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The Polish pianist, Ivona Kaminska, holds such prestigious degrees in piano performance as a Master of Arts degree and Postgraduate Artists’ diploma from the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, a Master of Music degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as a Doctorate degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She was bestowed several distinguished awards and artists’ grants, including the Stefan Batory Foundation Award in 1993, the Mozarteum Akademie Scholarship in 1995, the Beryl Barnes Music Award in 1999, the PhD Recruitment Scholarship from the University of Alberta in 1998 and 1999, and the Astral Career Development Grant in 2003, among many others. With an inexorable thirst for knowledge, she studied internationally, coming into a wide array of influences representing the various world-wide schools of pianism and musicology. During her international studies, she worked with such artist-teachers as Andrzej Stefanski, Tatiana Shebanova, Boris Bloch, Ruth Laredo, James Cook, Stephane Lamelin, Mark Clinton, Henri-Paul Sicsic, and Marek Jablonski.
Ivona Kaminska has participated in international festivals including the Mozarteum Sommerakademie in Austria, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, as well as the international music festival in Duszniki-Zdroj, Poland. Winner of several solo concerto competitions, she has appeared as a soloist in Poland, Canada, and the USA, gaining acclaim for her tempestuous performances. She is an active performer, presenting dozens of recitals yearly, including programs of not only traditional solo piano repertoire, but also premiering several new works by living composers of Poland, Canada, and the USA.
The Unique artistry of Ivona Kaminska results from a rare blend of passion and intellect, scholarly research and sublime inspiration.Her repertoire encompasses a wide spectrum of styles, ranging from early Baroque music performed on historic instruments, to the tempestuous avant-garde works of Frederic Rzewski and others. Having come into contact with such eminent experts in 18th-century music as Igor Kipnis, Gregory Butler, and George Ritchie, she has immersed herself in stylistic performance practice and pedagogical research. Having enriched her expertise by intense studies of the music of J.S. Bach on both organ and harpsichord, in 2003 she presented her doctoral dissertation, which discusses the genesis and analysis of the composer’s often unappreciated and frequently misinterpreted French Overture, BWV 831.
Equally passionate as a pedagogue, Ivona Kaminska is the founder and artistic director of the Chopin Academy of Music in Issaquah, Washington, faculty member of the Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Washington, and chamber music coach for the Puget Sound Summer Chamber Music Workshop. She is frequently featured as a guest lecturer, master-class clinician and an adjudicator throughout the Pacific Northwest. |
