and Harrisburg Symphonies. She performs in the USA, UK, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Italy, China, Finland and Lithuania, among others at the Jordan Hall in Boston, Miller Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, Philadelphia Ethical Society, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, Aula UAM, etc. She can be heard on Capstone Records, Acte Prealable and Musica Omnia. She is concertmaster of Sinfonietta Polonia. She has taught at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, Emory University, Utah Valley University and coached chamber music at International Musical Arts Institute, ME; Intermuse International Music Institute and Festival, MD, at Franklin Pond in Atlanta, at the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City and Harrisburg Youth Orchestra chamber music program. She is Associate Professor of Music at Dickinson College and faculty at the Young Artist Institute under the Park City Beethoven Festival in Utah. She has given masterclasses at universities and colleges in the USA, Poland and China. This season Bednarz performs in Market Square Concert series in Harrisburg, as soloist with Dickinson Orchestra, Sinfonietta Polonia and Utah Valley Orchestra, as well as making her debut as a conductor. The CD Matthew Bengtson and Blanka Bednarz, Karol Szymanowski: Music for Violin/Piano; Piano Solo (released 2017 on Musica Omnia was awarded a Global Music Awards Silver Medal - Outstanding Achievement in classical and instrumental/instrumentalists category.
Of the Szymanowski CD: “These are first rate performances of the music for violin and piano, moody and atmospheric in the soft passages, big-boned and dramatic in the more aggressive ones.” -Lynn René Bayley, The Art Music Lounge, Aug 21, 2017. “Blanka Bednarz is clearly a remarkable violinist” -Daniel Morrison, Fanfare, 41:3 (Jan/Feb. 2018) |
