Tomasz Kamieniak in concert

Date & Time: Friday August 9, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1750 29th Avenue, San Francisco
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Seniors/Students

Eventbrite Ticketing: Buy online

Chopin-Liszt From 6 Polish Songs, S.480

• No. 2, Wiosna (Spring)
• No. 3, Pierścień (Ring)
• No. 4, Hulanka (Bacchanal)

Walter Niemann From Jura-Sommer: Kleine Impressionen, Op. 119

• No. 5, Wilde Orchidee (Wild Orchid)

Tomasz Kamieniak From Drei Berliner Klavierwerken, Op. 67

• No. 2, Potsdamer Platz. Hommage à Marlene Dietrich

Beethoven-Alkan Allegro con brio from Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 in c-minor, with Cadenza by Alkan

Leopold Godowski From Triakontameron

• Volume IV, No. 17. An American Idyll

Louis Moreau Gottschalk Souvenir de Porto Rico, Op. 31

Charles-Valentin Alkan From Morceaux dans le Genre pathétique, Op.15

• No. 1, Aime-Moi (Love Me)

Sigismond Thalberg Grand fantasie sur des motifs de ‘La sonnambula’, Op.46

Tomasz Kamieniak is a pianist and composer who enjoys playing not only the works of familiar figures like Franz Liszt but also those of Charles-Valentin Alkan and other lesser-known composers.

Tomasz Kamieniak graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice after attending the piano class of Joanna Domańska. He further honed his skills under Rolf-Dieter Arens at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar, Konstantin Scherbakov (Piano Master Classes), Zbigniew Raubo (postgraduate studies in Katowice), and Leslie Howard in London.

He was awarded the special prize at the Fourth International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar and recorded works by Józef Wieniawski as the winner of the Grand Prix at the Fourth Competition for a recording project, ‘Forgotten Polish Music,’ organized by the Acte Préalable label. A scholarship recipient from both the Marshall’s Office in Katowice and the Wagner Society in Bayreuth, he also received a prize from the Mayor of Tarnowskie Góry in recognition of his cultural achievements.

Tomasz Kamieniak’s solo performances include the Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano at the ‘Indian Summer in Levoča’ music festival in Slovakia, the ‘Piano Extravaganza’ festival in Sofia, and during recitals given in Kyiv, Weimar, London, Bayreuth, and the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce, as well as the Alkan Symphony for Solo Piano at the Academy of Music in Katowice and in Bielsko-Biała and Zakopane.

He has given recitals in Bayreuth and Venice under the auspices of the Wagner Society. In 2008, during a three-part recital at the Steingraeber Haus in Bayreuth, he performed all of Liszt’s Wagner transcriptions on Liszt’s own 1876 piano. He also performed Liszt’s two-piano arrangement of the Faust Symphony with Leslie Howard in London. In 2021, he performed at the American Liszt Society Festival via recorded videos since the pandemic precluded travel. In 2023, he made a series of successful debuts in the national recital halls in Taiwan, performed again at the Levoča festival, and debuted at the festival ‘Les Nuits Romantiques’ in Verbania in northern Italy.

His appearances as a concerto soloist in Poland include performances with the Polish Youth Symphony Orchestra under Andrzej Affeltowicz in Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto; the Józef Wieniawski Piano Concerto with the Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra under Monika Wolińska during the ‘Swego nie Znacie’ festival of Polish music; and with the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic Orchestra under Alexander Walker during the ‘Świętokrzyskie Days of Music’ festival. He also performed the Górecki Concerto and Glass Tirol Concerto with the Nomos String Orchestra under Mieczysław Unger during the ‘New Music Festival’ in Bytom, and the Kilar Second Piano Concerto and Górecki Concerto with the Archetti String Orchestra under Maciej Tomasiewicz in Jaworzno.

In addition to his activities as a pianist, Tomasz Kamieniak is also a composer, and his considerable oeuvre has earned recognition from performers and audiences. He has written for piano and harpsichord and composed chamber, vocal, and film music, as well as produced piano transcriptions of music by Queen, Glass, Górecki, Gounod, Kilar, Korngold, Liszt, Preisner, Prokofiev, and others. In 2022, his Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra, Op. 78, was premiered at the Podlasie Philharmonic in Białystok and later at the Concert Studio Lutosławski in Warsaw, and again in 2023 in Jaworzno with the Archetti String Orchestra. Also in 2023, his most recent composition, Scenes for Cello and Piano, Op. 81, was premiered at the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic in Kielce. His works are performed by esteemed Polish musicians such as Hanna Balcerzak, Aleksandra Gajecka-Antosiewicz, Anna Górecka, Anna Krzysztofik-Buczyńska, Gabriela Szendzielorz-Jungiewicz, Lilianna Stawarz, and Przemysław Wierzba. His compositions and transcriptions are published by MusePress of Japan and Ars Musica of Poland.

Host or Publisher The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, San Francisco