Poland took over the annual Presidency of the Visegrad Group (also known as the "Visegrad Four" or simply "V4") on July 1, 2020.
On October 29, 2020 Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa organized the piano recital ‘Polish Presidency in the Visegrad Group’ to celebrate the fantastic, ongoing partnership of V4 Member States - Czechia, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland and mark the Polish Presidency in V4 in Canada. Katarzyna Musiał, Polish-Canadian pianist, performed works by composers from V4 countries: Vítězslava Kaprálová (Czechia), Franz Liszt (Hungary), Peter Machajdík (Slovakia) and Fryderyk Chopin (Poland).

Programme:

Fryderyk Chopin (1810 – 1849)
Waltz in A Minor, Op. Posth
Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1

Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915 – 1940)
Dubnová preludia Op. 13 (April preludes)
Allegro ma non troppo
Andante semplice
Vivo

Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)
Six Polish songs –
No. 4 Bacchanal (Merrymaking)
No. 2 Frühling (Spring)
Two Concert Etudes –
No. 2 Gnomenreigen (Dance of The Gnomes)

Peter Machajdík (b.1961)
Impression No. 1 – O slnku deliacom trávu (On the sun dividing the grass)
Impression No. 2 – O oblohe noci zhadzujúcej hviezdy (On the night sky throwing down the stars)
Impression No. 3 – Bielobiela (Lightwhite colour)

Fryderyk Chopin (1810 – 1849)
Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4
Etude in C minor, Op. 10, No. 12 (Revolutionary)


Katarzyna MUSIAŁ, Polish-Canadian pianist, regarded as a major talent, blessed with an astounding technique and an interpretive panache by the Chicago Classical Review, has performed as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
In addition to having won First Prize at the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition (New York), Ms. Musiał was also a prize winner at the Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music (Cracow), the Kay Meek Competition (Vancouver), as well as a recipient of the Alban Berg Prize for outstanding merit (Vienna) and the Philip Cohen Award for outstanding performance and musicianship (Montreal).
Recent highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall as well as at the International Beethoven Festival and Chopin in the City Festival (Chicago), Chopin and Friends Festival (New York), Chopin Festival (Mariánské Lázne), Festival Octobre musical (Tunis), Festival Musicale delle Nazioni (Rome), Music in the Mountains Festival (California) and the Festival of Polish Composers under the auspices of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. Other major engagements include performance at Vancouver Olympic Games, a seven-city tour of China, as well as concerto performances with the New York Camerata, Chicago Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Sinfonietta, Orchestre Symphonique de L’Isle, Orchestre Classique de Montreal, Imperial Orchestra, Ensemble Arkea and Bielsko Festival Orchestra, with which she opened the International Bach Festival (Poland).
Her last album, My Spanish Heart, has reached the top 10 and top 5 classical music albums charts in North America. Her previous successful recording Come Dance with Me was played on over 100 radio stations; including the BBC (UK), Polish Radio – “Dwójka” (Poland), CBC (Canada), WQXR, WFMT, WGBH - "CD of the Week" (USA).
Ms. Musial, a Steinway Artist, is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the Stella Musica Festival which aims to promote women in music. The Festival will celebrate its sixth edition in 2021.
Katarzyna Musial holds a Master’s degree with high honours from the Academy of Music in Cracow under Professor Stefan Wojtas, as well as an Artist Diploma from the Vancouver Academy of Music under Professor Lee Kum-Sing and a Diploma in Advanced Music Performance Studies from Montreal’s Concordia University under Professor Anna Szpilberg and Philip Cohen who was her mentor for many years.

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